In What Ways Is Education an Indicator of Social Class in the Mayor of Casterbridge?

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Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge : Essay 1 In what ways is education an indicator of social class in The Mayor of Casterbridge? During the 19th century, an overwhelming percentage of the population – the working-class – was close to being illiterate. Indeed, education was not at all a priority for these people, survival, food and work were a lot more important. However, the upper-classes had money to spend on a good education and that education permitted them to have a better place in society. Therefore, it was normal for middle-class people to want a basic education because their aspiration was to ‘better themselves’ meaning going up the social ladder. Education is a visible theme in The Mayor of Casterbridge as several examples and characters are motivated by it. However, it is more interesting to look how education affects each character and therefore spot the differences between them. Henchard himself starts out as a common hay-trusser, a field worker looking for a job while wandering with wife and kid along country-side roads. Throughout the years he gradually becomes manager of a big corn company and mayor of Casterbridge! However, it is not his education that has permitted this high social status : it is his determination and ward work that have created an access access to the middle-class. Susan, Henchard’s wife, is a honest but simple-minded woman at the beginning of the novel who doesn’t know how to write. When she goes of to Canada with Richard Newson , it seems he teaches her how to read and write as she writes a letter to Henchard and her will. However, education has not really permitted a significant amelioration in her status or at least she dies before having the occasion to profit from this teaching. Lucetta either doesn’t ameliorate her social position with the help of education. We can suppose that she has received a basic

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