SparkNotes: Hard Times: Important Quotations Explained Important Quotations Explained Book the Third: Garnering: Chapters 5–9 Key Facts 1. Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the mind of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. These are the novel’s opening lines. Spoken by Mr. Gradgrind, they sum up his rationalist philosophy. In claiming that “nothing else will ever be of service” to his pupils, Gradgrind reveals his belief that facts are important because they enable individuals to further their own interests. However, Tom and Louisa’s unhappy childhood soon calls into question their father’s claim that “[f]acts alone are wanted in life.” Ironically, while Gradgrind refers to the pupils in his school as “reasoning animals” and compares their minds to fertile soil in which facts can be sowed, he treats them like machines by depriving them of feeling and fantasy.

His jarringly short sentences and monotonous repetition of the word “Fact” illustrate his own mechanical, unemotional character. Finally, it is significant that Gradgrind’s call for facts opens a work of fiction. By drawing attention to the fact that we are reading fiction, Dickens suggests to us that facts alone cannot bring intellectual pleasure. 2. It is known, to the force of a single pound weight, what the engine will do; but not all the calculators of the National debt can tell me the capacity for good or evil, for love or hatred, for patriotism or discontent, for the decomposition of virtue into vice, or the reverse, at any single moment in the soul of one of these quiet servants, with the composed faces and the regulated actions. This passage, from Book the First, Chapter 11, provides insight into the narrator’s beliefs and opinions. Dickens’s omniscient narrator assumes the role of a moral guide, and his opinion tends to shape our own interpretations of the story. Here, we learn that the narrator disagrees with Gradgrind, believing instead that human nature cannot be reduced to a bundle of facts and scientific principles.

The narrator invokes the mystery of the human mind, pointing out how little we actually know about what motivates the actions of our fellow beings. The “quiet servants” to whom the narrator refers are the factory Hands. In representing these people as an unknown quantity, the narrator counteracts Bounderby’s stereotypes of the poor as lazy, greedy good-for-nothings. While he suggests that we need to understand these people better, the narrator also implies that this knowledge cannot be attained through calculation, measurement, and/or the accumulation of fact. 3. Thou art an Angel. Bless thee, bless thee! More a symbol than a fully developed character, Rachael is often referred to as an angel by Stephen. Like Sissy Jupe, whom she later befriends, Rachael represents the qualities necessary to counteract the dehumanizing, morally corrupting effects of industrialization. She is compassionate, honest, generous, and faithful to Stephen, even when everyone else shuns him and considers him a thief. As this remark illustrates, Rachael also draws out Stephen’s good qualities, making him realize that joy can be found even in the moral darkness of Coketown.

Rachael and Sissy are both socially marginal characters—the former is a Hand, and the latter is the daughter of a circus entertainer. Likewise, they are both relatively minor characters in the novel. Through their marginal status, Dickens implies that the self-serving rationalism that dominates Coketown threatens to exclude the morally pure people who are necessary to save society from complete corruption. 4. Coketown lay shrouded in a haze of its own, which appeared impervious to the sun’s rays. You only knew the town was there because you knew there could have been no such sulky blotch upon the prospect without a town. A blur of soot and smoke, now confusedly tending this way, now that way, now aspiring to the vault of Heaven, now murkily creeping along the earth, as the wind rose and fell, or changed its quarter: a dense formless jumble, with sheets of cross light in it, that showed nothing but masses of darkness—Coketown in the distance was suggestive of itself, though not a brick of it could be seen.

Like many other descriptions of Coketown, this passage, from Book the Second, Chapter 1, emphasizes its somber smokiness. The murky soot that fills the air represents the moral filth that permeates the manufacturing town. Similarly, the sun’s rays represent both the physical and moral beauty that Coketown lacks. While the pollution from the factories makes Coketown literally a dark, dirty place to live, the suffering of its poor and the cold self-interest of its rich inhabitants render Coketown figuratively dark. In stating that Coketown’s appearance on the horizon is “suggestive of itself,” the narrator implies that Coketown is exactly what it appears to be. The dark “sulky blotch” hides no secrets but simply represents what is, on closer inspection, a dark, formless town. Built entirely of hard, red brick, Coketown has no redeeming beauty or mystery—instead, it embodies Mr. Gradgrind’s predilection for unaccommodating material reality. 5.

