Question

In Hard Times, what is Charles Dickens’s purpose in describing the scene’s setting as “a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom”?

Answer 1

To convey that the students' education suppresses individual expression.

Step-by-step explanation:

Charles Dickens’s novel "Hard Times" revolves around the people of England's Coketown where industrialization had taken over and people's lives were more monotonous than realistic. The satirical story deals with themes of society, industries, machines, facts, and fancy, etc.

In the description of the school's classroom scene from Chapter 1, the narrator reveals, "The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom" which seems to suggest the idea that the student’s education does not encourage individual expression. The words "plain, bare, monotonous" presents a boring, dull image.