Charles Dickens - Hard Times (Nothing but facts e Coketown), Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Charles Dickens - Hard Times (Nothing but facts e Coketown) e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! CHARLES DICKENS Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth. He attended school for a brief period until his father was imprisoned for outstanding debts. Charles was forced to work ten-hours a day in a blacking factory (making shoe polish). During his childhood he suffered years of loneliness and hardship but this period was considered a fundamental phase of his life because the experiences he had, the places he went to and the people he met served as material for his future works. He began his career as a journalist with the pen name Boz, at first his novels were published as instalments in magazines and then as complete books. In 1833 he became the parliamentary reporter for “The Morning Chronicle”. He worked also as a lawyer in a legal office, because he knew very well the British legal system. He travelled to America for a lecture tour campaigning against slavery and to Italy. He also wrote for the theatre and performed in front of Queen Victoria in 1851. Charles Dickens had a wife and ten children. He died on 9 June 1870 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Unlike other British authors, he became very popular during his lifetime. Main works - social novels • Sketches by Boz (1833-36) • Pickwick Papers (1836-37) • Oliver Twist(1837-39), an education novel, which highlights the humiliations Dickens experienced during his childhood. The novel tells the story of an orphaned boy, an innocent and pure child who lives in a criminal world. At the end he is rased by a rich family (happy ending). In this novel Dickens denounced the world of the workhouses, which is found upon the idea that poverty was a consequence of laziness. • A Christmas Carol (1843), a ghost story of the conversion of a selfish, greedy man to the spirit of Christmas. • Dombey and Son (1846) • David Copperfield (1849-50), The novel focuses on the growth (developments and changes) of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming-of-age' novel). • Bleak House (1852-53) • Hard Times (1854) DOPO • Great Expectations (1860), a novel which describes the influence of wealth on a man’s moral status Common traits of Dickens’ novels - Inventive plots and many parallel stories - Autobiographical novel —> he tolds events that happened during his life - Characterised by surprises and unexpected events - Often set in urban environments - Have melodramatic tones - Populated by a large number of characters Plots Since many of Dickens' works were originally published in instalments and became books only later, they tend to have an episodic nature. The episodic nature of Dickens' novels is visible in the succession of moments of great tension, which keeps the reader's attention high. It is also particularly visible in the dramatic turn of events, which create suspense in the readers. The plot of Dickens' novels is frequently characterised by the abundance of climaxes and improbable coincidences. Characters Dicken’s characters are portrayed as caricatures embodying particular vices or virtues, he doesn’t take into consideration psychological depth. He often exaggerate with vices and virtues making them appear too good or too evil. He depicted Victorian society in all its variety, its richness and its squalor. His novels are rich in memorable characters, who have some peculiarity of speech, physical appearance or gesture and are often caught in comic or grotesque situations. The 18th-century realistic upper middle class world was replaced by the one of the lower orders. Dickens' characters belong to all social classes: - The parochial world of the workhouses - The criminal world, pickpockets living in squalid slums —> Oliver Twist - The Victorian middle class, respectable people believing in human dignity Dickens sided mainly with the poor and the marginalised. Upper-class and aristocratic characters tend to fall into stereotypes. There are less female characters. Hard Times (1854) Hard Times is a denunciation novel written by Charles Dickens in 1854, it belongs to the last phase of his production and it’s characterised by a very strong criticism of Victorian values and morality. The novel is set in Coketown, an industrialised town based on Preston (a real town) in the north of England. The main character is Thomas Gradgrind, a supporter of Utilitarianism, who raises his two children Louisa and Tom to believe in hard facts and to reject any form of imagination and enjoyment. Gradgrind makes his daughter marry Josiah Bounderby, a factory owner who is 30 years older than her, this because in his opinion love shouldn’t be at the basis of marriage. Since Louisa wanted to help his brother to find a work, she accepts the marriage. But this marriage doesn’t go as planned, she runs back to her family and Mr Gradgrind understands his mistakes and protects Louisa from her husband. Meanwhile Tom steals money from Bounderby’s bank and one of his co-worker, Stephen Blackpool (=dark, deep —> he had a terrible life), is unjustly accused of the theft and dies as a consequence. When Louisa