The final talk was given by Mr. Barbier, Chairman of AlphaOmega Holdings, Ltd., near Exeter. Boys entered their farm at 16 or 17 years on paying a deposit of £1,000. The training took nine years including National Service, and if the student was successful at the end of this time he kept all the stock excess he had reared on a 250 acre farm, together with the refunded £1,000. This term's programme was a great success and the programme for next term, which was discussed by the Advisory Committee, seems to be full of promise. It includes the first of a number of visits to a farm throughout the year so as to follow the development of particular crops. C.B.M.G.
DICKENSIAN CHARACTERS A re-reading of Dickens' Hard Times this term as a set-book inevitably leads one back to a consideration of his characterisation. Dickens is a remarkable writer in many ways but the trouble really starts with his characters : it is these that have invaded the novel and overrun everyday life, so that any person with a distinctive quirk or gimmick is liable to be called "Dickensian". It is this genius for individualisation that makes his characters immediately recognisable and memorable. Moreover it was vital to his success as a serial writer : his readers had to pick up the threads and feel at home with the characters as soon as every monthly instalment appeared. Dickens' art was essentially mnemonic : he wrote to be remembered. On the tiniest scale he seems to write in slogans"Barkis is willing", for example. Even the most casual persons, such as the rescuers in the above novel, are distinguished. In all its forms, this art depends upon imperishable tags and mannerisms associated with individuals : Mr. Micawber is forever waiting for something to turn up and Uriah Heep's hands are forever clammy. Even when "type" characters proliferate as with the Squeers family, though all are marked with a strong idiosyncrasy, all are yet different. And at some point, what has seemed a useful trick turns into a high virtue : the memorable turns into the legendary. Dickens usually presents a person more or less fully formed by a combination of professional, physical and environmental details—a sort of chemical compound with a precise flavour that identifies it. This is often achieved by physical suggestion as in this description of Mrs. Gamp : "She was neatly but not gaudily attired; in the weeds she had worn when Mr. Pecksniff had the pleasure of making her acquaintance; and was perhaps the turning of a scale more snu ffy."
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