Hard Times
Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in spring......" A perfect example of a product of utilitarian education, Bitzer defines a horse off the top of his head in a split second. Utilitarianism is the assumption that human beings act in a way that highlights their own self interest. It is based on factuality and leaves little room for imagination. Dickens provides three vivid examples of this utilitarian logic in Hard Times. The first; Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, was the principal of a school in Coketown. He was a firm believer in utilitarianism and instilled this philosophy into the students at the school from a very young age, as well as his own children. Mr. Josiah Bounderby was also a practitioner of utilitarianism, but was more interested in the profit that stemmed from it. At the other end of the perspective, a group of circus members, who are the total oppo!site of utilitarians, are added by Dickens to provide a sharp contrast from the ideas of Mr. Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind. Thomas Gradgrind Sr., a father of five children, has lived his life by the book and never strayed from his philosophy that life is
The people who knew the factual information, (utilitarians) were successful, while those who did not were reduced to working in the factories of the utilitarians. Dickens paints a vivid picture of this inequality between social classes and shows he does not care much for it. It is fairly easy to see that Dickens holds a contempt for Bounderby and the utilitarian philosophy he carries. nothing more than facts and statistics. He has successfully incorporated this belief into the school system of Coketown, and has tried his best to do so with his own children. The educators see children as easy targets just waiting to be filled with information. They did not consider, however, the children's need for fiction, poetry, and other fine arts that are used to expand children's minds, all of which are essential today in order to produce well-rounded human beings through the educational process. One has to wonder how different the story would be if Gradgrind did not run the school. How can you give a utilitarian man such as Gradgrind such power over a town? Mr. Bounderby maintained throughout the story his utilitarian views, which basically stated that nothing else is important besides profit. Being the owner of both a factory and a bank, Bounderby employs many workers, yet seems to offer them no respect at all. He refers to the factory workers as "Hands," because that is all they are to him. Bounderby often states that workers are all looking for "venison, turtle soup, and a golden spoon," while all they really want is decent working conditions and fair wage for their work. He is not concerned about his employees as human beings, but how much their hands can produce during the workday, resulting with money in his pocket. Dickens structures the book to make one ask obvious questions about social class distinctions such as these. Dickens does not tell us much about the success of the other students of the school besides Bitzer, who is fairly successful on paper, but does not have the capacity as a person to deal with life's everyday struggles. Gradgrinds two oldest children, Tom and Louisa, are examples of how this utilitarian method failed miserably. These children were never given the opportunity to think for themselves, experience fun things in life, or even use their imaginations. True, they are smart people in the factual sense but do not have the street smarts to survive. Tom is a young man who, so fed up with his father's strictness and repetition, revolts against him and leaves home to work in Mr. Bounderby's bank. Tom, now out from under his fathers win
Some common words found in the essay are:
Sissy Jupe, Gradgrind Sr, Bounderby Gradgrind, Josiah Bounderby, Tom Louisa, Blackpool Bounderby's, Ironically Bitzer, Graminivorous Forty, Thomas Gradgrind, James Harthouse, social classes, circus people, utilitarian philosophy, thomas gradgrind, social class distinctions, examples utilitarian, own children, students school, utilitarians dickens, josiah bounderby, class distinctions,
Approximate Word count = 1754
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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