David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - Hard Times Hard Times FAQ & Email Coketown 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. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness. Hard Times During the conception of Hard Times Dickens visited the industrial town of Preston where a prolonged strike was in progress (January 1854).

George Bernard Shaw, writing in 1912, observed that with the publication of Hard Times: "You must therefore resign yourself, if you are reading Dickens's books in the order in which they were written, to bid adieu now to the light-hearted and only occasionally indignant Dickens of the earlier books, and get such entertainment as you can from him now that the occasional indignation has spread and deepened into a passionate revolt against the whole industrial order of the modern world. Here you will find no more villians and heroes, but only oppressors and victims, oppressing and suffering in spite of themselves, driven by a huge machinery which grinds to pieces the people it should nourish and ennoble, and having for its directors the basest and most foolish of us instead of the noblest and most farsighted. Many readers find the change disappointing. Others find Dickens worth reading almost for the first time..." In Hard Times Dickens uses the character of Sleary, proprietor of Sleary's Circus, to expose his views on the right of the common man to simple amusements. When Sleary lisps "people mutht be amuthed" he is echoing Dickens own sentiment.

Dickens fought against sabbatarian groups who advocated strict observance of the Sabbath on the grounds that Sunday was the only day that working people had to indulge in simple amusements, or even to attend such institutions as the British Museum or the Crystal Palace . Dickens published a pamphlet, Sunday Under Three Heads , in 1836 in opposition to the Sabbath Observances Bill pending in Parliament. The Bill was rejected. Dickens' life during the serialization of Hard Times Apr 1854 - Aug 1854 Dickens' age: 42 April 1954 Three essays on divorce are published in Dickens' weekly magazine, Household Words , at the same time Dickens was introducing Stephen Blackpool's wife, whom he is unable to divorce, in the novel. Dickens' own marriage was crumbling during this time. August 1954 Net receipts for the weekly sales of Household Words , in which the novel was published, rose by 237 per cent during the serialization. Hard Times touches on themes of divorce and marital incompatibility at a time when Dickens' own marriage was deteriorating.

In the novel Stephen Blackpool, whose wife is an alcoholic, is unable to divorce her and marry the woman he loves (Rachael). Divorce was expensive and legally difficult, as well as socially unacceptable in the 19th century. Dickens and his wife Catherine , with whom he had ten children, separated (but never divorced) four years later in 1858. Hard Times Picking the Name Dickens wrote to his friend and literary advisor, John Forster , on January 20, 1854 asking him to take a look of the following list of possible names for the new story he was going to serialize in Household Words. Dickens had picked his favorite three from among these and ask Forster to pick the three he thought best. 1. According to Cocker 7. Two and Two are Four 8. Something Tangible 12. A Matter of Calculation 13. A Mere Question of Figures 14. The Gradgrind Philosophy Forster selected 2, 6, and 11 and Dickens had selected 6, 13, and 14. Since both had selected number 6, the new story was entitled Hard Times.

Hard Times The Norton Critical Edition - An authoritative text, backgrounds, sources, and contemporary reactions and criticism Hard Times - Published in weekly parts Apr 1854 - Aug 1854 | Illustrations Dickens published his tenth novel, without illustrations, in Household Words hoping to bolster lagging sales of his weekly journal. He had not published in weekly parts since Barnaby Rudge in 1841 and found the format "Crushing." As a result of the demands of weekly serialization Hard Times is stripped of most of Dickens' trademark humor, rich characterization, and subplot. What remains is Dickens stripped down to the bare essentials, what novelist Angus Wilson called "a menu card for a meal rather than one of Dickens' rich feasts." Dickens again flies the banner of social reform, touching on themes of industrialization, education, and Utilitarianism in the sweeping Industrial Revolution of the 1850's. Dismissed initially as "sullen socialism", the novel gained new life with F.R. Leavis ' positive critical treatment in The Great Tradition (1948). Leavis considered Hard Times Dickens' "masterpiece" and "his only serious work of art".

Since then it has been one of Dickens' best-sellers, widely taught in schools, partly due to the fact that it is Dickens' shortest major work. Plot (contains spoilers) Thomas Gradgrind runs a school of hard fact in the industrial city of Coketown. He happens to see his children, Louisa and Tom, peering into a circus in direct opposition to his views on things of fancy. The cause for the offense, suggested by Gradgrind's friend Josiah Bounderby, a "self-made man" banker and mill owner in Coketown, is that Sissy Jupe, the daughter of one of the circus folk from Sleary's traveling circus, has been enrolled in Gradgrind's school and is a bad influence. Gradgrind and Bounderby proceed to visit the girl's father in order to have her removed from school. They find that he has abandoned the girl and Gradgrind agrees to take her in in the hope of reforming her on the condition that she never mention her former life.

