Discuss Dicken

With these opening words of the novel “Hard Times”, Charles Dickens introduces us to the character and philosophy of Thomas Gradgrind, whose rigidity and narrow-mindedness make him the villain of the novel. He has adopted Utilitarianism because he believed it was in the interests of the people. His is a genuine mistake, as he did not try to advance his own interest by suppressing those of others. He believes that Utilitarianism is the “One Thing Needful” and he does actually seek to help people. He wants to tell Sissy, the girl from a local circus about her father abandoning her, because he believes that knowing the truth is the best option. He does not intend to hurt her feelings. Dickens feels that many people simply abused the theory of Utilitarianism to indulge their egoism. That is why he is more toler

In Dickens' view, this classroom has been intentionally created as a factory whose express purpose is to manufacture future workers. Education in Coketown is a process by which innocence and imagination are rooted out of the children so they will grow into soulless automatons expecting nothing other than the drudgery of industrial life.

Thomas Gradgrind had raised his children never to wonder, but wondering intrigued them. Gradgrind had observed his children peeking into a circus tent because they were curious as to what was inside. The children were scolded for being curious, but seeds were planted into their minds of how there was more to life than what they had been taught. Furthermore, Tom, a usually well-behaved child, began to rebel after this incident. At first, he was rebelling in his mind, but eventually, after Tom moved out of his father’s house, so began his more visible rebellion. Once more, this is exactly what Mr. Gradgrind had tried to avoid whilst raising his children.

Dickens accuses Utilitarianism of being responsible for the social malaise; the destruction of personality; for robbing people of probably the only real valuable thing they have – their individuality; for oppressing the women and the working class; and finally of depriving the children of a special stage of their life – their childhood. Dickens chose well when he used this factory-style method of mass education to begin his novel about the depersonalization and dehumanization caused by the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. He portrays mass education as a sinister force whose aim is to destroy in its students those qualities Dickens most treasures.

Thomas Gradgrind was a man built on the idea that facts and statistics were the only truth in life and all that was needed to have a healthy and product

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