Chapter 8-10

Question 1

What does Mrs.Gradgrind warn Louisa not to do in chapter 8?

Answer 1

“never wonder” as this contradicts the philosophy of fact , making her wish she had never been cursed with a family

Question 2

What does Mr.Gradgrind’s name evoke?th

Answer 2

the monotonous grind of his children’s lives, as well s the grinding of factory machines

Question 3

To Mr.Gradgrinds dismay, factory workers flock to the Coketown library in order to do what?

Answer 3

to “read mere fables about men and women” to escape and stimulate their imaginations

Question 4

Dickens presents his novels as a way to counteract the dehumanising effects of the Industrial Revolution; how does he do this?

Answer 4

with his focus on the lives of the common people rather than those of kings and queens and other aristocrats; in writing of the social conditions of Victorian England he is a realist writer

Question 5

What did many of the rich fear novels would do?

Answer 5

that they would corrupt the minds of ordinary people, making them fanciful and even immoral

Question 6

By suggesting through his own novel that realist novels can teach and entertain, what does Dickens defend?

Answer 6

his novel against these charges

Question 7

Why does Sissy Jupe do poorly at school?

Answer 7

as she is simply unable to adopt the cold, hard devotion to fact that is demanded of her, instead clinging to what Mr.Gradgrind thinks of as fanciful notions such as the idea that her father will return

Question 8

What chapter is named “Stephan Blackpool”

Answer 8

Chapter 10

Question 9

Blackpool is a Hand, what is this?

Answer 9

one of the lowest menial labourers in Coketown

Question 10

Who does Dickens use to represent the plight of the poor?t

Answer 10

the impoverished denizens of Coketown

Question 11

Blackpool immediately contrasts with the blustery self-obsessed Bounderby; how does Bounderby, rather hypocritically remind Stephan during the conversation of a possible divorce?

Answer 11

that “theres a sanctity in the relation” of marriage that “must be kept”

Question 12

What does Bounderby believe of all Hands?

Answer 12

that they are improvident and dishonest, wanting “turtle soup with a gold spoon” without working for it

Question 13

What is Bounderby’s belief that all Hands are lazy part of?

Answer 13

his rhetoric of the self-made man

Question 14

Dicken’s satire on the educational systtem is expounded through his children how?

Answer 14

through young Tom’s dissatisfaction with his own education and Louisa’s desire to do and learn more

Question 15

What does Sissy’s stories of her life at the circus do for Louisa?

Answer 15

they provide nourishment to the small seeds of doubt that she feels for her upbringing and education

Question 16

Dickens injects some of his own philosophy into the character of Blackpool. In this chapter when are Blackpool’s seeds of discontent revealed?

Answer 16

when he returns to his lonely apartment after walking his beloved Rachael home finding that his drunken wife has returned

Question 17

Between which 2 constructs were all the youthful impulses to winder notably supressed?

Answer 17

Between Mr.Gradgrin and Mr.M’Choakumchild

Question 18

What does tom say about his life in chapter 8?

Answer 18

that he is “sick of life”

Question 19

What does Louisa do in her room with Tom telling him stories of her imagination?

Answer 19

she looks into the fire

Question 20

The scene of a sister reading the fire to her younger brother is repeated in which other Dickens’ novel which provides a symbol of familial warmth and love between siblings?

Answer 20

Our Mutual Friend

Question 21

We see mechanical imagery in the treatment of the Gradgrind parents to their children. How do Louisa and Tom describe their emotions?

Answer 21

as a coiled “spring”, lacking in freedom and repressed emotions

Question 22

How do mistakes come to Sissy in the classroom?

Answer 22

they “seem to come natural”

Question 23

Although the Gradgrinds are part of the progress of the Great Industrial Revolution, how does Sissy seem to grow more in comparison to Mr.Gradgrind?

Answer 23

as his eye is a “wintry piece of fact” whereas Sissy can grow for she is attached to images of spring, youth and life

Question 24

Mr.Gradgrind accepts Sissy’s failure in the classroom and instead allows her to care for mrs.Gradgrind and do chores. Why is this important?

Answer 24

as Sissy represents that which cares for society and its citizens, whereas Louisa and Tom represent that which holds an abrupt and disconnected view of the poor

Question 25

Sissy’s sobbing over being denied the stories she loves (“the wrong books”) is an example of what?

Answer 25

censorship and the theme of surveillance and observation

Question 26

How is Blackpool descried?

Answer 26

as a man of “perfect integrity”

Question 27

Who is the personification of Coketown?

Answer 27

Stephan

Question 28

What does the name “blackpool” rely upon?

Answer 28

basic negative imagery to suggest his dim prospects

Question 29

Only bad things happen to Stephan regardless of his incredibly virtuous person throughout this adversity. Stephan and who else fall into Dicken’s sentiment; depicttion of the working class as more decent and morally fit than their alleged superiors?

Answer 29

Rachel

Question 30

Coketown is described as a labyrinth which in Greek mythology is a sort of maze. This is due to the identically resembling streets. Why is this important?

Answer 30

as it supports the idea of claustrophbia and entrapment in your social sphere