Stephen Blackpool, a power loom weaver in Bounderby's mill, is married to a drunk and asked Bounderby how he can get out of the marriage to marry Rachael, another worker at the Mill. Bounderby loftily tells him that he married "for better or worse" and without money cannot be released from the marriage. After his visit to Bounderby he meets an old woman (Mrs. Pegler) in the street who tells him she comes to Coketown every year with the hope of a chance sighting of Bounderby. Tom, Louisa, and Sissy finish school, Sissy unsatisfactorily. Tom is apprenticed to Bounderby. Bounderby asked Gradgrind for Louisa's hand and she reluctantly agrees to marry him in the hope of helping Tom. Sissy remains with Mrs. Gradgrind to help raise three younger children. James Harthouse, with a letter of introduction from Gradgrind, now a Member of Parliament, meets Bounderby and becomes a frequent visitor in the household. Harthouse has hopes of going to Parliament. Stephen Blackpool refuses to unionize with workers of the mill and is ostracized and later fired from his job.

Tom has taken to gambling and has fallen heavily into debt. Louisa and Tom visit Stephen and Louisa sympathetically offers money to help him relocate. Tom takes Stephen aside and asks him to loiter around the bank in the evenings before he leaves town on the pretense of offering work. The bank is robbed and Blackpool, seen loitering about the bank in the days before the robbery, is suspect. Harthouse falls in love with Louisa and tries to lure her away from her unhappy marriage to Bounderby. She flees to her father and reveals the unhappiness she has felt since childhood, he softens as he realizes the mistakes he made in her education. Louisa stays with him, cared for by Sissy. Bounderby abandons her. Mrs. Sparsit, Bounderby's housekeeper, captures Mrs. Pegler and brings her to Bounderby's house where she is revealed to be Bounderby's loving mother, disproving Bounderby's story of being a self-made man, abandoned as a child.

Rachael sends word to Blackpool, who has gotten work in another town, telling of the suspicion in the robbery and expects him to come back to clear his name, but he doesn't show. Rachael and Sissy, walking in the country, come across Stephen's hat near a deserted mine and realize he has fallen in. They summon help, Stephen is brought out alive but dies on the way back to town. Before dying he tells Mr. Gradgrind to question his son, Tom, concerning the robbery. Tom, knowing that capture is close at hand escapes, with the help of Sissy, to a town where Sleary's Circus is performing. Thomas, Sissy, and Louisa meet him there and, after a last minute attempt by Bitzer to capture him, escapes abroad, with the help of the circus folk, where he later dies in misery. Thomas Gradgrind abandons his inflexible demands for facts in favor of "Faith, Hope, and Charity." Characters: Dickens' letter to Mark Lemon (Feb 20, 1854) Will you note down and send me any slang terms among the tumblers and circus-people, that you can call to mind?

I have noted down some-I want them in my new story-but it is very probable that you will recall several which I have not got. Excerpt: 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 minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir! Thomas Gradgrind - Hard Times People mutht be amuthed...they can't be alwayth a working, nor yet they can't be alwayth a learning. Mr. Sleary - Hard Times Characterization in Hard Times Characterization in Hard Times Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Introduction In Hard Times, Dickens placed villains, heroes, heroines, and bystanders who are representative of his times. Even though many of these characters have names which indicate their personalities or philosophies, they are not caricatures but people endowed with both good and bad human qualities.

Shaped by both internal and external forces, they are like Shakespeare's characters — living, breathing beings who love, hate, sin, and repent. True to the class or caste system of nineteenth-century England, Dickens drew them from four groups: the fading aristocracy, the vulgar rising middle class, the downtrodden but struggling labor class, and the itinerant group, represented by the circus people. Major Characters Representative of the fading aristocracy are Mrs. Sparsit and James Harthouse. Mrs. Sparsit, a pathetic, but scheming old lady, earns her living by pouring tea and attending to the other housekeeping duties for Mr. Josiah Bounderby, whom she despises. Sparing with words, she is literally a "sitter," first in Bounderby's home and later in his bank. She lends her respectability and culture to his crude, uneducated environment. Resentful of Bounderby and others who do not have the background that she has, she seemingly accepts Bounderby's philosophy of life. In direct discourse with him, she simpers and hedges; when he is not present, she scorns him and spits on his picture. Throughout the novel, Mrs.

