Charles Dickens, seer
Please read and respond to the article, Charles Dickens, Seer, before Monday, Oct.9.
posted by Anonymous at 8:34 AM
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Please read and respond to the article, Charles Dickens, Seer, before Monday, Oct.9.
posted by Anonymous at 8:34 AM
6 Comments:
Jane Jacobs summarizes the themes, setting, plot, and characters of the Hard Times. She right way states that Hard Times was an unpopular book because of the message that it sent to the readers and its “off-putting structure”. The message was to bring attention to the public of what they were living in and warning that if it did not change then their quality of life would follow.
She summarizes on how the setting Coketown sets the tone and mood of Hard Times. I found it interesting that Coketown was based on an existing town called Preston as well as the character Slackbridge was based off of Mortimer Grimshaw. Dickens constantly describes Coketown throughout the book, he describes air and water pollution, but Jane Jacobs touches upon on his references to the noise pollution. Dickens is trying to warn the people of the era that their ways need to change.
Hard Times starts off slow. This story was not about the characters, but really about the types of character, education, society, and the condition of England. Jane Jacob describes and summarizes the main characters. I believe most of Mr. Smith’s AP English students and Mr. Smith know the character very well, so there is no need to summarize them again.
The way Jane Jacob writes the article is unusual. Jane asks a question and then gives an indepth answer to the question. It give the reader a transition and asks a question to the reader before the reader read Jane’s point of view.
To conclude, Hard Times was an unpopular book for its time because of it dismal outlook on the society and the world that they lived in. Jane Jacob does a good job of summarizing Hard Times.
10/8/06, 11:29 PM
Nice Stephen Blackpool quote, Erin:
"I do think that Hard Times carries out an incredibly despairing message, which makes the book very difficult to muddle through."
10/9/06, 8:34 AM
Erica writes:
"In this essay, Jane Jacobs does a very good job of describing just about every reason why to burn every version of Hard Times that is currently published."
Funny... but I'm sure Jane Jacobs would disagree with you. While many of the characters themselves are "dull and lifeless" the descriptions of them are anything but. The actual intelligence behind the book shines through, and the descriptions are gems of precision and insight.
As to your other point:
"When life itself can be hard, why read about it?" ... I am surprised you would think this. Should literature contain itself to cheerful sentiments? Puppies and kittens?! Shiny happy people?!
10/9/06, 11:53 AM
Sarah, you have done a great job of summarizing Jane Jacobs' stance to "Hard Times": although the book has never been a big crowd pleaser, it is well written and amazingly relevant in its stance to many social issues which were only just becoming apparent at the time of its writing. My favorite quote from you is this:
"Mrs. Gradgrind dies. Stephen falls in a hole. The whole story is full of disaster."
Let's not forget "Tom robs a bank, Sissy's dad runs off, Louisa has a nervous breakdown,..." and the list goes on! That's why I probably kept calling it "Bleak House" this morning. BLEAK! (but funny!).
10/9/06, 12:03 PM
Very insightful comment, Morgan:
"I suppose that it is understandable that in 1854 the general public didn’t like this novel (okay, I didn’t like this novel) but it was a warning for them not to forget their creativity or wonderment, and a reminder that when it comes down to science or ‘humanities’ you don’t necessarily have to choose."
10/9/06, 12:26 PM
"The article is too long and didn't bring anything to new light for me."
Try again, Rachel. You use the word "boring" three times. That's boring!
10/9/06, 12:29 PM
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