Look how we live, an’ wheer we live, an’ in what numbers, an’ by what chances, an’ wi’ what sameness; and look how the mills is awlus a-goin’, and how they never works us no nigher to onny distant object-‘ceptin awlus Death. Look how you considers of us, and writes of us, and talks of us, and goes up wi’ your deputations to Secretaries o’ State ‘bout us, and how yo are awlus right, and how we are awlus wrong, and never had’n no reason in us sin ever we were born. Look how this ha’ growen an’ growen sir, bigger an’ bigger, broader an’ broader, harder an’ harder, fro year to year, fro generation unto generation. Who can look on’t sir, and fairly tell a man ‘tis not a muddle? Stephen Blackpool’s speech to Bounderby, from Book the Second, Chapter 5, is one of the few glimpses that we receive into the lives of the Hands. His long sentences and repetition of words such as “an’” and “Look” mimic the monotony of the workers’ lives.

Similarly, Stephen’s dialect illustrates his lack of education and contrasts with the proper English spoken by the middle-class characters and by the narrator. In spite of his lack of formal education, however, Stephen possesses greater insight about the relationship between employer and employee than does Bounderby. Stephen notes that “yo” (the factory owners and employers) and “us” (the Hands) are constantly opposed, but that the Hands stand no chance in the contest because the employers possess all the wealth and power. However, he does not blame the employers solely for the suffering of the poor, concluding instead that the situation is a “muddle” and that it is difficult to determine who is responsible for society’s ills. Stephen also suggests that the monotony of factory labor seems futile to the Hands, who need to strive for some larger goal in order to make the endless round of production seem worthwhile. The “distant object” or larger goal that he mentions here is later symbolized by the bright star on which he gazes while trapped at the bottom of the mine shaft. More Help Hard Times Essay | The Triumph of Mr. Gradgrind’s System: Louisa as a Wasteland in Charles Dickens’s Hard Times | GradeSaver The Triumph of Mr.

Gradgrind’s System: Louisa as a Wasteland in Charles Dickens’s Hard Times Hard Times The Triumph of Mr. Gradgrind’s System: Louisa as a Wasteland in Charles Dickens’s Hard Times Anonymous “Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts” (9) pronounces Mr. Thomas Gradgrind in the opening line of Charles Dickens’s novel Hard Times. Gradgrind employees this utilitarian philosophy in his schoolhouse and repeatedly reminds the reader that there is no room for idle fantasizing and that nothing matters but Fact. Not only does Gradgrind wield this belief in his school, but it is also the philosophy he teaches his own children within the walls of Stone Lodge. The mechanizing effects of Mr. Gradgrind’s teachings turn these children into true products of the Industrial Revolution—little machines. Gradgrind’s eldest child, Louisa, becomes the central example of the mechanization of people in Dickens’s Hard Times, and she serves as a powerful critique of the coldness and de-humanization of the Industrial Revolution.

Louisa Gradgrind is the central female figure in Hard Times; she strives to suppress her passions and curiosities so she might please her father by living a life led by Fact. Her schooling has been a “mechanical art” (71) that never stooped to “the cultivation of the sentiments and affections” (71). Louisa is repeatedly warned by her father to “Never wonder” and continually reminded of... Join Now to View Premium Content GradeSaver provides access to 749 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 4712 literature essays, 1482 sample college application essays, 189 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders. A Chronological list of Charles Dickens Opening Sentences Pinterest2 These are the opening sentences from every Charles Dickens novel and novella, including his incomplete Edwin Drood serial, in chronological order, from the beginning of his novel-writing career to his death in 1870. Why bother? Because I tried to find somewhere on the internet that had a complete list of his sentences, but there were none.

There are several examples where his opening lines are shown in a list of great first sentences, but they are mostly all A Christmas Carol and excerpts from A Tale of Two Cities. What I’m trying to say is that this is a great service to the world. As Dickens is often cited in lists of great openers, it would be fair to say he was good at them, so I hope that seeing them in chronological order will show a progression- or, at least, a change- over his writing career. I’ve done some stats and analysis of how they have changed, but I’ll put them in a separate post as I want this to serve as a reference. There’s a poll to vote on your favourite opening sentence at the bottom of this page.

Charles Dickens opening sentences ‘The first ray of light which illumines the gloom, and converts into a dazzling brilliancy that obscurity in which the earlier history of the public career of the immortal Pickwick would appear to be involved, is derived from the perusal of the following entry in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club, which the editor of these papers feels the highest pleasure in laying before his readers, as a proof of the careful attention, indefatigable assiduity, and nice discrimination, with which his search among the multifarious documents confided to him has been conducted.’ The Pickwick Papers (Monthly serial: April 1836 to November 1837) Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this

 chapter.

