David Copperfield Group

Question:

koko-eng
koko-eng
Student
High School - 9th Grade

Compare Salem's House and Dr. Strong's schools in "David Copperfield".

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Posted by koko-eng on Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 7:14 AM and tagged with creakle, david copperfield, dr strong, salem house, schools.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    Salem House "was a square brick building with wings; of a bare and unfurnished appearance", and its rooms have a "strange, unwholesome smell". Salem House (note the name, and its reference to the devil!) is run by the monstrous Mr. Creakle, who seems to take a perversely extreme delight in thrashing his pupils. Worryingly, Dickens' portrayal of this monstrous teacher was seen as an accurate satire of certain contemporary schoolmasters.

    Dr. Strong's school in Canterbury is its opposite. Pupils are assumed to be honorable, intelligent, well-meaning, and are treated extremely kindly.

    Dickens makes the difference very clear in Chapter 16:

    Doctor Strong's was an excellent school; as different from Mr. Creakle's as good is from evil. It was very gravely and decorously ordered, and on a sound system; with an appeal, in everything, to the honour and good faith of the boys, and an avowed intention to rely on their possession of those qualities unless they proved themselves unworthy of it, which worked wonders.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/david-copperfield-text/chapter-16--...
    http://www.enotes.com/david-copperfield-text/chapter-5---...

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 6:20 PM