Sparsit connives and plans for her own advantage. Her role in the first book is one of waiting and watching; in the second book, she continues this role and enlists the aid of Bitzer, an aspirant to the middle class, to bring revenge upon Bounderby; in the last book, she serves as informer and is rewarded by losing her position with Bounderby and by being compelled to live with a hated relative, Lady Scadgers. James Harthouse, the second face of the aristocracy, is a young man who comes to Coketown because he is bored with life. He is employed to advance the interests of a political party. When introduced to Louisa, he becomes infatuated with her and seeks to arouse her love. Taking advantage of Bounderby's absences from home, he goes to see Louisa on various pretexts. When Louisa refuses to elope with him, he leaves Coketown for a foreign country. The only hurt he has received is a blow to his ego or vanity.

Characters of the middle class take many faces: the wealthy factory owner, the retired merchant who is a champion of facts, the "whelp," and the beautiful Louisa nurtured in facts. Just as the buildings of Coketown are all alike in shape, so are these people alike. Josiah Bounderby, the wealthy middle-aged factory owner of Coketown, is a self-made man. Fabricating a story of his childhood, he has built himself a legend of the abandoned waif who has risen from the gutter to his present position. To add to his "self-made" station in life, this blustering, bragging bounder has told the story of his miserable childhood so long and so loud that he believes it himself. The story is simple: he says that after being abandoned by his mother, he was reared by a drunken grandmother, who took his shoes to buy liquor; he relates often and long how he was on his own as a mere child of seven and how he educated himself in the streets.

In the final book, when his story is proved false by the appearance of his mother, who had not abandoned him but who had reared and educated him, he is revealed as a fraud who had, in reality, rejected his own mother. With this revelation and other events came his downfall and eventual death. An opinionated man, he regards the workers in his factories as "Hands," for they are only that — not people to him. The only truth to him is his own version of truth. In the first book, as a friend of Thomas Gradgrind, he is intent upon having Louisa, Gradgrind's older daughter, for his wife. In the conclusion of book one he succeeds — by taking Gradgrind's son into the bank — in marrying Louisa, who does not love him, for she has never been taught to love or dream, only to learn facts. True to braggart nature, Bounderby expands the story of his miserable rise to wealth by letting everyone know that he has married the daughter of a wealthy, respectable man. Book two reveals him more fully as the bounder; however, he is a blind bounder — he does not know that his young wife has found a younger man to whom she is attracted.

In the final book, when she leaves him and returns home, his ego cannot stand the blow. He does not change, even though almost everyone and everything around him changes. Gradgrind is the father of five children whom he has reared to learn facts and to believe only in statistics. His wife, a semi-invalid, is simple-minded; although she does not understand his philosophy, she tries to do his bidding. As the book progresses, however, he begins to doubt his own teachings. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind represents the Utilitarian philosophy of the nineteenth century. In the first book, he takes into his home a young girl whose father, a circus clown, has abandoned her. He undertakes her education but fails since she is the product of another environment. In this book, he presents Bounderby's suit for marriage to Louisa and is pleased when she recognizes that wealth is important. In the second book, Gradgrind emerges as a father for the first time. He takes Louisa back into his home after she leaves Bounderby. Having lived with the foundling in his home, he has come to recognize that there are emotions such as love and compassion.

When his daughter comes to him as a daughter looking for help and sanction, he reacts as a father. In the last book, Gradgrind abandons his philosophy of facts again to help Tom, his wayward son, to flee from England so that he will not be imprisoned for theft. Gradgrind also vows to clear the name of an accused worker. Here he learns — much to his regret — that Bitzer, one of his former students, has learned his lesson well; Bitzer refuses to help young Tom escape. Tom Gradgrind, the son, is also a face of the middle class. Having been reared never to wonder, never to doubt facts, and never to entertain any vice or fancy, he rebels as a young man when he leaves his father's home, Stone Lodge, to work in Bounderby's bank. He uses Bounderby's affection for Louisa to gain money for gambling and drink. He urges Louisa to marry Bounderby since it will be to his own benefit if she does. Freed from the stringent rule of his father, Tom (whom Dickens has Harthouse name "the whelp") becomes a "man about town." He begins to smoke, to drink, and to gamble.

When he becomes involved in gambling debts, he looks to Louisa for help. Finally she becomes weary of helping him and denies him further financial aid. Desperate for money to replace what he has taken from the bank funds, Tom stages a robbery and frames Stephen Blackpool. Just as he uses others, so is he used by James Harthouse, who has designs on Louisa. At the last, Tom shows his complete degeneration of character. When he realizes that exposure is imminent, he runs away. The only redeeming feature of his character is that he truly loves his sister and ultimately regrets that he has brought her heartache. Escaping from England, he lives and dies a lonely life as an exile. In his last illness, he writes to his sister asking her forgiveness and love. Louisa Gradgrind Bounderby, a beautiful girl nurtured in the school of facts, reacts and performs in a manner in keeping with her training until she faces a situation for which her education has left her unprepared. A dutiful daughter, she obeys her father in all things — even to contracting a loveless marriage with Bounderby, a man twice her age. The only emotion that fills her barren life is her love for Tom, her younger brother.