Oliver Twist (Monthly serial: February 1837 to April 1839) There once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of Devonshire, one Mr Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere attachment, who in her turn had taken him for the same reason. Thus two people who cannot afford to play cards for money, sometimes sit down to a quiet game for love. Nicholas Nickelby (Monthly serial: April 1838 to October 1839) Support This Page Support this page by signing up to Audible using the link below. You’ll get one free audiobook as part of your free month trial. If you like Dickens, you’ll be glad to hear that Charles Dickens: The BBC Radio Drama Collection: Volume One: Classic Drama from the BBC Radio Archive is an option for your first free audiobook containing The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and The Old Curiosity Shop. So, that’s four books for free!

ALTHOUGH I am an old man, night is generally my time for walking. The Old Curiosity Shop (Weekly serial: April 1840 to February 1841) In the year 1775, there stood upon the borders of Epping Forest, at a distance of about twelve miles from London–measuring from the Standard in Cornhill,’ or rather from the spot on or near to which the Standard used to be in days of yore–a house of public entertainment called the Maypole; which fact was demonstrated to all such travellers as could neither read nor write (and at that time a vast number both of travellers and stay-at-homes were in this condition) by the emblem reared on the roadside over against the house, which, if not of those goodly proportions that Maypoles were wont to present in olden times, was a fair young ash, thirty feet in height, and straight as any arrow that ever English yeoman drew. Barnaby Rudge (Weekly Serial: February 1841 to November 1841) Marley was dead: to begin with.

A Christmas Carol (1843) As no lady or gentleman, with any claims to polite breeding, can possibly sympathize with the Chuzzlewit Family without being first assured of the extreme antiquity of the race, it is a great satisfaction to know that it undoubtedly descended in a direct line from Adam and Eve; and was, in the very earliest times, closely connected with the agricultural interest. Martin Chuzzlewit (Monthly serial: January 1843 to July 1844) There are not many people and as it is desirable that a storyteller and a story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon as possible, I beg it to be noticed that I confine this observation neither to young people nor to little people, but extend it to all conditions of people: little and big, young and old: yet growing up, or already growing down again there are not, I say, many people who would care to sleep in a church. The Chimes (1844) The Cricket on the Heart (1845) Once upon a time, it matters little when, and in stalwart England, it matters little where, a fierce battle was fought.

The Battle of Life (1846) The Haunted Man (1848) DOMBEY sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great arm-chair by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, carefully disposed on a low settee immediately in front of the fire and close to it, as if his constitution were analogous to that of a muffin, and it was essential to toast him brown while he was very new. Dombey and Son (Monthly serial: October 1846 to April 1848) Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. David Copperfield (Monthly serial: May 1849 to November 1850) Bleak House (Monthly serial: March 1852 to September 1853) “NOW, what I want is, Facts.” Hard Times (Weekly serial: April 1854 to August 1854) THIRTY years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day.

Little Dorrit (Monthly serial: December 1855 to June 1857) It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. A Tale of two Cities (Weekly serial: April 1859 to November 1859 My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.

Great Expectations (Weekly serial:December 1860 to August 1861) In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in. Our Mutual Friend (Monthly serial: May 1864 to November 1865) An ancient English Cathedral Town? The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Monthly serial: April 1870 to September 1870. Only half completed.) That’s all of them. Vote on which is your favourite, and comment if you notice any patterns or changes in the opening sentences over time Best Dickens Opening Sentence Charles Dickens’ Hard Times: The Usefulness of Useless Things Charles Dickens’ Hard Times: The Usefulness of Useless Things Crisis Magazine “The Child is father of the Man,” wrote William Wordsworth, marveling at the enchantment of the child’s early experience and delight in play.

The formative period of childhood cultivates in the young a love of life, a sense of adventure, and an imaginative world filled with wonder. As the child in Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses observes, “The world is so filled with a number of things, / I think we should all be happy as kings.” However, when outdoor fun, fairy tales, and games are condemned as forms of idleness, a waste of time, and useless activities that divorce children from the harshness of reality and the seriousness of life, then a utilitarian view of school and life reduces man to an economic being rather than a child created for happiness. Utilitarianism subverts the classical-Christian ideal that man works in order to play and that wonder is the beginning of knowledge. The opening line of the novel is famous: “Now what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.” The Gradgrind Academy views education exclusively as preparation for work, schooling that limits learning only to empirical knowledge, the laws of science and mathematics, and the subjects most useful for a future in the business world.

