YEAR 13 Mon 7th Nov 16.

This session considered the first 8/9 chapters of CHARLES DICKENS' HARD TIMES. The class were urged to consider key moments within this opening section and consider Dickens' style of writing, how he uses metaphor to express his philosophy, and the philosophical and political aim of the author. Specific focus was placed on the description of COKETOWN. Class response was good.
Students were asked to consider the question:
WHAT IS DICKENS ATTACKING IN THE FIRST EIGHT/NINE CHAPTERS AND WHY IS HE DEALING WITH THESE THEMES AND ISSUES?
The class were provided with a very clear essay structure:

• EDUCATION....Dickens is clearly attacking the FACT obsessed UTILITARIAN educational philosophy being promoted by THOMAS GRADGRIND Senior. Evidence of Dickens' repulsion for this form of education can be found in the dehumanised descriptions of Gradgrind in the opening chapter, the description of the classroom ['plain, bare, monotonous vault'], descriptions of BITZER in Chapter Two [Bitzer being an example of the consequence of an education that has contempt for human imagination and 'WONDER'], the contempt of TOM in Chapter 8 who calls his home a 'jaundiced jail'and his desire to 'collect all the facts we hear so much about..I wish I could put a thousand barrels of gunpowder under them, and blow them up...I'll have my revenge.' This could be linked to the subjective omniscient narrative voice of Dickens who in Chapter Two uses the same destructive imagery to describe Tom's father:..'he seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts and prepared to blow them clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge.' Obviously Dickens suggests that this system is failing to connect with the human desires of childhood as Tom and Louisa attempt to witness the Circus in Chapter Two. The chapter title 'Murdering the Innocents' may also allow you to construct a decent critical argument as does the names of the characters associated with this form of education: Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild. Remember, when Sissy becomes a student in Gradgrind's school Gradgrind informs her that she will be 'reclaimed and formed'!! Why does Dickens use this language? Is it appropriate for describing the nurturing function of education? The paragraph needs to conclude with a clear evaluation of WHY Dickens is so critical of this system. AUTHOR'S  AIM? Question Focus?

• THE WORKING CONDITIONS FOR FACTORY WORKERS....here the description of COKETOWN at the beginning of Chapter FIVE should provide your textual reference for constructing a critical response. How does Dickens use metaphor to suggest the horrific working conditions and the pollution that infects the town? Note how Dickens suggests The routine, repetitious, and uninspiring existence of the working population. The town reflects the unimaginative sensibility of the Utilitarian philosophy as  'the jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail...' WHY DOES DICKENS USE THE IMAGE OF A PRISON AND A HOSPITAL?? Note his use of repetition to describe the monotonous nature of the town planning. Dickens links the experience of the workers with the experience of the children when using the rhetorical question: 'Is it possible , I WONDER, that there was any analogy between the case of the Coketown population and the case of the little Gradgrinds?' In Chapter Eight Dickens refers to the reading habits of some workers when they visit the library. They, like Tom and Louisa attempting to receive some imaginative stimulus from witnessing the Circus, use literature as a means of imaginative relief from the monotony of their existence. Why does Dickens describe the workers as 'hands'? HOW DOES DICKENS REPRESENT THE QUALITY OF LIFE BEING EXPERIENCED BY THE WORKING PEOPLE OF COKETOWN? WHY DOES HE REPRESENT THEM IN THIS MANNER? Author's aim? Question Focus?

• The third paragraph needs to explore the symbolic significance of the Circus. The Circus represents the world of WONDER and IMAGINATION. Dickens gives the characters of Childers, Kidderminster and Sleary the physical appearance of characters from a fable or the kind of fairy tales that the Gradgrind philosophy despises. Note the significance of their comical physical forms. When Sissy talks of how she soothed her father's pain by reading him tales of 'fairies..the dwarf..the hunchback..' Grad grind describes these narratives as 'destructive nonsense.' The Circus people are lodging at the 'PEGASUS ARMS'; this is significant because Pegasus in Greek mythology is often linked to the gathering of wisdom, power, and victory. Note how the Circus people reflect the human qualities that Dickens clearly values. Sleazy is an intelligent and emotionally articulate man. He immediately identifies Boundary as an arrogant fool and Dickens has Sleary utter one of the key lines in the novel: 'People must be amuthed.' Note how Dickens describes the community of the Circus: '..the combined literature of the whole company would have produced a poor letter on the subject...Yet there was a remarkable gentleness and childishness about these people..deserving as much respect...as..any class of people in the world.' Also note Sissy's responses in 'Sissy's Progress' within which Dickens suggests that the Gradgrind school is making Sissy feel guilty for responding to the teacher's questions with compassion and empathy. Sissy is clearly a symbol of the humanising power of the human imagination just as Bitzer and Tom represent the destructive nature of the Utilitarian educational philosophy. WHY DOES DICKENS WANT THE READER TO SYMPATHISE WITH THIS WORLD? WHAT DOES HE WANT THE READER TO IDENTIFY OR RECOGNISE?

• The conclusion needs to provide some context. Reference to the views of Carlyle? A novel that rejects the industrial triumphalism of The Great Exhibition in 1851? The opening chapters clearly present Dickens belief that the world of the novel needs reform...much like Britain itself. What is he criticising? What is he promoting? What do the opening chapters reveal to the reader? 

HOMEWORK: Read the first section of HARD TIMES and complete the essay. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ESSAY AS IT WILL INFORM MY ASSESSMENTS FOR THE YOUR NEXT SCHOOL REPORT. The pre-coursework writing was poor. This essay needs to reflect your academic ability and requires your time and intellectual attention.

GOOD LUCK.