Monday, October 22, 2012
The Irony in Mrs. Gradgrind's Catchphrase
Throughout the novel, Mrs. Gradgrind repeatedly uses the phrase "I'll never hear the last of it from your father" when her children voice creativity - especially when Louisa speaks of wondering. Interestingly, the chapter beginning on page 187 - the chapter in which Mrs. Gradgrind dies - is titled "Hearing the Last of It." Ironically, Mrs. Gradgrind's death is titled with the same phrase she repeatedly used to quiet her children's musings. So, Dickens is bringing attention to the harm that squashing creativity brings by linking it with death.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I totally agree that Dickens is bringing attention to the harmful effects of a lack of creativity. However, I think that the title of the chapter can also be interpreted differently. I think that "Hearing the last of it" also represents how Louisa and her father still seem to have one last thing to learn (the importance of creativity) because at the very end of the chapter, Mrs. Gradgrind mentions that there is more than just "Ologies": "But there is something - not an Ology at all - that your father has missed" (194). This is where Mrs. Gradgrind gets her last lesson to her daughter in. I believe that this is when Louisa starts to "hear the last of" the system of Facts, and she breaksdown.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a great observation between the early phrase and the chapter title. I would like to take a different approach than Gabby and kind of go back to the first idea and note how interesting it is that a few pages later it describes how Mr Gradgrind "buried her in a business-like manner" (199) and then simply continued on with his life. So although Mrs Gradgrind physically had heard "the last of it" she was still bounded by Mr Gradgrind's strictness even after death. Dickens has her treated this way after death as another way to show again that squashing creativity leads to a lack of emotion and is not beneficial to the individual.
ReplyDelete