Oliver Twist and Hard Times by Charles Dickens, Dispense di Inglese

Scarica Oliver Twist and Hard Times by Charles Dickens e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Oliver Twist (1838) Oliver Twist is a Bildungsroman (an ‘education’ novel) which first appeared in instalments in 1837 and was later published as a book. The novel fictionalises the economic insecurity and humiliation Dickens experienced as a child. The protagonist, Oliver Twist, is always innocent and pure and remains incorruptible throughout the novel. But the name “Twist”, though it is given to the protagonist by accident, represents the outrageous reversals of fortune that he will experience→at the end he is saved from a life of villainy by a well-to-do family. PLOT: Oliver Twist is a poor boy of unknown parents; he was born in a workhouse in a small town near London in the early 1800s. His mother dies almost immediately after his birth and he is brought up in a workhouse in an inhuman way. When the boy commits the unpardonable offence of asking for more food when he is close to starving, the parish official offers five pounds to anyone willing to take Oliver on as an apprentice. In fact, he is later sold to an undertaker, but the cruelty and the unhappiness he experiences with his new master make him run away to London. There he falls into the hands of a gang of young pickpockets, trained by Fagin, who runs a school for would- be thieves. Unfortunately, Oliver is caught on his first attempt at theft. Mr Brownlow, the victim, is stricken by the ragged and unhealthy appearance of Oliver and rather than charging him with theft, he takes him home and takes care of him. Oliver is eventually kidnapped by Fagin’s gang and forced to commit burglary; during the job he’s shot and wounded. Oliver is adopted by Mr Brownlow and at last receives kindness and affection. Investigations are made about who Oliver is and it is discovered that he has noble origins. In the end the gang of pickpockets and Oliver’s brother, who paid them to ruin Oliver and have their father’s property all for himself, are arrested. Dickens attacked: o the social evils of his times→such as poor houses, unjust courts and the underworld; o the world of the workhouses→ founded upon the idea that poverty was a consequence of laziness; o the officials of the workhouses→ instead of alleviating their sufferings, they abused the right of the poor as individuals and caused them further misery. Extract: The Workhouse Oliver is moved from his birthplace to a branch workhouse because the management has become aware of the inadequacy of the women in the institution to take care of the boy. The conditions in this workhouse are appalling. Oliver is looked after by an elderly woman called Mrs Mann, who pockets the greater part of the weekly money granted to each child by the parish. The children under her care are malnourished and neglected. Oliver spends nine years in this workhouse and on his ninth birthday, the beadle arrives at the place. Oliver was born in a workhouse, but there weren't people who were able to take care of Oliver so, after his birth he was sent to a branch-workhouse ruled by Parish authorities: there were a lot of juvenile offenders looked after by an elderly woman. Dickens uses irony to describe the elderly woman: in fact, he said that she was a woman of wisdom and experience because she knew what was good for the children, and she also knew what was good for herself. So she used to steal half of the weekly stipend of the children, and she used this money only for herself. Dickens used a comparison between a great philosopher, who fed his horse only with a straw until his death, and the woman who was supposed to take care of the children. Every child had to survive with a little portion of food, and when one of them died, they hid the real cause of their death. When there was an interesting inquest on parish authorities, every child was clean and neat, since the beadle knew the day before that authorities were going to control them. Oliver spent his 9th birthday in a coal-cellar with his friend as a punishment because they dared to say they were hungry. 1 st paragraph : The conditions in the branch-workhouse were really miserable. Oliver was looked after by an elderly woman in the workhouse. 2 nd paragraph : Religious authorities did not effectively control the way children were treated. 4 th paragraph : Oliver completed nine years in the workhouse. Oliver and the other children are described: l.12 culprits→being poor was felt as being guilty (typical belief in Victorian Age) l.28 small portions of the weakest possible food→malnourished, ill. The starting point/the most realistic detail is children’s starvation and high mortality rate What images of childhood emerge from this description?  The image of innocent childhood  These children have become puppets in the hands of adults What are the functions of this description?  To build up a realistic picture of the scene.  To make the reader side with the poor children. What is the relationship between the parish authorities and the workhouse ones?  The parish authorities check the situation with only apparent thoroughness  and let the workhouse authorities exploit the children. Dickens makes fun of the most distinguishing features of the characters by exaggerating a particular element or using absurd analogies: CHILDREN l.43 The children were neat and clean to behold, when they went. l.45 It cannot be expected that this system of farming would produce any very extraordinary or luxuriant crop. ADULTS l.15-18 Elderly woman: A woman of wisdom and experience l.21.27 Everybody knows the story of a great philosopher… l.7 magnanimously replied with humility Hard Times (1854) Hard Times is a ‘denunciation novel’→a powerful accusation of the negative effects of the industrial society. It’s set in an imaginary industrial town named Coketown. Thomas Gradgrind, an educator who believes in facts and statistics, has founded a school where his theories are taught, and he brings up his two children, Louisa and Tom, in the same way, repressing their imagination and feelings. He marries his daughter to Josiah Bounderby, a rich banker of the city, 30 years older than her. The girl consents since she wishes to help her brother, who is given a job in Bounderby’s bank, but the marriage proves to be unhappy. Tom, lazy and selfish, robs his employer. At first, he succeeds in throwing the suspicion on an honest workman, but he is finally discovered and obliged to leave the country. In the end, Mr Gradgrind understands the damage he has caused to his children and gives up his narrow- minded, materialistic philosophy. Setting: The fictional city of Coketown stands for a typical industrial mill town in mid-19th-century Victorian England. It is a sort of brick jungle: the machineries of factories are like mad elephants, and their smoke looks like serpents. Place of ‘hard facts’ and ‘hard lives’→ all the buildings, which are covered with soot coming from the coal burnt in factories, are the same. However, nothing seems to bother the inhabitants→to some, the blackened buildings may symbolise productivity and industry, while to others, it may just be depressing. Hard Times is divided into three sections, or books, and each book is divided into separate chapters: 1. Book One: ‘Sowing’→ shows the seeds planted by the Gradgrind/Bounderby education: Louisa, Tom and Stephen. 2. Book Two, ‘Reaping’→ reveals the harvesting of these seeds: Louisa’s unhappy marriage, Tom’s selfishness and criminal ways, Stephen’s rejection from Coketown. 3. Book Three, ‘Garnering’→ is linked to a dominant symbol: instability, the solid ‘ground’ upon which Mr Gradgrind’s system once stood is now overthrown. The philosophy of Utilitarianism comes forth largely through the actions of Mr Gradgrind and his follower Bounderby: Mr Gradgrind believes that human nature can be measured and governed entirely by reason. Indeed, his school tries to turn children into little machines that behave according to such rules. Aim: •To illustrate the dangers of the teaching method called ‘object lesson’ It lets people become machines→dehumanised. •To suggest that without compassion and imagination, life would be unbearable. educates the children of his family and his school through facts treats the workers in his factory as emotionless objects that are easily exploited for his own self- interest. originally conceived as a method of education arising from children’s own experiences and suited to their particular stage of Themes: •A critique of materialism: This novel uses its characters and stories to criticise the materialism and narrow-mindedness of Utilitarianism, which was the basic Victorian attitude to economics. •The gap between the rich and the poor, between factory owners and workers, who were forced to work long hours for low pay in dirty, loud and dangerous factories. As they lacked education and job skills, these workers had few options for improving their terrible living and working conditions. •A denunciation of the ugliness and squalor of the new industrial age.