... 's minds. The children are mere "vessels" for transporting information. The man has even got a square finger. "The speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve. Gradgrind is described as having a "square wall of a forehead", and as having a " mouth ... feeling, imagination, fantasy and emotional knowledge, instead of the factual counterpart that Mr. Grandgrind stands for. "She looked as if she were frightened by the matter of fact prospect the world afforded". Because she was brought up in a circus, she kno...

• Word Count: 2948
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... urban communities was the growth of available information and mass-media and the changes in attitude that this caused. The massively increased availability of newspapers, books, parliamentary reports, scientific studies and the like, brought about by improvements in transport, technology and manufacturing processes meant that there was more information circulating within society than ever before. A documented increase in literacy also ... novel goes someway to explaining Hardy's choice of subject matter for his narrative. However, as critics have noted, Tess is a transgressive work not o...

• Word Count: 4617
• Approx Pages: 18
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Hard Times: The Gradgrind System of Education Hard times is set out in three different books: The Sowing; The Reaping; The Garnering. They are named so as it has a special reference to the education and upbringing of children. The titles ... lacking in imagination and therefore are not ready to tackle every day human life. The Gradgrind education system was very common in Victorian times and was probably devised by the many rich powerful people ready to employ the pupils once graduated. As this type of education teaches its pupil's to be a passive unthinking work force ... the outside world ab...

• Word Count: 6193
• Approx Pages: 25
• Grade Level: High School

... . His mind was essentially methodical, and in his long walks, in his recreations, in his labour, he was governed by rules laid down for himself - rules well studied beforehand, and rarely departed from. " (anonymous friend, in Charles Dickens, An Illustrated Anthology, Cresent Books, 1995) The Pickwick Papers were stories about a group of rather odd individuals and their travels to Ipswich, Rochester, Bath ... , and elsewhere. It was sold at 1 shilling the installment (1836-37), and opened up a market for similar inexpensive books. Many of Dickens's following novels first appeared in mont...

• Word Count: 6746
• Approx Pages: 27