Victorian Fiction

David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens

Comprehesion :

1. At his lesson his mom, Mr Murdstone and Miss Murdsone are present. Their presence has
much influence on him, he gets anxious by the sight of them , feeling the memorised words
sliding away of his head.

2. give David the book ack so he would know the lesson.

3. he is not succesful with secon reciting either, he thinks about Janes netted cap, and Mr
Murdsones dressing gown.

4. by putting the book in the to be done studying pile, so David can study when his other tasks
are done.

5. bc Mr Murdtone believed that every children was bad in a way, eventhough in his religion,
Christ also had a child disciple.

6. having to dine with the Murdstones.

7. he says, that he couldve done very well if not the Murdsone being there.

Analysis :

1. line 1 – let me remember...ű

2. he uses present tense, which makes it look like he experiences this lesson at the
moment.It makes it more vivid and dramatic.

3. line 19 – 34 her behavior clearly states that shes intimated.

4. a – line 4 – 7

b – line 75

c – murdstone for, sounds very intimidating

5. detached, formal.

6. I think it was not equal. We see Davids mother being submissive toward Mr
Murdstone everytime they interact, suggesting that Mr Murdstone is abusive.
 Our Housekeeper

COMPREHENSION

1. (Line 5) – she probably meant being a good wife just as women had been expected to
be excellent wives in the 19th century.

2. Dora would punish by inking Jips nose. Dora would intruct Jip to lie down on the table
like a lion, and sometimes Jip would obey her.

3. bc she didnt see any results in her efforts.

4. Dora would concentrate for 5 minutes, then lighten the subject by curling Davids hair.
She made a very confusing look which took her natural charm away.

5. no it did not. He sometimes wishes his wife was a counsellor, that she would have
more character or purpose which would improve him, would posses the power to fill the void
in his heart.

6. there was a time when he thought he d never be happy. But that time he was young.
But now, he got used to his wife, and gratefull for her, for her cheerfullnes, for loving him
dearly.

Analysis :

1. a – childish, playful. b- line 1, line 55 – 56

2. line 70 – 75

3. a partnership of equals

4. .

5. confessional, poetic

6. melancholic, bitter, humorous

Hard Times

Comprehension

1.

Forehead – square wall of a forehead

Eyes – dark, overshadowed by his forhead.

Mouth – wide, thin, and hard set

2. it was described as inflexible, dry, and dictorial.

3. his theory is that only facts which are needed inlife, nothing else.

4. Mr Gradgrind is a man of realities, a man of facts and calculations. He is associated with a

pair of scales and a multiplication table, bc hes always ready to measure any parcel of
human nature.

5. bc they still had their young imaginations, but Mr Gradgrind wanted them to grow out of it
quickly.

Analysis :

1. he refers to them as animals. Knowing Facts makes us different from animals.

2. the setting is in a schoolroom, which is described as ugly and monotounus with very little
furnishing. It is similar to mr Gradgrinds philosophy: nothing should be there which have no
use in life.

3. neckcloth – trained to take him by the throat with an uncomfortable grasp.

Hair – bristled on the skirts of his bald head.

scalp – plantation of firs, to keep the wind from shining the surface

head – all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if it had scarcely wearhouse-
room-

It makes the passage more humorous, caricatural.

4. That everything is useless but facts.

5. line 30 – 36

6. This passage often repeats Mr Gradgrinds philosophy. It suggeststhat the man is boring but
strict.

7. .

The Keynote

COMPREHENSION :

1. it look like thepainted face of a savage bc of the bricks. Line 7.

 2. that they work everyday the same work, and will works the same years the next day too.

3. no, they did not.

4. they had nothing else but their work, they could do othing ellse but work.

5. it was built differently.

6. that they had nothing in there, or hardly anything.

7. work, industrialism.

Analysis :

1. the narrative is descriptive. In line 3 – Let us stike the key-note

2. the smoke coming out of the chimneys are compared to serpents, and the working
steamengine is compared to an elephant head.

3. line 8 – 18

4. the passage repeats Mr gradgrinds philosophy, It emphasises the life in Coketown.

5. detached, sympathetic.

6. .

7. negatie imagery.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

Vanity Fair

Pre-reading exercises

1. The Pilgrim's Progress demonstrates that knowledge is gained through travel by portraying
Christian and his companions learning from their mistakes on their journey. Pilgrimage depends on
travel, and so a pilgrim must be a voyager prepared to go far and wide.

2. What social and historical factors made Regency society (from about l8l5 to 1840)
particularly self-seeking and unscrupuious?

Post-Reading Exercises

1. Sir Pitt Crawley - sharpe landlord, had a taste for law, he speculated, he worked mines; bought
canal-shares; horsed coaches; took government contracts, and was the busiest man and magistrate of
his county. All of them
2. Blood-red hand of Sir Pitt Crawley's

3. Rawdon Crawley, younger son of Sir Pitt, has a commission in the Life Guards Green, bought for
him by his indulgent aunt, Miss Crawley

4. Becky's positive attitude and passion towards life influenced her grandmother to do the same and
to follow in her footsteps.

5. Sir Pitt, who holds high social status, can confer it downward, just as he did with his second
wife. Because Sir Pitt is at the top, he has social status

6. What overall,impression do we get of him?' .

7. Choose some examples of Thackeray's irony and comment on'them'

8. Comment on the authonat rntrusion at the end of the passage ('vanityFair'... - etc.) What
does this tell us?

9. How does the title of the novel seem revelant to this episode?

Sir Pitt Crawley

Pre-reading exercises

l. Little years have changes her. Yes, she is capable of learning from ecperience.

2. Becky's little head peeped out full of archness and mischiefs. She lighted on Jos. 'Its you,'she
said, coming out.

Post-Reading exercises

1. She was excited to see him?

2.

3. She had, by way of morning robe, a pink dominot' a trifles fadedn and soiled'o, and marked here
and there with pomatum: but her arms shone out from the loose sleeves't of the dress very white and
fair, and it was tied round her little waist. so as not ill to set off the trim little figure of the wearer.

4. She is kind and honest

5. He was surprised that she changed alot

6. One of her gowns' hung over the bed, another depending from a hook of the door: her bonnet
obscured half the looking-glass on which, too, lay the prettiest pair of little bronze boots; a French
novel was on the table by the bed-side, with a candle' not of wax.
7. She said she had false friends

8.

9. that it was quite evident from hearing her, that if ever there was a white-robed angel escaped
from heaven to be subject to the infernal machinations and villainya ofnfriends. Yes