Analysis Of Hard Times By Charles Dickens

There are several examples from the novel where circumstances refer to school and knowledge that are socially criticized. The first example involves the schooling in this society.

The novel, A Tale of Two Cities, was written by Charles Dickens and was published in 1859. A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction based during the French Revolution. As two groups of people who both live in London and Paris find themselves in a situation that affects all of them, which ends with some deaths and suffering. Charles Dickens purpose for writing A Tale of Two Cities was to inform and amplify the readers mind on human nature. Throughout the book Charles Dickens uses many themes and characteristics, that bring out human nature in all his characters, to broaden the view of the readers.

My observation for the spring semester was placed at Pine Richland High School. I was able to watch over John Dolphin’s twelfth grade British literature course. John Dolphin has been teaching at Pine Richland for the past eighteen years. I went to observe his class three times. Two out of three of those visits I was able to be at the school all day long to really get the feel of the way it is like to be at the school all day and seeing the difference of his eight classes. Throughout my time there I learned different strategies on how to keep the students involved, the way that a school of this size is ran, and the difference of how John taught compared to my previous observation teacher.

Charles Dickens' Hard Times and David Lodge's Nice Work ----“Fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the material aspect of the town; fact, fact, fact everywhere in the immaterial.” – Charles Dickens In the early 1851, London staged the Great Exhibition to show the world, the achievements and inventions of the Industrial Revolution. Many people believed that this showed how much better, safer and healthier Britain was than its neighbours in Europe. People living in mansions amid lawns and fountains, with horse drawn carriages certainly felt that life couldn’t be better. However behind the publicity and the royal occasions there was another England, not so glorious.

The Industrial Revolution generated the perception that applying solely logic to everyday activities could maximize productivity and efficiency. Charles Dickens explores the dangers of neglecting emotions and imagination in his novel Hard Times. Dickens separates Hard Times into three books: Sowing, Reaping and Garnering in order to reveal the negative consequences of industrialization and forsaking imagination for facts through the events, settings, and characters in the novel.

Throughout the countless pages of history, there exists many occurrences of change. Some of these changes are positive while others are negative. Nevertheless, as each change occurs, it must undergo struggles to become accepted. One example of the struggles of change that is seen in today’s society is the ongoing fight for religious freedom. Another change that is currently facing obstacles is the fight to change policies that raise the question of equality. Lastly, another struggle for change is the conflict that is occurring in order to make same-sex marriage legal. Through the examples of all these changes, there exists the common factor of changing values. As values change, new changes are undertaken. Therefore, changing values entail

- Pip begins to treat Biddy as an inferior as he feels he is in a

On February 1st, I visited the Britton Macon Area School. The teacher I observed was Ms. Richardson. She teaches a self-contained classroom for middle and high school grades. I started the observation at 8:00 A.M. until 11:32 A.M.

In the book “Loser” by Jerry Spinelli, there are two teachers named Miss Meeks and Mrs. Biswell. They are very similar but they also have many things that aren’t in common. One of the reasons they aren’t the same are Miss Meeks likes kids and Mrs. Biswell doesn’t. Keep on reading my essay and you will find out the other two reasons why Miss Meeks and Mrs. Biswell aren’t the same.

In “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter, a class of fourth grade students gets a substitute teacher. She is very eccentric but knowledgeable and tells the whole class a lot of myths and facts. It is up to the class to decide what is true or not.

There are a few examples in the novel where circumstances refer to knowledge and school that are criticized socially. The first example is schooling

The French Revolution mainly took place in the city of Paris during the late 1700’s. The Revolution did not only affect the people of France, but also the citizens of England as well. The French Revolution is known as one of the most brutal and inhumane periods of history. If one studied the beliefs and views of the people involved at the time, one would see a reoccurring theme of “ being recalled to life”. Born from the world of literature, Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities takes a deeper look at the culture of the late 1700’s, in both England and France. Dickens uses the character of Lucie Manette to further examine one of the major themes presented in the novel, consisting of the belief of one being

Charles Dickens’s novel Hard Times critiques the use of extreme utilitarianism as an acceptable means to governing a society in which citizens are able to lead happy, productive, flourishing lives. “Just the facts,”19th century English utilitarianism argued, are all one needs to flourish. Those answers that we can arrive at by way of mathematical, logical reasoning are all needed to live a full human life. Hard Times shows however that a “just the facts” philosophy creates a community inhospitable to the needs of one another, a society nearly void of human compassion, and one lacking in morality. Underlying the novel’s argument is the Aristotelian concept that the primary purpose of government is to

In Hard Times, Dickens presents life philosophies of three men that directly contradict each other. James Harthouse sees one’s actions in life as meaningless since life is so short. Mr. Gradgrind emphasizes the importance of fact and discourages fantasy since life is exactly as it was designed to be. Mr. Slearly exhibits that “all work and no play” will make very dull people out of all of us. He also proclaims that one should never look back on one’s life and regret past actions. Dickens is certainly advocating Sleary’s life philosophy because the subjects of the other two philosophies led depressing and unhappy lives. This is made clear when Louisa realises her childhood of fact without fancy has ruined her, when Tom’s life falls apart after leaving his father’s home in rejection of his strict parenting, and when Mr. Gradgrind himself realises the faults in his own philosophy and devotes the rest of his life to virtue and charity.

When Mr Braithwaite first encounters his class they are an unruly group of people who never manage to keep a teacher for long. They were mostly unkempt and scruffy and weren't very well educated as Mr Braithwaite found out on his first day,