Hard Times - "The definition of a horse" Dickens, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Hard Times - "The definition of a horse" Dickens e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! T H E D E F I N I T I O N O F A H O R S E Charles Dickens The extract is taken from Charles Dickens’s Hard Times. Thomas Gradgrind, an educator who believes in facts and statistics, has founded a school where his theories are taught. By reading the text can immediately understand that Dickens is presenting a repressive and claustrophobic system of education/environment. There’s a third-person omniscient narrator, who refers directly to the reader using the expression “Sir”. Dickens’ aim is to involve the public in the story. The description of Mr. Gradgrind is that of a grotesque man, but also quite unbearable. It’s a clear reference to the Victorian society that imposes a rigid life-style code, which Dickens wants to criticize. In fact during the age children were educated in order to be like machines; they were private of their childhood and were exploited. This idea is reinforced by the name that the teachers uses for them, they are called “little pinchers” and it’s clear that Mr. Gradgrind doesn’t consider them people but as object. Then Dickens describes another character in a grotesque way, the character of Sissy Jupe. She’s called “girl number twenty”. The narrator also focuses on the contrast between the formal language of Mr. Gradgrind, which make him appear as an annoying person, and the informal language of Sissy. To conclude, Dickens’ critique is embodied in the exchange between the teacher, and the two student, Sissy and Bitzer, over the proper definition of a horse. Bitzer, who has learned the definition by heart, classifies it as a “Quadruped” and “Graminivorous” whereas Sissy, the horseman’s daughter, is reproached for possessing “no facts, in reference to one of the commonest of animals”. One more time Dickens uses the grotesque to describe Bitzer: indeed he looks like a ghost, incredible pale and also lacking of personality. Giving this answer, Bitzer said exactly what the teacher expected. *Alienation