The end of education, then, is purely utilitarian—for the purpose of work to earn money, to rise socially, and to enjoy the benefits of material possessions that define human happiness in terms of things. The Gradgrind philosophy of education limits the term “useful” only to the functional, the efficient, and the gainful. Education is a self-serving means to an end, not an end in itself or something good loved for its own sake but a servile activity that produces results, profit, and success measured by financial prosperity. Liberal education, then, is condemned as “useless,” a form of idleness similar to the make-believe of children who waste time and daydream instead of learning at school and preparing for work. According to Mr. Gradgrind, man does not work to play but lives to work. Man is a worker, not a player with a sense of mirth who enjoys hospitality, fellowship, the arts, or the outdoors. Man is a laborer, not a thinker who philosophizes or contemplates the true, the good, and the beautiful. The successful utilitarians in Coketown like Mr.

Bounderby and Bitzer have no time for friendship, romance, worship, beauty, leisure, or recreation because these pursuits do not lead to success in a competitive society ruled by the worship of force and by survival of the fittest. Whereas St. Thomas Aquinas argued that “No man can live without pleasure”—a self-evident truth about human nature like Aristotle’s “All men by nature desire to know” and “Man by nature is a political animal”—the Gradgrind philosophy denies man’s human, social, and moral nature and disfigures the essence of childhood, Students who enter Gradgrind Academy are warned never to fancy and never to wonder. They should never imagine a carpet with a flower design because “You don’t walk upon flowers in fact; you cannot be allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets.” At school students are never taught about fairies, elves, genies, and Greek gods. They never read the adventurous fiction of Goldsmith or Defoe or study mythology. Children are deprived of the enjoyment of Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes and the playfulness of poetry. They are severely reprimanded for watching a circus after school because the performers do not produce anything “useful” by way of manufacturing necessary goods.

Ignoring the hearts and souls of the young, the teachers view their pupils as”little vessels . . . ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim.” The greatest damage inflicted on the children of a utilitarian education, however, is the neglect of moral education. The graduates of the school—Tom, Louisa, and Bitzer– lack the virtues of the heart, a right conscience, and the ability to make prudent decisions. In other words, the allegedly practical education of the Gradgrind school ultimately proves to be useless when tested by human experience. Dickens’ illustrates that the so-called “useful” things of the world—facts, work, and money—ultimately prove to be useless in life’s major crises, while the “useless” activities scorned by the utilitarians—play, friendship, charity, hope, and beauty—prove to be infinitely valuable and ultimately more beneficial than facts. Mr. Gradgrind has only contempt for Mr. Sleary’s circus troupe engaged in unnecessary frivolous nonsense, but all the problems suffered by the Gradgrind children have no factual answers but only imaginative solutions.

Tom Gradgrind’s utilitarian education offers no benefits after he enters the work force. Deprived of a normal childhood and the wholesome pleasures of simple fun, Tom resorts to gambling and drinking to compensate for the void in his life. In serious debt, he pleads with his sister Louisa for money to pay for his bad habits, and he steals money from a bank and cleverly frames an innocent bystander for his crime. Thus Tom’s useful education in facts offers no help in the practical business of living and making moral choices. Desperate when pursued by the law as a common criminal, Tom appeals to the kindness of Bitzer, a fellow student. Gradgrind implores his former student not to press charges or provide evidence to convict Tom: “Have you a heart? “and “Pity us!” Bitzer responds that he acts only on the basis of self-interest, not charity, compassion, or affection for a classmate or former teacher.

Gradgrind’s utilitarian education produced the hard-hearted, cold-blooded, selfish pupil who defined the heart on the basis of “the facts established by Harvey relating to the circulation of the blood.” Bitzer’s explanation of his heartlessness accords with the Gradgrind education he received: “Mr. Bounderby will promote me to young Tom’s position.” Ironically, it is Mr. Sleary, using his childlike creative imagination and playful mind, who delivers Tom from Bitzer’s ruthless persecution. Sleary, always the circus performer, disguises Tom as a clown and coaches him to ride a horse. At the opportune moment Tom, as if performing a stunt at a show, jumps from the horse onto a pony-gig that races away at breakneck speed as Sleary’s dog snarls and keeps Bitzer at bay. Tom escapes the clutches of Bitzer who wants Tom apprehended to gain his position in the struggle of the fittest for survival. Dickens, then, demonstrates the usefulness of useless things. An education that leads the mind to love goodness, wonder at beauty, and revel in the truth cannot possibly be unproductive or impractical.

As Cardinal Newman explained this paradox in The Idea of a University, … though the useful is not always good, the good is always useful. Good is not only good , but reproductive of good; this is one of its attributes; nothing is excellent, beautiful, perfect, desirable for its own sake, but it overflows, and spreads the likeness of itself all around. Good is prolific…. A great good will impart a great good. It is this “overflow” of play from the circus that proves infinitely more valuable than the utilitarian work ethic inculcated at Gradgrind Academy. This article is reprinted with permission from our friends at Crisis Magazine . Charles Dickens: The realist rebel. An essay on Realism in Hard Times. | Albert Guasch Rafael - Academia.edu Charles Dickens: The realist rebel. An essay on Realism in Hard Times. A.

