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Page 14
So with a rich vocabulary and fitting comparisons Dickens achieves an accurate description of the bad conditions under which lessons took place. The reason for this was that many schools were either poor or simply not willing to raise money for better pieces of furniture and rooms, and thus the environment in which children should be educated could never rise to the occasion to make concentrated and productive work possible.
The next point of criticism alludes to the employees of schools directly, the teachers. Mr Mell is the first teacher David meets at Salem House and he quickly realizes that Mr Mell is very poor, which is expressed through the fact that “ (…) the boots he had on were a good deal the worse for wear, and that his stocking was just breaking out in one place, (…)”[10] So this clearly demonstrates that not only workers in workhouses or factories had to suffer from poverty and bad living conditions, but that even teachers were no exception in this respect. And later on, it becomes clear that the only one in Salem House who is quite wealthy, is its owner and principle Mr Creakle, who profits from this institution. So if one looks closely at it, one can evidently see a slight, subtle allusion by Dickens to capitalist institutions. And this is a very striking point, because here becomes clear that in Dicken’s opinion, the capitalist system infiltrated everything. Not only factories or workhouses, but also the educational system. And so the hidden comparison of Salem House to a capitalist-led enterprise is a very important part of his criticism.
[10] Dickens, Charles, David Copperfield, p.80
