MURDERING THE INNCENTS

Analysis

The extract is taken from “Hard Times”.

In this extract Charles Dickens wants to express a disapprove to the mentality created by Utilitarism.

The story is set in one of the industrial towns (Coketown) and so the setting is characterized by the aspects of the Industrial Revolution.

The extract underlines the name and the surname of the protagonist: Mr Gradgrin who is a “man of realities” and he bases his life on regulation and mathematical frame of Utilitarianism. To present the character who is a teacher too, the novelist uses the telling technique which doesn’t leave any freedom to the reader. The reader can only adopt two reactions: accept or completely refuse the point of view of the narrator. In this first part, there is an anaphoric use of sentence, a sort of incremental repetition to underline the fact, repetitions and climax.

In a ironical way Dickens tens the reader that definitely there is no space, no room for any other prospective but the functional and mathematical one. There is a contrast between what is true and what is supposed to be true. The first part ends with an exclamation: “no, sir!” that underlines the emotional.

The second section is told through the technique of showing. Here the reader can hear, see and understand the real world of people.

Mr. Gradgrin identifies a student, Sissy Jupe, as a number: “Girl number twenty”. It is very evidently that the reacher doesn’t consider his children as human beings; he negates them their identity. The girl replies that her name is Sissy but she is immediately correct by the teacher who says “Sissy is not a name…call yourself Cecilia”. Mr. Gradgrin has an exaggerate point of view: he represents the mouth speaker of Utilitarism.

Besides Mr. Gradgrind doesn't accept the way of conceive the world of Sissy, she comes from a distant content, a different context compared to her teacher.

Going on with the extract, Mr. Gradgrind commands: "Give me your definition of a horse." Sissy knows what a horse is but she is unable to define it. A boy called Bitzer easily defines the animal by means of biological classifications. The boy is described as “so light-eyed and light-haired” and very pale. When Bitzer speaks and gives defines the exact definition that his teacher has required, he seems to be Mr. Gradgrind's pupil.