Guasch Rafael ID: 2228923 Meaning and Representation 28 th October 2013 Charles Dickens: The realist rebel An essay on Realism in “Hard Times” “Yet it did seem (though not to [Gradgrind], for he saw nothing of it) as if fantastic hope could take as strong a hold as Fact.” Charles Dickens, Hard Times Introduction “Be realistic: Demand the impossible” shouted the young men who started the May 68 uprising in France. The iconic quote, apparently contradictory, contains within itself a duality extensively discussed several generations before the French revolutionaries took the streets. The Age of Enlightenment rejected tradition but brought new gods for humankind: knowledge, rationality, fact. The heirs of this school of thought considered that they could live exclusively under their guidance and deny the opposite counterparts: feeling, imagination, fancy. In a crucial highlight of the debate, Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times, a novel that contains this very same debate within its core. Dickens lived a thriving era for the novel as a literary medium. It was also an era when the thirst for empirical thought and a realistic depiction of the world had apprehended many novel writers.

In the current essay we will try to shed some light on the characters and events that represent models of the empirical way and models for the idealist way of looking at reality in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times. We will focus on two key characters - the young Cecyl Jupe and her mentor and schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind - and the events surrounding the initial quote. Facts and fancy The initial quote is taken from the 8 th chapter of Charles Dickens Hard Times which dwells with the education of Sissy Jupe. The young girl is adopted by the head teacher of the local school, Thomas Gradgrind, after discovering that her father left her in mysterious circumstances. In a rare moment of compassion, the head teacher decides to look after the abandoned child and take care of her education. Under his protection, Sissy is bombarded with an endless string of raw facts. It is what Thomas Gradgrind calls education. But the young girl is not one that can take in so many chunks of figures, statistics and categories. Instead, she is quite the imaginative type, and often escapes from reality. She prefers to think herself as a person capable of changing the world rather than sticking to conventions, even if she can only do that by any stretch of the imagination.

The antagonism between the two characters is introduced at the very first scene of the book 1 : “Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else”; a taste of the doctrine one has to deal with in Mr Gradgrind’s school. The character has firmly constructed his life philosophy upon these principles and neglects all interference of anything that doesn’t originate in reason, such as art, taste, empathy, feeling... What Mr Gradgrnid does in the school is some kind of social engineering while breeding his own blindness into his pupils. Sissy Jupe, a new pupil in school, is the daughter of a horsebreaker and has been educated by circus people, who lack the kind of cold and strict knowledge that Gradgrind cultivates, but are generous in the world of senses. She represents their values: humanity, compassion, comradeship, empathy… Sissy’s imagination is never questioned in her household, while Gradgrind sees the young girl’s feature as a bad seed, something to root out from her character and her society.

Through imagination, and probably also because of her social status, Sissy has built up a capacity to imagine a better world. Sissy’s father mysterious disappearance is left to the readers own imagination. Gradgrind and Bounderby believe that he has left because he does not love Sissy anymore; in their minds another proof that you cannot trust the lesser people. In contrast, the girl remains hopeful that her father left her for a good reason and that he might come back someday. Therefore, she keeps the bottle of the unguent for her father’s muscles, a token of her faith. 1 Charles Dickens, Had Times ( Oxford World’s Classics, 2008), Book I, Chapter I When the drama unravels, Dickens seems to indicate that Sissy is some sort of remedy for the preponderance of Gradgrind’s utilitarianism in society. She is continuously kind towards Lisa, Gradgrinds daughter and even admires her cold knowledge; even though in the beginning Lisa does not seem to care much for Sissy. Lisa herself encloses the tension between cold rationalism and warm imagination.

Through the course of the novel, she will come to terms with her utilitarian upbringing and realize that there is a missing cog in the wheel; imagination. She is like an iceberg that melts parsimoniously into a sea of self-awareness. In another key scene of Hard Times, Sissy convinces the amoral Mr Harthouse to leave town (Hard Times, Book III, Chapter II), given the pernicious consequences of his presence. Harthouse is shocked by Sissy`s determination and he ultimately agrees to her demands. The scene represents the ultimate triumph of Sissy’s skill: the good and innocent girl is able to shape the established events as she convinces Harthouse, a key piece in the drama, to leave. It is the established order being transformed through the willpower of an idealist. . Peter Brooks conveys in “Realist vision” Sissy and Luisa’s functionality as a character: Luisa’s conversion is to be sure very much a commentary on the Gradgrinan philosophy and educational system propounded in the opening scenes, and the emergence of Sissy Jupe as the moral standard of the Gradgrind household an effective transvaluation of values.

