Gradgrind

leading citizens is Thomas Gradgrind, future member of Parliament and governor of the local school. The Plot Coketown is a grimy, smelly industrial town in northern England, its houses and skies blackened by smoke from factory chimneys. One of its leading citizens is Thomas Gradgrind, future member of Parliament and governor of the local school. Gradgrind lives with his wife and five children, including the eldest, Louisa, and Tom, Jr. When we first see Gradgrind, he is observing a typical

factuality and leaves little room for imagination. Dickens provides three vivid examples of this utilitarian logic in Hard Times. The first; Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, was the principal of a school in Coketown. He was a firm believer in utilitarianism and instilled this

Hard Times symbolizes the negative effects of industrialization on English towns (Coketown in the story) including education. Charles Dickens was born in 1812, and was a contemporary of the Industrial Revolution. Industries were growing by leaps and bounds; bringing with it pollution, social imbalance and individual confusion. Dickens was rather poor and had no proper education. At the age of 12 he worked in Warren’s Blacking Factory attaching labels to bottles. He labored hard to educate himself

dissatisfied” (33). One of the main characters in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, Mr. Gradgrind, enthusiastically teaches facts to his students: “Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.” His

The Gradgrind system never changes her, and she remains always honest, observant, and kind. Sissy nevers gives up on her father, always waiting for his return. Towards the end of the book, when Mr. Sleary is telling Mr. Gradgrind that her father may be dead, Thomas says, “She keeps the bottle he sent her for, to this hour; and she will believe in his affection to the last minute of her life” (p.282). Despite how she does not fit into the Gradgrind system, she never abandons

In the book Hard Times (1856/1995), by Charles Dickens, the citizens of Coketown are faced with moral situations. The characters have caused emotional harm to others or themselves due to their decisions. Most of the replies to these moral dilemmas are based on how selfish or selfless these characters. They can only choose between the choices that value the other people or value themselves. Two characters that make these decisions are Stephen, a worker at the Hand in Coketown, and Louisa, the daughter

within the city. The wealthy class, makes up a minority of the population, consisting mostly of unimaginative business owners. While the lower class is made up of workers, whose only reward in life, is death. One of Dicken’s main characters, Thomas Gradgrind Jr. plays an important role, validating the theorem that a character’s trait can cause his or her downfall. Growing up as the eldest son of very wealthy parents, Tom was taught to only care for facts and himself. Throughout the novel, Tom’s devotion

two characters, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild to show the bad views of education and the opposition to Dickens' views. There is an immediate tension between Dickens' way of thinking and Gradgrind's and M'Choakumchild's. Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild call the children vessels and do not use names but numbers. The children are allowed no independent thought. While Bitzer is how he is "supposed" to be, Sissy Jupe is free spirited and

In history, a woman was the one who would nurture the bodies and minds of her children and husband. Dickens story takes a turn when he makes Mr. Gradgrind take on this role. Mrs. Gradgrind is barely mentioned but continues to have a strong message in her character. Through hard facts Gradgrind teaches both his students and children the same things and removes the burden of ideal femininity from his daughter, Louisa. Unfortunately, this leaves her unprepared for entering the world outside her own

by Charles Dickens, concentrates on the Gradgrind family; of Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, his daughter Louisa, and son Thomas Jr. A major theme of friendship is portrayed in the books through the character of Mr. Gradgrind as he struggles with the idea of friendship between other characters. According to the Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle, it explains a detailed account of friendship and what it is to be a friend to others. In comparing the character Mr. Gradgrind in Hard Times, to the 5 basis of friendship