'Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life'. Do you agree with Mr Gradgrind in this context? Give reasons for your answer. chapter name: Nothing but facts.
Answers
- ɴᴏ ᴅɪᴄʀɪᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ʙᴏʏs ᴀɴᴅ ɢɪʀʟs
- ʟɪᴋᴇ sᴀᴛɪ ᴀɴᴅ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʀᴜʟᴇs
- ʜᴏᴘᴇ ɪᴛ ʜᴇʟᴘs
Answer:
Yes, I totally agree with Mr Gradgrind in the following context.
Explanation:
These are the novel’s opening lines. Spoken by Mr. Gradgrind, they sum up his rationalist philosophy. In claiming that “nothing else will ever be of service” to his pupils, Gradgrind reveals his belief that facts are important because they enable individuals to further their own interests. However, Tom and Louisa’s unhappy childhood soon calls into question their father’s claim that “[f]acts alone are wanted in life.” Ironically, while Gradgrind refers to the pupils in his school as “reasoning animals” and compares their minds to fertile soil in which facts can be sowed, he treats them like machines by depriving them of feeling and fantasy. His jarringly short sentences and monotonous repetition of the word “Fact” illustrate his own mechanical, unemotional character. Finally, it is significant that Gradgrind’s call for facts opens a work of fiction. By drawing attention to the fact that we are reading fiction, Dickens suggests to us that facts alone cannot bring intellectual pleasure.