2 The duality implicit in the relationship between Gadgrind and Sissy can be understood through a broader scope, outside the fictional world. The same discussion was taking place in art during the 19 th century. Realist artists, those who prefer to interpret the world in an empirical way - and believe that objects are independent from sensatory experience – took the opposite stand to idealists, those who prefer to interpret the world through consciousness, feeling and mind. Aesthetic Realism The word Realism has several meanings depending on the discipline. In Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, many different kinds of Realism seem to converge. We have 2 Peter Brooks, Realist Vision (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 48-9 spoken above of Realism understood as a philosophical and political concept, which is encapsulated in Thomas Gradgrind character. In philosophical terms, Realism is defined as the belief that reality is ontologically independent from our perception and, in consequence, everything can be measured, qualified and classified. In political discourse, Realism means to stick to existing structures and work within their limitations, instead of trying to altering them.

In the 19 th Century, novelists embraced the art currents derived from John Locke’s empirical knowledge, which removed mind and spirit as guiding principles for cultural movements. Writers tried to merge the empiric rules with literature in the novel medium. Therefore, realism could also be understood as an aesthetic attitude towards art. Although Dickens is often categorized as a realist writer, he was not willing to abandon literary techniques from other art currents such as metaphors, creative comparisons and caricatures. This can be exemplified in different passages of the book: Gradgrind’s description, Stephen Blackpool’s love for Rachel, etc. Let’s focus on the description of Coketown in Hard Times (Hard Times, Book I, Chapter V): It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood, it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage. It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled.

In this passage we find categorization of the elements that form Coketown (the chimneys, the bricks, machinery), but also the intention to communicate through metaphors and imagery (smoke as serpents, “black like the painted face of a savage”). In a way, it is as if Charles Dickens had anticipated the imminent visual revolution that would arise with the development of photography. It is accepted knowledge that vision is the most powerful sense; therefore we often say “I’ll believe it when I see it”. When Charles Dickens and other realist writers describe and object or scenery, they pretend to create the visual image of a whole through the atomized depiction of detail. A renowned example is Balzac’s excruciating description of a cap in Madame Bovary. Pam Morris explains discusses the detailed and visual description of Balzac’s prose in his book Realism: What is additionally new and distinctive in Balzac’s work is the compendious detail in which he grasps a historical milieu. Balzac, more than any other writer, developed the pictorial quality of realism. Yet this visual element is not aiming simply at photographic mimetic effect; Balzac sees his world in an intensely historical way.

3 So powerful is the visual imagery to the senses that, according to Susan Sontag, photography created a new meaning of Realism: What is written about a person or an event is frankly and interpretation, […] Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire. 4 Realist writers seemed to anticipate this shift in their literature. They were convinced that through the visual we receive our most real experiences. Nevertheless, Charles Dickens doesn’t avoid creative and imaginative metaphors in description of reality like some of his colleges did. Besides the visual effect, characters are crucial in every fictional form and realist novels are no exception. Pam Morris claims in Realism (Morris, p.114) that realists tend to individualize characters as much as possible to create the sense of truthfulness and uniqueness of a real person. The search for a particular voice becomes of primary importance in the quest for depicting reality truthfully. In Hard Times, Charles Dickens attributes a great deal of symbolism to his characters, which inevitably undermines their uniqueness.

As the critic John Raymond Williams put it, Dickens purpose is to “dramatize those social institutions and consequences which are not accessible to ordinary physical observation” 5 . As we said, Sissy Jupe represents Idealism, while Bounderby and Gradgrind represent rationalism and utilitarianism. James Harthouse represents some sort of amoral nihilist who only works for personal gain and Mrs Sparsit symbolizes the decadence of the aristocracy in an era dominated by the rational bourgeois. This strong character-concept association takes control of the characters and doesn’t leave space for the development of more unique voices. They feel like functional cogs of a big machine, instead of real live characters. 3 Pam Morris, Realism (London and New York, Routledge, 2003) p. 61 4 Susan Sontag, On Photography (London: Penguin Group, 1978) p. 4 5 John Raymond Williams, The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence (The Hogart Press, 1984) pp.