and Mr Gradgrind found out that Tom is responsible of the theft they get him out of the country to escape from justice. At the end of the story Mr Gradgrind is represented as a changed man, who has given up his philosophy of facts and devotes himself to helping poor people. Although Tom repents his actions, he was no longer able to see his family again. Bounderby, the villain of the story, dies alone in the streets of Coketown, while Louisa finds happiness in the love of her friends and family and never marries again. The only one person who manages to have an happy marriage throughout the story is Sissy Jupe, who has been adopted by Gradgrind, once he realized his mistakes. Themes The main themes of the novel are - the plight of young characters growing up in a hostil adult world - Criticism of the evils of Victorian England - The hardships of the working class and the big gap between rich and poor people - Education and school, Dickens attacks Utilitarianism, a materialistic philosophy whose fundamental aim was to extend education to all but, at the same time, excluded important aspects of education, such as imagination and humanity. In the schools told by Charles Dickens in this novel, pupils stay in huge schoolrooms and they became numbers rather than real people, they are forced into conformity through harsh discipline and they are also deprived of their own personalities and emotions. - Contrast between good and bad education, according to Dickens education and schools are the instruments that allow the poor to have a decent life and protect them from ignorance and degradation. But when schools are badly handle and are dominated by the philosophical thoughts of Utilitarianism, they become instruments of slavery and dehumanisation. In Hard Times the factory system implied the process of alianation, which consists in a completely detachment from the reality. In the novel children are turned into machines who live the same life, do the same tasks every day and think in the same way. Style - Satirical tone - Use of symbols - Strong sense of humour - Mix of pathos and realism Nothing but facts This passage takes place in a Victorian school, where the owner, Mr Gradgrind, explains his firm belief in the power and importance of educating children using only hard facts (=notions). Mr Gradgrind only focuses on the materialistic side of education, which is why students are educated to be perfect humans who have to live in a Utilitarianism World (like machines etc.), in which people are meant to produce something. In this passage children are represented as passive characters and are described as containers into which gallon of facts are poured. The name of GradGrind is a compound word, a word made up of two different words: Grad (gradient) + Grind (to crush). These two words underline his attitude to grind intellectually the children. He is defined as a narrow-minded (Limited mind) man. In the first paragraph the word “fact” is repeated many times. This creats an hammering effect and the listener/reader feels intimidated. In the second paragraph the most recurring adjective used in the description of Mr Gradgrind is Square, which is repeated 5 times and underlines his rigidity and unflexibility. This text highlights the fact that Mr Gradgrind treats his students as numbers. An example is Sissy Jupe, the girl he defines as the “Number 20”, who, in his opinion, is not able to define an horse. According to Mr. Gradgrind only the people who knows everything/notions perfectly, have the possibility to be called by his/her personal name. (Example in the story —> Bitzer) 3rd person omniscient inobtrusive (obtrusive only in certain parts). Coketown (carbone-città) In the passage Dickens describes Coketown (the city in which the novel is set) as an ugly, noisy and polluted industrial town. In this town there are houses built with red and black bricks, but not lively red because they are damaged by the smoke coming from factories. There are also a canal and a river with dirty and smelly water, because it contains the wastes of factories. Coketown is full of noises coming out from the pistons of the machines. The main features of this town are monotony and the lost of identity of the workers. They are victim of the process of alienation: they live in a town where the streets and the buildings are alike, they act in the same way, do the same work everyday and where all days are alike. People are not able to express their feelings, imagination or creativity. They lose their identity and become machines. Dickens makes a comparison between 2 worlds: Coketown and the natural world. Dickens uses three similes to describe this town: - the red and black buildings look like the painted face of a savage, because, in his opinion, wild animals underline people irrationality. - the smoke coming out of the factories is like snakes which never end their race - the steam engine of the machines moved up and down like an elephant’s head in a state of melancholy madness. These three similes turn the town into an urban jungle and give the idea of a wild and irrational place where is difficult to live. Style 3rd person omniscient explicitily interacting. Dickens uses sounds, colors and smells to describe this town.