Still young when she realizes that her father's system of education has failed her, she begins to discover the warmth and compassion of life. Only after her emotional conflict with Harthouse does she start her complete re-education. Dickens employs biblical parallels to portray the characters of the struggling working class. Stephen Blackpool, an honest, hard-working power-loom weaver in Bounderby's factory and the first victim to the labor cause, is likened unto the biblical Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Just as the biblical Stephen was stoned by his own people, so is Stephen Blackpool shunned and despised by his own class. Even though he realizes that Bounderby and the other factory owners are abusing the workers and that something must be done to help them, he refuses to join the union. He is perceptive enough to know that Slackbridge, the trade-union agitator, is a false prophet to the people. Married to a woman who had left him years before the story opens, Stephen finds himself hopelessly in love with Rachael, also a worker in the factory. Rachael is likened unto the long-suffering woman of the same name in biblical history.

Stephen cannot marry his beloved because the laws of England are for the rich, not the penniless workman. When he goes to Bounderby for help to obtain a divorce from his drunken, degenerate wife, he is scorned and bullied until he speaks up, denying Bounderby's taunts. On another occasion he defends the workers against Bounderby's scathing remarks; consequently, he is fired and has to seek a job in another town. When Stephen learns that he is accused of theft, he starts back to Coketown to clear his name; however, he does not arrive there. He falls into an abandoned mine pit and is found and rescued minutes before his death. Although he is just one of the "Hands" to Bounderby and others of the middle class, Stephen Blackpool is a very sensitive, religious man who bears no enmity toward those who have hurt him. The last social group that Dickens pictures is best represented by Cecilia "Sissy" Jupe, who is the antithesis of the scholars of Gradgrind's school. This group, the circus people whose endeavor is to make people happy, is scorned by the Gradgrinds and the Bounderbys of the world.

Sissy, forsaken by her father, who believed that she would have a better life away from the circus, is a warm, loving individual who brings warmth and understanding to the Gradgrind home. Because of her influence, the younger girl, Jane Gradgrind, grows up to know love, to dream, and to wonder. In the conclusion of the book, Sissy can look forward to a life blessed by a husband and children. The handwriting on the wall foretells her happiness and Louisa's unhappiness. Minor Characters Dickens used the minor characters for comic relief, for transition of plot, and for comparison and contrast. Bitzer is a well-crammed student in Gradgrind's model school of Fact. He is the living contrast to the humble, loving, compassionate Sissy. Bitzer can best be characterized as the symbolic embodiment of the practical Gradgrindian philosophy: he is colorless, servile, mean; and he lives by self-interest. Mr. M'Choakumchild, a teacher in Gradgrind's model school, is an advocate of the Gradgrind system. Dickens says that he might have been a better teacher had he known less.

Slackbridge, symbolized as the false prophet to the laboring class, is the trade-union agitator. Mrs. Pegler is the mysterious woman who shows great interest in Mr. Bounderby. One meets her, usually, standing outside the Bounderby house, watching quietly. Adam Smith Gradgrind and Malthus Gradgrind are Thomas Gradgrind's two youngest sons. Their names are in keeping with the economic concern of the book. Members of the Sleary Circus, in addition to Mr. Sleary, are Emma Gordon, Kidderminster, who plays the role of cupid; Mr. E. W. B. Childers, and Josephine Sleary. Unnamed characters are members of the "Hands" and the sick wife of Stephen Blackpool. Hard Times Book I, Chapters 11-16 Summary and Analysis | GradeSaver Buy Study Guide Chapter Eleven: No Way Out The next day, Stephen Blackpool is back at work, bent over his loom. He is depressed about the woman who has appeared in his room but he does not let this get in the way of his work.

