-Life-

- 1812-1870
- He was born in Portsmouth
- His life feels like a rags-to-riches story
- He was the second of 8 siblings —> his father had money trouble —> he was sent to
prison
- He received an education —> Dickens stopped attending school at 11 because
his father was sent to prison (because he couldn’t pay off his debts) —> Dickens was
sent to the workhouse, and spent 3 years there working everyday on 10 hour
shifts
- He first worked as a lawyer’s assistant (resumed his education)
- Then he worked as a parliamentary reporter, for the morning chronicles
- These jobs allowed him to do a deep study of society and to have a wide
knowledge of London
- Prolific writer: live readings (Us, Uk, Italy —> he traveled to the US, in Boston, and
to Italy) to sell more books and to advertise his new books
- In 1836 he got married with Catherine Hogarth and had 10 children
- Playwright: he wrote for the theater
- Type of novel:“the condition of England novel” —> denunciation of the evils of
society (didactic aim) —> study of social behaviors (crime caused by hunger and
poverty) —> reverse world (children are the teachers and adults are worthless)
- Characters: caricatures (stereotypical representation of vices and virtues) —> they
come from all walks of life (all social classes) —> they have distinctive voice
(depending of the social class)
- Plot: complex and confusing —> serial publication —> interaction with the readers
—> plot and sub-plots —> moved forward thanks to cliff-hangers

-Hard times (1854)-

- It is divided into 3 books, based on the content:
1) Sowing: all the chapters are figuratively focused on the idea of sowing: teacher
puor/planting seeds in their students’ minds
2) Reaping: all the chapters deal with the results of education discussed in book 1
(sowing)
3) Garnering: all the chapters focus on the efforts made by the characters to change
life and become different people and the results that come from such a change
- Social criticism towards materialism and education
- Materialism (+ utilitarianism):
● Unprecedented progress (unexpected —> progress became a myth —> peak of
development —> England was a rich country —> people experienced wealth and
could afford to buy more goods than before —> people became more possessive
with their things —> idea of private property —> goods are ——————-more
important than people —> what you owned revealed your social status and your
influence within society)
● Utilitarianism: people were valued based on how useful they were (what they could
produce) —> 19th Century England was turning its people into machines —> people
were not important because they were human beings but because they were “clogs”
to create wealth
- Education:
 ● Influenced by utilitarianism —> object class: facts, statistics and verifiable information
—> no room for imagination
● The aim of the object class was to create obedient citizens who would do what they
were told
- Setting: imaginary setting —> Coketown (industrial town in the north of England) —>
Coketown is inspired by the industrial town of Preston, in the north of England, to
achieve realism—> Coke=coal used in factories —> hellish landscape: air is polluted
by factories, buildings are all alike, harsh life (of workers) —> critique of the Industrial
Revolution (it expresses the gap existing between workers and factory owners —>
dehumanization, achieved with long working hours, terrible salaries, poor hygiene
- Plot: (pp.86-87)
● Thomas Gradgrind: father of two (Louisa and Tom), advocate of utilitarianism, hates
imagination, loves facts
● Mr. Bounderby: owns a factory (Tom and Stephen work there), 30 years older than
his wife Louisa, he trusts Tom more than Stephen, who is accused of theft and fired,
he is friend with Gradgrind

-Victorian education- —> excerpt 1

- Poor children: either illiterate or sent to ragged schools (opened in workhouses,
funded through charitable donations, teachers were often volunteers and not always
professionals, day/night schools, reading/writing/arithmetic/bible studies) —> at the
end of ragged schools, children were taught a job —> workhouse owners didn’t let
children go to school
- Middle/upper class children: girls were educated at home by private tutors (foreign
languages, history, geography, embroider, making tea) —> boys attended public
schools (introduction of P.E 9.00-12.00 AM, school board, for good-shape, team
player, follow the rules —> military education for discipline), receiving a very good
education, trained by professional teachers (mainly women), who were extremely
strict (corporal punishments)
- 1870 Elementary Act: schools was mandatory until 11 years old and schools were
opened both to boys and girls (different classes)

