description: Originally written for Dickens' weekly magazine, Household Words, this short novel follows the fate of Sissy Jupe, a warm-hearted circus child, and the family that adopts her. Deserted by her ailing father, Sissy is taken into the cold household of the Gradgrind family, which operates a school. The "eminently practical" Thomas Gradgrind believes only in facts and figures and has raised his children accordingly, thoroughly suppressing the imaginative sides of their nature. They grow up in ignorance of love and affection, of beauty and culture, or of empathy for others, and the consequences are devastating. Only after numerous crises does Thomas realize that his principles have corrupted their lives. Dickens' satirical expose of the Industrial Revolution condemns the utilitarianism that exploited the bodies, minds, and souls of the vulnerable labor class.
language: English
title: Hard Times
titlecomplete: Hard Times
characters: Mr. M'Choakumchild, Mrs. Sparsit, Stephen Blackpool, Louisa Gradgrind, James Harthouse, Sissy Jupe, Josiah Bounderby, Thomas Gradgrind
genres: Literature, Classics, School, Novels, Classic Literature, Victorian, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature
ratings_count: 66498
places: Coketown
publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks