How does Dickens present his views on education in hard times? :: Free Essay Writer

How does Dickens present his views on education in hard times? Hard times is set in the 1840’s in the North of England. It’s set at a time when Britain is changing dramatically because of the Industrial Revolution, which is mainly affecting this part of Britain. This revolution moved much of the work from the country into towns and cities, and small cramped villages were built around the factories and mills to house the workers. Dickens novel ‘hard times’ was set during this time. Dickens uses many techniques throughout the novel to show his views on education to his readers, the first of which is to create different characters, some of which contrast each other in different ways . Two of such Characters are Sissy Jupe and Bitzer. They differ in the ways they have been taught and the ways they see the education system. Bitzer is a model student, he has always strictly followed the system and been taught exactly how the system requires him to be taught. He is shown as lifeless and colourless, ‘the boy was so light-eyed and light-haired that the self-same rays appeared to draw out of him what little colour he ever possessed.’ This gives the effect that he has been drained of life and everything else but facts. When asked, Bitzer describes a Horse as a ‘Quadruped’ and ‘graminivorous’ and gives endless facts about the animal. Although this description is very factual and impressive, the use of long complex words and the amount of facts show that he has simply been taught these facts, and probably has never even seen a Horse. Sissy on the other hand does not understand how to factually define a Horse when asked, this is because she has been brought up with Horses all her life and they are too familiar and important to her just to be described in facts. This is one way that Dickens tries to show to his audience that this type of education is wrong, the teaching of bare facts limits the imagination of the student and a more practical way of teaching, like Sissy has had, would help the children understand the facts that they are being taught, instead of just learning them. Dickens also shows the characters of some of the staff at the school to make his views known. Mr Gradgrind is the first to be introduced, from the onset Dickens portrays him as ‘squared’ , both in his appearance and character, he reveals little about him apart from the fact he is rigid, and has little individuality. This is emphasized by the repletion of ‘square’ and ‘speaker’, and by this he is shown to