33-4 A social reading of Hard Times As we read the novel, we find it obvious that Charles Dickens is sympathetic with the set of characters which can be defined as idealists. In a way, they win the match. This is evidenced in the resolution of the different threads that form the plot: Lisa and Gradgrind’s self-realization, Tom’s downfall as someone who is not aware of his imperfections, Sissy forcing Harthouse’s exile and even we can interpret Stephen Blackpool’s death as the ultimate victim of a utilitarian society. Stephen Blackpool, a typical English factory worker, represents a desire of prosperity to which the 19 th Century working class aspired. His is the most tragic outcome of Hard Times. Opposed to Stephen, we are presented with Slackbridge, the union’s representative in Bounderby’s factory, who seems to pursue a selfish agenda when igniting an uprising. Their confrontation causes Stephen layoff and sets in motion the events leading up to his death. In the present essay, we have focused in the literary and philosophical side of Hard Times, but many authors have outlined several analysis of the novel focused on its social intricacies.

In the paper Dickens Genera Mixta, Nil Clausson attributes the adjective “dystopian” 6 to Hard Times, based on the works of the academic literary critic Northrop Frye. The novel might then be understood as a hyperbole of the country’s social situation in the 19 th Century. Benjamin Disraeli, a Prime Minister himself, defined it as two-nation; thus conveying the great inequalities between the capitalist foe and the working class mass. The social interpretation of Hard Times, combined with the anti-utilitarian assertion of the novel makes us think that Charles Dickens thought that 19 th Century England had undergone a harmful utilitarian course and that simple folks like Stephen or Sissy where either a cure for the status quo or the last remnant of a better era. 6 Nil Clausson, “Dickens’s Genera Mixta: What Kind of a Novel is Hard Times?”, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Vol. 52, Issue 2, 2010, p. 157-180, p.166 Conclusion So far we have established the tension between Idealism and Realism as a philosophical discourse in the core of Hard Times.

We have also conveyed its strange mixture of the aesthetical effect typical of Realism and the imaginative prose by Charles Dickens. Then we have established Charles Dickens’s critique of utilitarianism and social inequality in 19 th Century England. We might ask, as a conclusion, whether there is a connection between all these observations. Charles Dickens used to put his written word at the service of social change. Peter Brooks points out in Realist Vision (Brooks, p.42) regarding Dickens style: The narratorial language is constantly saying to Coketown, as to Gradgrind and company, I am not a prisoner of your system, I can transform it, soar above it, through the imaginative resources of my prose. In Hard Times one of the most quoted authors among the realist gang rebels against aesthetic Realism itself, the same way his characters rebel in the plot against political and philosophical Realism and its most exaggerated expression; utilitarianism. We can establish Dickens as a playful writer and Hard Times as some sort of moral tale. Art as mimesis or representation often drifts among many different concepts and aesthetical possibilities. It’s part of the reader’s challenge and the writer’s skill.

There are endless possible combinations by which one can express a particular meaning. Hard Times plays with different concepts and mixes discourse and aesthetics to tell a moral tale. It contains a timeless discourse that was used in the French communes in 1968 and still echoes into the present day. It is tale that seems old, but reveals itself as universal. Bibliography Brooks, Peter, Realist Vision (New Haven, Yale University, 2005) Clausson, Nil, “Dickens’s Genera Mixta: What Kind of a Novel is Hard Times?”, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Vol. 52, Issue 2, 2010, p. 157-180 Dickens, Charles, Hard Times (Oxford World’s Classics, 2003) Morris, Pam, Realism (London and New York, Routledge, 2003) Sontag, Susan, On Photohraphy (London: Penguin Group, 1978) Williams, John Raymond, The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence (The Hogart Press, 1984) READ PAPER BBC - Primary History - Famous People - Charles Dickens Why is Charles Dickens famous?

Who was Charles Dickens? Charles Dickens is a famous English writer. People all over the world enjoy his stories. One of them is Oliver Twist, the story of a poor boy in Victorian times. Books by Dickens can be funny and sad. His stories are full of interesting 'characters' (people). When did Dickens live? Dickens was born in England in 1812. He died in 1870. His first big success was The Pickwick Papers. This was in 1837, the year Victoria became Britain's Queen. Dickens lived through the Industrial Revolution . He wrote about how life was changing, especially for poor people. Why do people read Dickens? Many of Dickens' stories came out in weekly or monthly parts, as serials. Each month people could read a new chapter in the story. Perhaps this is why Dickens' books make good films and TV serials too. Readers like a good story, with interesting characters. Dickens was very clever at making up characters. People all over the world know Oliver Twist, Scrooge and David Copperfield, even if they have not read the books in which these characters appear. Early life Where was Dickens born?

