July 7

Sandhya and Stephanie

What does Education "do" for the characters?
*Louisa knows she is searching; doesn't know what she is looking for in the end
*Effects upon Tom; radically different
*Education is rote memorization; to teach what they should know; an inculcation of how to look at the world.
*Education is teaching the characters what type of person to be--a "moral pedagogy"
*Education is who they become; the character is shaped by this question: "How can I be a different kind of person?"
*How is the machinery of education and negative outcomes connected? For example, genocide, mass death.


What is the wisdom of the heart?
Wonder, Fancy, Imagination, Lies: are these things different? Same? What are they doing?
Hyper intellectualization can hurt the world. Is bravery, kindness, and love are only hope?

Wisdom of the heart:
Carlyle: is there more than a physical world? A spiritual end?
Acknowledges a world behind the world

Love is a problem: how do resolve it?

Is it worse to be Tom or Louisa? Who is "more fallen?"
Louisa is caged; Tom has a great repression of feeling

Who are the strivers and how do they fair?
What role does entertainment play in the lives of the workers? is that a middle class value
Tom: Striving to be a man
Stephan: He's trying to leave his crazy wife and love Rachel--all leads to death
Bitzer: Comes out okay
Louisa: Looks for something else and is "punished"
Bounderby: He's not a striver, he's a liar
Sissy: catalyst for others to change
Gradgrind: "coming of age" --he has the redemption; the growth

Transformation
Louisa doesn't have the education of heart

Women not fulfilling productive roles in society
One can only be Sissy, Rachel, or Sparsit--You will be one or the other--there's no mobility

Vision/Seeing

How can we make visible what is hidden? What role does the individual play in that? How do you see things as Fact or Fancy?
Question of vision: Who see what? Who can see?
Vision is the first step: showing the reader a world we don't know
Inspiration for a reader

So...what about Carlyle?
Is Carlyle suggesting that the poor are at fault for their poverty?  Or is he saying that that the system of commerce is at fault?  What role does the worker play in fighting for fair wages?

Gospel of Work and Duty--Connection to Puritan work ethic
Captains of Industry--The boss has a duty to his worker to give opportunity for fulfillment or self satisfaction, not mobility.  The worker is born into a station and accepts their lot in life; the highest form of religion may be to do something well where one is needed.
You may find liberty in your work if you find your identity in work---"The Mender of Roads"
Feudalism is a way to create a capitalist society; ignoring lower class/invisible.
Enchanted wealth=the wealth of England that doesn't really exist, but is a narrative vehicle to encourage striving for middle class values or participation in the middle class.

Rhetorical use of "savages"