Question

From Hard Times by Charles Dickens So, Mr. M’Choakumchild began in his best manner. He and some one hundred and forty other schoolmasters, had been lately turned at the same time, in the same factory, on the same principles, like so many pianoforte legs.

In this passage, Charles Dickens uses the image of the factory to show that _____.


teachers are trained to think in a uniform way

many people are studying to become educators

the teaching profession is not highly valued

Mr. M’Choakumchild grew up in an industrial city

Answer 1

Teachers are trained to think in a uniform way

Answer 2

The first alternative is correct (A).

Charles Dickens makes an analogy to the factories in order to explain the teachers' uniformity of thought. It is plausible to infer that the products of a factory are the same, unless there is some manufacturing defect, but in general, they are the same. The passage associates teachers as if they were the products of a factory. That is, they are the same, have the same principles and think evenly.