Hard times!
I'm afraid you have listened to this expression a thousand times so far. You were born in the middle of a crisis and now you are locked in due to the biggest pandemic ever. Yes, children have had hard times since the dawn of history no matter the issues there were around.
Many years have passed since Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times, 166 to be more specific. It first appeared in Dickens’s weekly periodical,Household Words. It was published in installments that began in April of 1854 and ran through August of that year.
Did you see, guys? This is ALLUSION. I have alluded to or made mention of this work because I want to emphasize the similarities of what I said at the beginning with the title of the work.
In fact, this reference or allusion comes in handy . As you may remember we have dealt with the world of emotions in the previous unit. Now we will focus on rules which seems to be on the opposite side. Feelings versus Facts.
Read the following extract which belongs to the introduction of Hard Times by Charles Dickens and answer the six questions below in your notebook. Explain thoroughly, around 25 words each.
"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!
The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school-room, and the speaker's square forefinger emphasised his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve..."
1. Describe the setting. Is it the proper atmosphere for a creative mindset?
Is creativity important? Don't forget to answer both.
2. How does Mr.Gradgrind see his students?
3. How does he see emotions?
He is a married man and raises his children to focus purely on facts. The problem with this is that it doesn’t teach them how to deal with emotions or give a sense of morality. As a consequence of this education his daughter Louisa marries a man she does not love, and his son Tom becomes a thief and frames another man for the crime...!
4. This suggests that being a father is much more important than facts. How much important is the education you receive at home?
5. Imagine you are one of Mr.Gradgrind's children, would you try to change the situation or would you simply surrender to what seems to be your fate?
6. Now, listen to Hard Times' chapter one. How is Mr.Gradgrind characterised? Describe.
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