His work began early in the morning when it was still dark outside but as it grows later, the lights are shut off and it begins to rain outside. When Blackpool has his lunch break he takes his piece of bread and walks towards Mr. Bounderby's house to seek some advice. Bounderby is the owner of the factory. Stephen finds Bounderby at lunch eating a lavish meal and Mrs. Sparsit was sitting in the room as well, but she did not eat lunch by habit. Bounderby asks Stephen what his problem is, noting that as an employer he is glad to say that he has never had any problem with Stephen. Unlike many of the other workers, Stephen isn't looking for luxuries like "turtle soup and venison." Bounderby is pleasantly surprised when Stephen confirms that he has not arrived to make a complaint. He only wants advice. With permission, Stephen begins his story. The woman who apprehended Stephen the night before was the same woman that he married nineteen years previous. He was very good to her, but she became a drunkard and sold the furniture and refused to work. After some time, she disappeared and no one heard anything from her.

As a decent gesture, Stephen looked for a way to provide for her without being attached to her lifestyle. For the previous five years, he paid her money to stay away from him and it worked until now. Bounderby does not have very much advice though he does agree that Blackpool is in a very bad situation. Stephen wants to know how he might be rid of the woman and Bounderby and Mrs. Sparsit are both offended. Stephen would much rather be with Rachael but what he learns from Bounderby is that any sort of annulment or divorce or separation from the drunk woman is going to cost a good deal of moneyfar more than Stephen will ever have. Bounderby goes further to express his disappointment in Stephen's "unhallowed opinions" and the fact that he would air them in front of a decent lady like Mrs. Sparsit. Stephen does not linger at the scene; he thanks Bounderby for his time and exits. Analysis: The narrative structure of the novel often uses various chapters as parallels or as cause-and-effect sequences.

In this case, "No Way Out" might be compared to "A Loophole" in the same way that we can contrast the lack of freedom suffered by the poor (Stephen) and by children (Tom and Louisa Gradgrind). It is also worth noting that for all of Mrs. Sparsit's hypocrisy, she parallels Stephen Blackpool as the spouse of a drunk (her husband died of alcoholism in France). Finally, on the subject of marriage, Stephen's fate foreshadows Bounderby's marriage (presented at the end of Book One) and by the end of the novel, Bounderby will find himself in a similarly awkward situation. The tone of this chapter is incredibly negative in regards to Sparsit and Bounderby. While they weren't the favorite characters before this point, Dickens' characterization is really a social commentary on class conflict and the difference between the lives of the rich and the poor. While Sparsit is described as a "fallen lady," there are more intense images of verticality in the lives of the poor: the serpent, the rising smoke, Lucifer the fallen angel and the grim, black ladders attached to each house.

Each of these images becomes an explicit symbol of how easy it is for the poor to fall farther into the dumps. On the one hand we have Blackpool whose steady fall throughout the novel is simply on account of his already being down and having no other direction in which to travel. On the other hand, characters like Bounderby and Sparsit will also suffer their own social "falls" but it will be on account of their hubris, excessive pride. Chapter Twelve: The Old Woman When Stephen leaves Mr. Bounderby's house he is greeted by an old woman who is very clearly come from the country on a journey. Stephen is at first distrustful of her but he remains polite despite the disappointment of the last two days. The lady asks Stephen if she has seen him exit "that gentleman's house" and Stephen answers that she has. She describes Bounderby and asks if this is the man Stephen has seen. When Stephen answers her in the affirmative, she thanks him warmly. She continues walking with Stephen and it seems that the very aspects of Coketown that make life all the harder for the residents are the very monstrosities and large attractions that she finds exciting.

She has walked nine miles to arrive in town and this is a trip that she makes once a year. This only adds to her mystery and Stephen is puzzled by her insistence that she comes to town each year so that she might see the gentlemen. She is specifically interested in seeing Mr. Bounderby and she hopes that she will be so lucky though this seems doubtful. Stephen tells the woman that he works in the factory and when she asks him if he is happy he replies that everybody has their troubles. She has expected that he would say he was very happyfor he is living in the town and not in the countryand Stephen does not want to disappoint her, though he cannot lie and feign happiness. Stephen does say that his troubles are at home and that they do not follow him to the factory where, under Bounderby, everything is regular and orderly.

When Stephen tells the old lady that he has been a continuous worker at the loom for twelve years, she exclaims her pride in him and insists upon kissing him: "I must kiss the hand that has worked in this fine factory for a dozen year." It is clear at this point, that the old lady is a little eccentric but she certainly means no harm and Stephen, being a decent man himself., obliges her as best he can. Though they part ways when they finally approach the factory and Stephen must return to work. Back at his loom, Stephen is in awe of the old woman and the "harmony" that surrounds her. In the midst of the loud noises and the smoke of the factory, Stephen's thoughts easily fall into a negative slump. At the end of his work-shift, he looks for Rachael but he does not see her. He remembers when they were both young and it is obvious that they would have been far happier together than they have been, separate. Stephen does not want to return to his home; he does not know what he will find there. But in the end, "he went home for shelter." Analysis: The old woman character is one of Dickens' specialties, appearing in more than a few of his novels.

