Dickens was even more satiric in depicting educational institutions of his time with the character of Wackford Squeers in "Nicholas Nickleby". Squeers' teaching methods involve extensive physical and mental abuse of his students; the title character, in his employ, is ultimately so incensed by this that he physically assaults the teacher himself.
I also love the depiction of the Latin teacher, Dr. Blimber (and his pedantic daughter Cornelia) and the assistant, Mr. Feeder, in “Dombey and Sons,” which I read last year after reading and being told that it was a horrible book. It turned out to be one of my favorites of Dickens. They end up being sympathetic characters. And at the end when young Dombey has to leave because he’s dying, their emotional farewell was very well drawn and really, really sad.
Dickens was even more satiric in depicting educational institutions of his time with the character of Wackford Squeers in "Nicholas Nickleby". Squeers' teaching methods involve extensive physical and mental abuse of his students; the title character, in his employ, is ultimately so incensed by this that he physically assaults the teacher himself.
I also love the depiction of the Latin teacher, Dr. Blimber (and his pedantic daughter Cornelia) and the assistant, Mr. Feeder, in “Dombey and Sons,” which I read last year after reading and being told that it was a horrible book. It turned out to be one of my favorites of Dickens. They end up being sympathetic characters. And at the end when young Dombey has to leave because he’s dying, their emotional farewell was very well drawn and really, really sad.