Scarica Presentazione su Charles Dickens e più Slide in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Charles Dickens, revision Romea Giulia Mannini 4BL Things to remember about his life ● Unhappy childhood —>factory at 12 years old ● Father sent to prison for debts ● Strict school teachers ● Newspaper reporter —> “Sketches, by Boz”, London people and scenes, social issues ● Novels that maintain an autobiographical tone —>exploited childhood: Twist, Copperfield. OLIVER WANTS SOME MORE, chapter 2 ● Dehumanization of children “The boys were fed”. ● Extreme hunger, they “suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months”. “The bowls never wanted washing”. ● Oliver asks for more food, “the master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale”. ● Mr. Limbkins considers the fact scandalous, he thinks Oliver is ungrateful, he already considers him as a criminal. ● Irony: “A long grace was said over the short commons”, “Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman’s opinion”, “five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man or woman who wanted an apprentice to any trade, business or calling”,… ● Aim: to touch the public sentiment. HARD TIMES-1854 ● Denunciation novel —> denunciation of industrialisation negative effects (Squalor, gap between rich and poor) ● Coketown. ● Critique of utilitarianism ● Thomas Gradgrind: educator that believes in facts only, destroys imagination and the joys of being children. ● Mr. Bounderby: unfair banker. ● Mr. M’Choakumchild: strict teacher. ● Aim: to illustrate the dangers of allowing people to become like “machines”, and to suggest that without imagination life would be unbearable. THE ONE THING NEEDFUL, chapter 1 ● Mr Gradgrind affirms his belief in FACTS, sole measure of reality. ● “Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else.” ● “Square” features—> rigid, narrow minded ● Students are considered as: “reasoning animals”(dehumanization), “little vessels”. ● Education based on utilitarianism. ● Everything not useful for purely practical purpose is banished (poetry, feelings, imagination,…) THE DEFINITION OF A HORSE, chapter 2 ● Gradgrind mentally introduces himself: he is conceited and arrogant: “a man of fact and calculations”, “peremptorily Thomas”. ● No room for any “nonsensical belief”, human nature is measurable. ● Dehumanizing attitude towards students: “Girl number twenty”, “little pitchers”. ● “What is your father?” —> identity that coincides with his job. ● “Give me your definition of a horse”, “Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!” ● Bitzer answers with a useless definition: he is the product of the teaching method of Gradgrind ● Fills his students with facts in a confusing, random and rapid way