As in the others, she is a woman from the country who is on a pilgrimage, which is usually a religious trip. In spite of her mystery, her kiss upon Stephen's hand is a symbolic blessing. There is a simple contrast between the country woman and the city men that excite her. Her connection to Bounderby is not yet known, but it is very important and will be easy to guess well before it is revealed. It is ironic that she considers the men of high standing to be "gentlemen" when we have learned that they are anything but gentle, but the pilgrim demonstrates that she can see past appearances by finding the value in Stephen Blackpool. The suspense of the chapter is mainly fueled by questions of the woman's identity and how she is able to know Bounderby so well as to describe him as "portly, bold, outspoken and hearty." Again, the theme of surveillance is established, for the lady has only come to town to deliberately watch strangers. Nonetheless, her honesty and the fact that she does sneak up and spy on others are all reassuring. Chapter Thirteen: Rachael There is a candle burning in the window of Stephen's room.

While Stephen sits he thinks to himself about the larger philosophical questions and mysteries of life and deathnot in an academic way, but in terms of application to his own life. He thinks of all of the people who die despite the fact that they loved others dearly and are dearly missed. In contrast to them all, his drunk wife is loved by no one and loves no oneyet she lives and survives her own undoing to cause pain to others. Stephen and his wife are not alone for Rachael is also in the room, tending to the drunken woman. The woman is not in a very good state and Rachael is glad that Stephen has finally come home. A doctor had been by earlier and Rachael reminds Stephen that they all have an obligation not to judge the woman because they are all sinners. Stephen repeats that he is grateful that Rachael is there because he cannot guarantee that he would be able to overcome his desire to do harm to himself and/or his wife. Both Rachael and Stephen are half asleep and Rachael agrees that she will stay with Stephen until three in the morning. Then she will return home. Stephen sees a bottle on the table; it is mostly empty but it causes him to tremble.

Rachael sees that he is in a fit of trembling and she moves to see that he is not feeling too ill. Stephen assures her that he is simply having a fright and that he will soon be better. As he falls asleep, Stephen enters into a "long, troubled dream" that continually blurs with the sad reality surrounding him. He sees himself at his own wedding, happily preparing to marry, except the woman is not Rachael and there is a protest started by one of the witnesses of the wedding. In his half-asleep state, Stephen sees his wife make a move for the bottle on the table but Rachael wakes up in the nick of time. There is a struggle and the drunk woman grabs Rachael by the hair, but Rachael overpowers her and destroys the bottle. Stephen is convinced that Rachael is an angel but she insists that she is not. Still, she is definitely a benevolent force in Stephen's life. Analysis: The most important symbol in the chapter is the candle that represents Rachel's presence in Stephen's room and in his life. As a candle, Rachel brings light (clarity and understanding), warmth (love) and constancy (permanent devotion).

Along with Sissy Jupe, she is part of the motif of young women who have maternal, caring qualities because they are poor and live hard lives. This is part of Dickens' trademark sentimentality but it is serious enough to establish the contrast between Rachel's candle and the black ladder that is an image of death. Death is one of the focuses of the chapter, with Stephen's wife only barely recovering from what was almost her deathbed. In a metaphor, death is reduced to the operations of chance and fate in a card game: it "dealt out an unequal hand." Stephen's unequal hand is in the fact of his living-death. He is trapped in between sleep and being awake. Even worse, he can find "now way out" of his present situation in either of these conditions. Alcohol and dreams are both symbolic escapes, but in this case, the alcoholism of the wife has dried out the dreams of the husband. Chapter Fourteen: The Great Manufacturer Time goes on in Coketown and Mr. Gradgrind notes that as the months and years go by, his children are growing into young adults. He decides that his son, Thomas, should join Bounderby's Bank and find work.

Gradgrind has kept up his education of Sissy, but he ultimately concludes that any further education would be useless. She has learned all that she is capable of learning and this has not been very much. Sissy is in agreement and she is sorry that she has disappointed Mr. Gradgrind. She begins to cry, but Mr. Gradgrind consoles her by complimenting her: she is "affectionate, earnest, good" and this will have to be good enough. She is very useful to Mrs. Gradgrind and she keeps the family in better spirits than otherwise and so she can remain a part of the household. Gradgrind is disappointed that Sissy still clings to the bottle of nine oils and while he does not have contempt for her ignorance, he does admit to himself that he does not know precisely how to categorize Sissy. His thoughts are mostly focussed on Louisa. He finds her one evening and informs her that he would like to have a serious conversation with her in the morning. A bit later, Tom comes into the room and asks Louisa if she knows what the conversation is going to be about. Tom informs her that their father is in talks with Mr. Bounderby though the subject is still undisclosed.

