Charles Dickens on Education: representation of schools in Nicholas Nickleby and Hard Times

Bratinčević, Issa. (2014). Charles Dickens on Education: representation of schools in Nicholas Nickleby and Hard Times. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Knežević, Borislav].

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Abstract

The thesis provides an analysis of Charles Dickens’s novels Nicholas Nickleby and Hard Times. It concentrates primarily on the representation of schools in these two novels – Mr Squeers’s Dotheboys Hall and Mr Gradgrind’s elementary school. Through showing that Dickens used actual schools of the period as models for his fictional schools and, furthermore, that he concentrated on actual politico-economic contexts of the Victorian era, the thesis highlights Dickens’s deep understanding of the changing society. Since in both novels the schools are presented as prison-like institutions in which harsh discipline is imposed on children and in which inadequate education leaves irretrievable consequences on children’s adult lives, Dickens’s portrayals of these schools represent a harsh critique of the English educational system. The purpose of this thesis is to identify Dickens’s contributions to the English education and to underline the social importance of his fiction.

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