Chapter 1-3

Question 1

From the very beginning, Dickens establishes himself within a contemporary debate on the nature of _________,_______ and ______

Answer 1

learning
knowedlge
education

Question 2

How is the description of the classroom in the opening chapter deffinately satire?

Answer 2

as it is a critique of utilitarianism

Question 3

the description of the classroom is definitely satire, a critique of utilitarianism, and similar philosophies that suggests the absolute reliance upon calculations and fact sin opposition to ______,_____ _____ and _______.

Answer 3

emotion
artistic inspiration
leisure

Question 4

What are the 3 books?

Answer 4

Sowing
Reaping
Garnering

Question 5

The novel is divided into three books entitled Sowing, Reaping and Garnering. This agricultural motif is introduced by the “sowing” of facts as “seeds” into the fertile minds of who?

Answer 5

young boys and girls

Question 6

The imagery of “sowing” and horticulture varies from the children as the planted field an the children as the plants themselves. Give an example/

Answer 6

“the Speaker” charges the instructor to “plantand root out” in order to form the children minds. Later, the children are described as “little vessels then and there arranged in order”

Question 7

Against the archetype of youth (spring, sowing fertility) the older men are “square;” and Dickens hyperboles makes _________ out of the physical description of The Speaker.

Answer 7

architecture

Question 8

Dickens de-personifies the Speaker (being more of an object than an actual person), and various objects in the schoolroom, in particular the Speaker’s clothing. The Speakers ties is “”.?

Answer 8

trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp”

Question 9

What is significant about the fact that “the speakers” tie is “trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp”

Answer 9

as the Speaker has trained the tie to be as unaccomdating as the school system.

Question 10

The sum of Dickens images from sowing to strangulation by the tie, clearly foreshadows what?

Answer 10

the “hard times” that are ahead

Question 11

the use of the word “sowing” corresponds to the old proverb “”?

Answer 11

“you reap what you sow”

Question 12

What is misanthropic?

Answer 12

anti-human, dislike of other people

Question 13

What is the effect of the Speaker’s anonymity, the power of his voice and his pointed “square forefinger”?

Answer 13

they combine as a symbol of a man with God-like authority

Question 14

What reflects the obedience of the children in chapter 1?

Answer 14

there is no dialogue, only the Speaker’s reiterations and the bystanders silent assent

Question 15

Dickens stays close to the classical tripartite structure by divide the work into three books that have an internet narrative. What suggests this?

Answer 15

the names of the books.

After sowing comes reaping, after repeating comes garnering

Question 16

Thomas Gradgrind sows the seeds of Fact, not _____, of sense, not __________; of conformity, not ________.

Answer 16

fancy
sentimentality
not curiosity

Question 17

Thomas’ Gradgrinds very description is one of fact. What quotes?

Answer 17

“square forefinger….square wall of a forehead…square coat…square legs, square shoulders”

Question 18

Who is the only “little vessel” who cannot be filled with facts such as the statistical description of a horse?

Answer 18

Sissy Jupe

Question 19

Who did Sissy Jupe live among which hindered her performance in this school?

Answer 19

“savages”

Question 20

Who is the unnamed Speaker?

Answer 20

thomas Gradgring

Question 21

What number girl is Sissy Jupe?

Answer 21

Girl number 20

Question 22

As is to be expected of Dickens, the names of the characters are emblematic of their personality; what is the names an immediate indication of?

Answer 22

of where they fit on Dicken’s moral spectrum

Question 23

In chapter 1 who is the lone embodiment of “fancy”?

Answer 23

Sissy Jupe

Question 24

Sissy’s character is a romanticised figure. Her last name comes from the french word for skirts and her first name represents the sainted patroness of music. Why is this important?

Answer 24

as, as a member of the travelling circus, we can expect Sissy to represent Art and Fancy

Question 25

Why are Dickens’ allusions ironic?

Answer 25

as hough his characters argue against fanciful literature, Dicken’s is relying upon it to compose his story

Question 26

What is the most important allusion to the first chapter?

Answer 26

its title “Murdering the Innocents”

Question 27

The reference to the chapter title “Murdering of the Innocents” to King Herod would have been immediate for Dickens’ audience in 1854, what is it>

Answer 27

Soon after the birth of Christ, Herod feared for his throne and had all male babies in Bethlehem executed. In literary circles, the phrase “murder of the innocents” is exclusively used to describe this biblical story

Question 28

The reference to the chapter title “Murdering of the Innocents” to King Herod would have been immediate for Dickens’ audience in 1854, Soon after the birth of Christ, Herod feared for his throne and had all male babies in Bethlehem executed. In literary circles, the phrase “murder of the innocents” is exclusively used to describe this biblical story. What does this imply in the novel?

Answer 28

that those who are targeted and singled out (SIssy, Blackpool) will ultimately escape the tyrant.

Question 29

What does Cecilia represent in opposition to mechanisation?

Answer 29

art

Question 30

Dickens is not arguing against education, science or progress. He is arguing against what?

Answer 30

a mode of factory style, mind-numbing, grad-granding production that takes enjoyment out of life.

Question 31

What does Dickens suggest is required for art?

Answer 31

an inquisitive and desiring mind

Question 32

What does Mr.Gradgring forbids and instead encourages classification and dissection?

Answer 32

“wonder”

Question 33

How does Dickens describe the noise of the circus?

Answer 33

that his ‘ears were invaded by the sound of music’

Question 34

How does Gradgrind describe his daughter and son?

Answer 34

as his own metallurgical Louisa” and “his own mathematical Thomas”

Question 35

What other Dickens character does Bounderby parallel?

Answer 35

Mrs.Grundy

Question 36

What can be said about Mr.Bounderby given what Gradgrind said about his reaction to Louisa and Tom peeping at the circus
“What would Mr. Boundary say!”?

Answer 36

that they are similarly boring and uninspiring adults with a heavy handed disciplinary air about them.

Question 37

Coketown is the setting of the novel and is an explicit critique of what?

Answer 37

the social politics, corruption and depression of heavily industrialised areas in England

Question 38

Which chapter is murdering the innocents?

Answer 38

chapter2

Question 39

Hard Times is not a subtle novel and most its moral themes are explicitly articulated through extremely sharp, exaggerated characterisation and through the narrator’s frequent interjection of his own ______ and __________.

Answer 39

opinions

sentiments

Question 40

Cold rationalism divorced from sentiment and feeling can lead to what?

Answer 40

to insensitivity about human suffering, and imaginations can enhance one’s sense of sympathy

Question 41

Grad grinds philosophy of fact is intimately related to the industrial Revolution, which caused what?

Answer 41

the mechanisation of human nature

Question 42

Dickens report that when Gradgrind found his children at the circus, “Tom _____________________ __________ _________”

Answer 42

gave himself up to be taken home like a machine

Question 43

What is signifiant about the fact that Dickens report that when Gradgrind found his children at the circus, “Tomgave himself up to be taken home like a machine”?

Answer 43

as by dulling Tom’s feelings and his sense of free will, his education has rendered his thoughts and actions mechanical.

Question 44

Dickens establishes himself within a contemporary debate on the nature of learning, knowledge and education. The description of the classroom is definitely satire, a critique of what?

Answer 44

of utiliatariansm and similar philosophies that suggest the absolute reliance upon calculations and facts in opposition to emotion, artistic inpirsation and leisure