The scene of Murdering the innocents is a part of Charles Dickens' Hard Times. The scene starts with the characterisation of
Mr T. Gradgrind, a bored, arrogant teacher.  The character of Thomas Gradgrind embodies the Utilitarian theory: a man of realities facts and calculations. This thesis can be argued with the next information: he called a student girl number twenty. From the quotation the theme of identities comes to the surface; during the Victorian Age people were known for their anonymous social roles. Indeed the first question Mr. Gradgrind poses to the girl is to speak about her father's job.

Another interesting element of the text is the teacher's refusal of the nickname Sissy that underlines the teacher's attitude: he is very objective and he is not confident with their student; Thomas Gradgrind, a man of realities is a hard educator who grinds his students through a factory-like process, hoping to produce graduates.

To conclude the narrator uses an anaphoric and incremental style to underline the character's pragmatism and reasonableness.
From the characterisation, the reader understands the narrator is a third person omniscient narrator.

The second part of the text is a dialogue between the teacher and his students. From the dialogue the reader can make a personal point of view that is not influenced by the narrator. The difficult relationship between adults and children is analysed by an ironic awareness of the narrator.

The dialogue between the teacher and Sissy is full of repetitions Call, Tell him, Describe, Give me, and of the use of negative forms, Don't call, he mustn't, you mustn't, emphasizes his rigidity and inflexibility.

After the teacher asked Sissy to define what a horse is, he prefers to pose the question to a boy. He chooses the boy called Bitzer, because he was illuminated by a ray of light. The young boy is described physically. The reader understands he is very different from the darkness of Sissy because he looks like a delicate boy.
The boy is able to describe a horse objectively: he uses a language based on facts and it is the reason why the teacher likes him.

To conclude the reader understands the inefficiency of Victorian schools: students were not free in saying what they want and it is the reason why the chapter is called murdering the innocents.