Where The Sidewalk Ends- Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Youtube link-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUgdwyxTF0&feature=related

This blue bird, similarly to sissy, is different fom the rest, and therefore they try and let her know that she doesn't fit in. However in the end the blue bird ends up taking care of them, or hiding them when they have no feathers.

Discussion forum: Why characters got their ending?

At the end of Hardtimes many characters end up getting what they deserve, similar to Karma. “Josiah Bounderby was to die of a fit in the coketown street”, Mrs. Sparsit was doomed to live the remainder of her life with a “grudging, smarting, peevish, tormenting Lady Scadgers”, Sissy became a loving mother, and Louisa learned the things she hadn’t as a child became beloved by Sissy’s Children. However some characters didn’t receive a their deserved ending. The innocent, Stephen ended up dying, Rachael ended up working hard for the rest of her life and caring for Stephen’s drunk widow, Harthouse went off and did terrible things elsewhere and Thomas seeming to have had a change of heart, loving his sister and only desiring to see her face, perished before he was able to come home. Why did Dickens have some characters have the ending they deserved and some got an ending that was undeserved?

Dickens Quote p.10

“You might hope to get some other nonsensical belief into the head of George Gradgrind, or Augustus Gradgrind, or John Gradgrind, or Joseph Gradgrind (all suppositions, non-existent persons), but into the head of Thomas Gradgrind- no sir! (10)

This is the quote I picked and I just really like Dickens style in this sentence. It has so much voice, and feels like the narrator is conversing with the reader. Also its comical because it feels as if the narrator is going off on a tangent, listing names and then explaining how the names aren’t real people. My favorite part of the sentence is definitely the end- “no sir!”. It just adds flavor to the whole sentence and really powers through the point that Thomas has been completely raised on facts.

passage analysis of p.229

As Sissy confronts Harthouse and persuades him to stay away from Louisa, Dickens depicts Harthouse as evil. To begin with, as Sissy begs Harthouse through pure kindness and goodwill towards Louisa, Harthouse “was touched in the cavity where his heart should have been” (226). This idea of Harhouse as lacking his heart supports the idea that Harthouse was leading Louisa down the spiral staircase to her own downfall. Contrastingly Louisa is shown to be a force of good. Louisa tells Harthouse that she comes on behalf of her “commission of love for [Louisa] and her love for me” (225). Dickens use of love to describe Sissy’s actions supports the idea that she is a force of good in the company of Harthouse.  Dickens finishes his passage saying that “moral men” would think that James Harthouse would have a change of Heart, “But it was not so” (229). Though a reader would hope for a change of heart, Harthouse’s change was “not so”. After being defeated by the epitome of good- Sissy Jupe- rather than change in his ways he feels ashamed at his weakness. Therefore though sissy was able to save Louisa from the spiral staircase, Harthouse was to corrupt a man to be saved.

Link to A Christmas Carol

Both Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and Mr. Gradgrind in Hard Times are initially irritable, socially alienated figures absorbed by some strange obsession. Gradually over the course of these stories they change their attitudes and reform their views. In the story A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is absolutely despises Christmas and has no respect for the people who celebrate it. The only thing that is worth living for in his opinion is money. Just as Scrooge is obsessed with money, Gradgrind wants the city of Coketown to live on “nothing but Facts”. As both texts progress however, Scrooge and Gradgrind come to realize that their lifestyle is only hindering those around them and they have an epiphany of reformation.

Discussion Forum

   After analysis of Mrs Sparsit and Louisa and their descent down the Staircase, what Social and Economic roles do women play in Hard Times? What does Dickens see as “appropriate” and “inappropriate” roles for women in the Victorian society and how does he show this?