Tom wins Louisa's unsuspecting assurance that she will do whatever she can to help him. He then leaves her to her solitude, meeting up with his friends. Analysis: This chapter is the foreshadowing of Louisa's marriage to Mr. Bounderby. Obviously, this is a disappointing union of contrasts. Louisa is young while he is old and her desires for freedom are going to remain suppressed in his house. Symbolically, the presence of a wilderness as opposed to the cycle of seasons reflects the lack of fertility and the end of growth for Louisa. From her youth, she threatens to become a bitter old woman. At the very least, her marriage is heavily foreshadowed as a failure. Tom calls his sister a "capital girl" and this is a reiteration of the imagery of economics applied to emotional and human subjects. Louisa is "capital" because her marriage presents the potential for profit. Similarly, the children's education at the "Mill" and the "Bank" of learning, transforms them into products and economic laborers. Finally, there is the irony of the old woman who is a spinner of Time. She is the archetype of the Fates offering a lifetime as a thread to be cut.

But in contrast, Bounderby has a weaving factory in which Stephen Blackpool is a skilled power-loom weaver. The motif of weaving operates on yet another level when Dickens compares nature's weaving (creation) of Stephen Blackpool (a human being) as superior to the mere spinning and weaving of the goods that Bounderby sells. Chapter Fifteen: Father and Daughter Mr. Gradgrind sits in his room which is designed very much like an Observatory. He has spent many ours in this space contemplating and studying human habits and destinies. He prepares to have his serious discussion with Louisa, who insists upon remaining dispassionate throughout the entire encounter. Gradgrind tells his daughter that she is the subject of a marriage proposaland Louisa does not respond. Gradgrind expects Louisa to convey some emotion, but she is entirely stoic and reminds Gradgrind that her upbringing has prevented her from knowing what emotions to express. Gradgrind explains that it is Mr. Bounderby who has made the marriage proposal and Louisa refrains from registering any emotional response. When her father asks her what she intends to do, Louisa turns the question back to him and asks him what he thinks she ought to do.

Gradgrind looks at the situation analytically and dismisses the fact of Bounderby being fifty years old. The marriage has little to do with love and is simply a matter of "tangible Fact." In the end, the decision is for Louisa to make. But as she does not see that any opportunity will bring her happiness she realizes that it does not matter what she does. She continually repeats the phrase "what does it matter?" and this frustrates Mr. Gradgrind. In the end, Louisa is still emotionless and she replies: "I am satisfied to accept his proposal." Mr. Gradgrind is very pleased and he kisses his daughter on the forehead. When Mrs. Gradgrind hears the news she is happy but then she works herself into a fit and soon passes out. Sissy Jupe is present and she is, perhaps, the only one who is able to sense the difference in Louisa. Louisa keeps herself at a distance and is "impassive, proud and cold." Sissy feels a mixture of wonder, pity and sorrow for Louisa. Analysis: The reference to Bluebeard and Mr.

Gradgrind's office room being full of "bluebooks" is a combination of irony and allusion. At the very least, the very mention of Bluebeard, a villain from a child's fairy tale story, foreshadows the marriage drama that unfolds and it is a reminder of the war against "fancy" and "imagination" that the Gradgrinds have embarked upon. Bluebeard was a dreadful knight who promised a wonderful life to each of his wives until their curiosity overcame them and they were encouraged to search through a hidden closet in the back of his castlea closet that contained the dead bodies of his former wives. Surely this is not a good harbinger for Louisa's upcoming marriage. Mr. Gradgrind is a bit of an ogre. Certainly, he and Bounderby have had Louisa under heavy surveillance and observation for some time. Gradgrind's office is as symbolic an observatory as it is a literal one. The characterization of Louisa reflects the power and politics between Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby.

She becomes a debased human being in a way, the mere "subject of a proposal." She is weakened but in a reversal, she is the one who stands "impassive, proud, cold" and is above all. The father is beaten at his own game of stoicism and if anything, this chapter marks the beginning of the blindness motif that will come to identify Mr. Gradgrind and his inability to understand the human soul. Chapter Sixteen: Husband and Wife The concluding chapter of Book One unites Louisa Gradgrind and Mr. Josiah Bounderby in marriage. Bounderby's first task before the marriage was to inform Mrs. Sparsit. She is offered the option of continuing in the household but she decides that such an arrangement would be improper and Bounderby makes finer arrangements for her elsewhere. He expected that Mrs. Sparsit would be overcome by shock and might pass out but she is hardly surprised and in fact, there is a hint of condescension in her tone. Bounderby assures her that her new position elsewhere will not result in a further fall in societal position. The eight weeks between the proposal and the wedding are hardly romantic and are entirely fact-based.