On 7 February 1812, Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth. His parents named him Charles John Huffam Dickens. Portsmouth was the home of the Royal Navy . His father, John Dickens, worked as a clerk for the Navy. His mother's name was Elizabeth Barrow. She wanted to be a teacher and run a school. Happy times The Dickens family never had much money. Charles had seven brothers and sisters. Mr Dickens dreamed of being rich. Mrs Dickens dreamed of owning a school. Somehow things never went right. In 1816 the family moved to Chatham, in Kent. Charles was happy there. He went to school. He explored the countryside. He loved the old castle at Rochester. Hard times In 1822 the family moved to London. Now times were hard. Mr Dickens was sent to prison for six months for not paying his bills. Charles (aged 12) had to work in a dirty old factory , beside the River Thames. He could hear rats squeaking and running about. His job was to put labels on pots of 'blacking', used to clean fireplaces. Dickens never forgot this unhappy time. He wrote about it later.

Growing up By 1824 Mr Dickens had enough money to send Charles back to school. At 15, Charles got a job in a lawyer's office. He hated it. In his books he makes most lawyers horrid! Charles learned shorthand . He got a job writing about Parliament . He travelled around England by stagecoach , writing for newspapers. He wrote stories about the people he met. Dickens the writer Dickens is a success In 1833, he sold his first story. At first Dickens called himself 'Boz'. This was his pen-name . In 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth. Suddenly he became famous. His funny stories called The Pickwick Papers were a success. Oliver Twist Oliver Twist came out in 1837. It was a grim tale about an orphan boy (Oliver), who is sent to the workhouse . Oliver ends up in the London underworld, in a gang of thieves led by Fagin. The story ends happily for Oliver, but people were shocked. Were poor children really treated so badly? Life for poor children Life for poor children in Victorian times was very hard. Small children worked in coal mines and factories .

Little boys were made to climb inside chimneys and clean them. Oliver Twist almost becomes a 'chimney-boy'. Instead he is made to work for an undertaker . Life in London London was a big, crowded city. Many poor people lived in slums . Homeless children slept on the streets. Many people died from diseases. Almost half the funerals in London in the 1830s were of children under 10. London did not have a police force until 1829. Even young children were sent to prison. Dickens the celebrity A famous man Dickens became so famous people knew him as he walked about London. He was a celebrity. Dickens walked for miles around the city, watching and listening. He made notes for new stories. Dickens keeps busy In 1846 Dickens became editor of the Daily News, a newspaper. He did not like being told what to do by the owners, so in 1850 he started his own magazine, Household Words. Now he could write what he liked. Dickens was a show-off. He loved to give public readings from his books. In 1842, he visited America.

Two famous books Of his many books, Dickens liked David Copperfield best. In it he wrote about Mr Micawber, who seems very like Dickens' father. In 1843, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. It is one of his most famous stories. In it, we meet the miser Scrooge - and three ghosts! Why did people like long books? In Victorian times, there was no radio, no television, no internet, no cinema. People read lots of books. Readers liked long stories, to pass the time. Grown-ups read novels and magazines. Children had their own books too. Dickens was the most famous novelist in Britain. There were lots of others, such as Sir Walter Scott and Charlotte Brontë. Family life Dickens and his wife had 10 children. But their marriage was not happy. In 1858, they split up. Dickens loved acting. He had his own little theatre at home. While acting in a play in 1857, Dickens fell in love with Ellen Ternan, an actress. How was Britain changing? Dickens saw many changes during his life, made by the Industrial Revolution .

In 1820 most people in England worked on farms. When Dickens died in 1870, most people worked in towns. Many poor people worked in factories and lived in slums . What made Dickens angry? Dickens was angered by the sad things he saw. In his books, he tried to show what was wrong. In Nicholas Nickleby, he wrote about a terrible school, Dotheboys Hall, where unwanted children were cruelly treated. He wanted to make life better for people. He wanted new libraries, hospitals and schools. Pictures in Dickens Many of Dickens's books had pictures. The pictures helped readers follow the story. Two artists were famous for their Dickens drawings. They were George Cruikshank and Hablot K Browne, known as 'Phiz'. How did Dickens die? In 1864 Dickens and Ellen Ternan were in a train crash. Dickens was not badly hurt, but he was never very well after this accident. In 1868 he went on a tour of the United States. He read to large audiences, on stage. It was very tiring. He came home worn out and sick.

Dickens died in June 1870, at home in Kent. He was working on a new book. It was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Charles Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Question: ‘Now what I want is, Facts’ is the opening line of which Charles Dickens novel?
Answer: Hard Times