dickens criticizes the issue of educating and raising children
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The University of Kent (UKC)
The University of Kent
English Literature (EN508)
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Deonauth 1
19th February, 2012.
Using evidence from the text studied; discuss how Dickens criticizes the issue of educating and
raising children.
“Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else” (Dickens. This
is the philosophy Mr. Gradgrind believed in and enforced in every way he could. This is the
philosophy that Charles Dickens in his novel “Hard Times” criticizes.
In the school owned and operated by Mr. Gradgrind, children were taught only facts, they were
saturated with information and all other ‘wonderings’ were suppressed. There was no room for
creativity and it was a stifling environment for imagination. In the novel, it allows the reader to
compare these students, especially Mr. Gradgrind’s children to the very machines that are littered
throughout the town, as they both function in the same monotonous manner. These utilitarian
beliefs presumably surfaced due to the country’s surge into industrialization and for the need of
knowledgeable individuals. However, Dickens effectively enumerates the flaws in this method of
education and child raising through features of the characters in his novel and also through the
events that occur.
Dickens’ novel contains three books: “Sowing”, “Reaping” and “Garnering”. Each name of the
book and even the names of the chapters bear great significance and are directly linked with the
themes. For at the beginning of the novel, Mr. Gradgrind says:
, Deonauth 2
“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 mind of reasoning
animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them.” (Dickens)Thus, the
process of sowing began, but one might believe that Gradgrind is sowing bad seed, for the
children would be incomplete. They are children after all, and the saying “all work and no play
makes Tom a dull boy” is all too true, (do not use commas in place of full stops) this is indeed
revealed as the novel progresses.
In the school, the students are treated as though they are inmates in a prison, the school is
described as dark and bleak, the children are not called by names, but by numbers. There are no
extra-curricular activities, and all the time spent in school, is used solely to teach the children
subjects such as mathematics. This environment in itself suffocates the mind, and is not
conducive to learning. Just as the workers are trapped in the factories; the students are trapped in
the schools. Their identities are stripped, and they are trained as though they themselves are
machines and their sole purpose is to compute and produce facts and figures. Thus, it is not so
surprising, that Louisa cannot express her feelings, or that Tom plummets himself into reckless
activities or even that Bitzer becomes a cold unfeeling man. For these persons are only
portraying what their environment has made them.
These values, and methods of child raising are not only instilled in school, but when the children
return home, it is further instilled. Mrs. Gradgrind being a submissive wife promotes her
husband’s beliefs in the household and even goes to the extent of reprimanding her children
should they ‘wonder’ about things that Gradgrind finds unsuitable. Thus the children are forced
to be these ‘robot’ like creatures both at home and at school. This completely robs the children of
the childhood they should have had, a childhood full of colorful things, the outdoors and fun.
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