-The circus- —> excerpt 2

- Thoroughly described in the novel —> benefits of entertainment —> it was an
important part of Victorian culture
- Popular and cheap
- Circus parades, to attract crowds —> advertised
- Family run business, initially —> later you had travelling circuses (posters, parades)
- Children coming from poor families were often sold to work at the circle
- Upper, middle and lower classes attended the circus
- They initially were a form of entertainment thought for the lower classes (cheap
tickets), but then it became so popolar that all classes decided to attend —> class
division disapperead —> similar role of playhouses in renaissance england
- Wild animals, people (“freaks of nature” = people with deseases, ilnesses of
deformities), acrobats, clowns, horses
- People working for the circus were professionals
- Women were welcomed to join the circus, and were treated and paid just as men —>
no discrimination (but they were considerated the same as prostitutes by society)
-Analysis chalter 1 pp.89-
- Gradgrind: speaker
- Teachers should only teach facts —> “facts” is repeated 5 times —>
hammering/drilling (technique used by teachers) —> Dickens mocks Victorian
education —> advocate of utilitarianism
- Students=animals (own, investments, production)
- No free thinking —> more compliant citizens
- Change in the narration: Gradgring opens and closes the excerpt, while Dickens
speaks in the middle (external voice) —> 1st person narrator and 3rd person narrator
—> to differentiate the main narrating voice and the characters
- Gradgrind=“square” —> there is nothing special about him (ordinary man, never
stands out, plain man) —> Gradgrind’s voice=“dictatorial” (criticism towards Victorian
teachers, who were too strict, inflexible and would even incorporate corporal
punishments)

🧐
- Students are described by Gardgrind as “vessels”, empty containers to be filled with
facts —> they were not required any form of critical thinking

-Analysis chapter 2-
- Mr.Gradgrind
- Sissy Jupe and Bitzer are two of Gradgrind’s students
- Satirical depiction of education in England —> how reductive such a system is —> it
creates adults that aren’t in touch with their feelings
- Mr.Gradgrind —> his students are numbers (or he chooses their names) —>
objectification=no friendly relationship between teacher and students —> factory-like
schools (students simply have to “produce” correct answers)
- Every question he asks his students are either wrong or incomplete
- Mr.Gradgrind makes a harsh comment on Sissy’s lack of knowledge —> embarassed
his students
- Mr.Gradgrind/ Sissy question 1: “What is her father’s profession” —> Sissy’s father
breakes horses for the circus —> Mr.Gradgrind dismisses her answer because her
father’s job is not scientific or respectable enough
- Mr.Gradgrind/ Sissy question 2: “Definition of a horse” —> Sissy is surprised
(everyone knows what a horse is) —> she does not know her only duty is to reply
(circus=freedom)
- Bitzer: his description seems to depict him as a hologram—> students who embrace
this system become “echo chambers”, simply repeating what they are taught —>
mechanical answers
- Mr.Gradgrind shows Sissy her inadequacy

-Excerpt 3 analysis-
- Narrator: third person, unobtrusive —> to reinforce the idea of objectivity
- Description of Coketown: boredom (everyone and everything looks alike),
monotony (nothing ever happens), aphaty (nothing ever changes) —> red bricks
(buildings), polluted/dirty/smelly/stinky (smoke coming out of the factories polluting
the air, constant noise produced by machines and people coming in and out within
the factories, water pollution (purple with “ill-smelling dye”) —> not a pleasent city
 (“industrial hell”) —> lots of REPETITIONS in the text —> social scriticism of
utilitarianism and industrialization
- Tone: dark (Coketown=hell), melancholic (idea that people feel extremely sad,
nothing gives them joy —> deep sadness because workers know that there is no way
out of Coketown —> endless nightmare)
- Coketown: its design was meant to keep workers in check (lack of hope) —>
religion (religious buildings, 18 religious groups) is a SATIRE of Victorian society —>
every building/activity in town is there only because it generates profit (form of
criticisms, pointing out utilitariatism, obsession with productivity —> Coketown is a
“money machine”, in which factory owners become richer and the poor are exploited
even more —> workers were called “hands”)
- “Religion of facts”: facts are a new form of religion
- Social class division: ruling class (rich, religious), labouring class (“lazy”, is
expected to be more religious) —> sabbatists (organization against any activity
taking place on sunday, unholy —> petitioned the Parliament to pass such an act)
- Teetotal society: its members wanted workers to give up drinking
- Working-class people are described as lazy, drunks, atheists —> negative depiction
—> SATIRE of society: Dickens means opposite —> this is just a way to justify the
way people are treated
- REPETITION of “gentleman”: IRONY —> workers are gentlemen that are ungrateful
and picky (food) —> it’s the opposite, workers are being exploited

Coketown:
● Dirty=coal dust
● Monotonous landscape (buildings look alike, pollution)
● Symbol of boredom, repetitiveness
● Everything there was useful (utilitarianism)
● Religion of facts
● Ruling class (factory owners) vs working class (lazy, drunk, no faith)