It is more of a business transaction than anything else. The wedding ceremony is adequately dry and Bounderby makes a long-winded speech. He is very honored to be married to the daughter of as fine a man as Mr. Gradgrind, who is after all, a member of Parliament. He offers best wishes that every man may find a wife as good as his and that every woman may find a husband as good as him. After the wedding, the Bounderbys are due for a honeymoon in "Lyons." Tom sees his sister off and in his happinessfor his position at the bank is certainly secured nowhe is unable to detect her disappointment. Analysis: If this chapter confirms what we have learned from the stories of Mrs. Sparsit and also Stephen Blackpool it is an argument of social commentary: the politics of the social scale are mediated more by marriage than by any other one thing. This also presents an interesting contrast between Mrs. Sparsit and Mr. Bounderby. Her fake show of sympathy foreshadows the eventual unhappiness of the marriage.

Who exactly is the "victim?" As Book I ends, we are left to compare the "jolly" state of Bounderby and the more "desperate" condition of Blackpool. Amazon.ca:Customer Reviews: Hard Times Customer Reviews 3.7 out of 5 stars 45 Price:$6.62+ Free shipping with Amazon Prime Your rating( Clear )Rate this item 4 people found this helpful 4.0 out of 5 starsDickens sings the blues. ByA.J.on May 7, 2003 Despite the explicit title, "Hard Times" is not so much an ode to poverty and misery as it is a commentary on the increasing impact of industrialization on the fragmentation of society and on the dehumanization of education. The result, as Dickens implies, leads to lives hollowed by the emptiness of work for work's sake and wealth for wealth's sake. The setting is Coketown, a factory town befouled by industrial smog and populated by underpaid and undereducated laborers.

The novel's most prominent character is one of the town's richest citizens, Josiah Bounderby, a pompous blowhard who owns a textile mill and a bank and whose conversation usually includes some boastful story about his impoverished childhood and the hard work that led to his present fortune. Bounderby is the commercial projection of Thomas Gradgrind, a local schoolteacher and an extraordinarily pragmatic man who instills in his students and his own children the importance of memorizing facts and figures and the iniquity of indulging in entertaining activities. Gradgrind offers to Bounderby his son, Tom Jr., as an unwilling apprentice, and his daughter, Louisa, as an unwilling bride. On the other end of the town's social scale is Stephen Blackpool, a simple, downcast man who works as a weaver at Bounderby's mill and slogs through life misunderstood and mistreated. When he refuses to join his fellow workers in a labor uprising, he is ostracized; when he criticizes the economic disparity between Bounderby and the workers, he is fired and forced to leave town; when Bounderby's bank is robbed one night, he is suspected as the thief.

So halfway through the novel, Dickens grants his reader an interesting, albeit somewhat contrived, plot element to embellish the narrative. If this novel contains a ray of sunshine, it is in Sissy Jupe, a girl abandoned by her father and adopted by Gradgrind, whose oppressive educational method nearly breaks her. However, she grows up with her own intuitive sense of propriety, which she uses as a tool to eject a dishonorable character from the novel. Her strong and independent spirit will allow her to do much better in life than Louisa, who withers away in an unhappy marriage, and Tom Jr., whose boredom renders him vulnerable to temptations. Compared to his other novels, "Hard Times" is relatively short and straightforward and has few characters, as though Dickens felt that what he had to say was so important, it had to be said quickly and bluntly. He is less interested in realism than in making a point, and it's really the poetic power of his prose that enables him to get away with the overbearing sentimentality and often ridiculous caricatures that accompany his poignant human truths.

One person found this helpful 3.0 out of 5 starsSome Old Truths ByIRA Rosson March 14, 2003 _Hard Times_ is a familiarly sentimental work by Dickens. This is especially the case regarding the character of Sissy Jupe, an overly sweet, innocent young girl who is abandoned by her father. Dickens seems determined to tug at the heart strings with this character. Dickens does an admirable job in covering new ground concerning the factory owners and bankers exploitation of the poor, as well as exploring the beginnings of labor unrest in 1850's England. There is much for the factory laborer to be unhappy with in Cokestown, where the factories belch out dirty, polluted smoke all day long. Dickens combines these issues with his examination of the difficulties inherent in parenting and gives truth to the old adage that how the branch is bent, so grows the tree. Through much grief and contrition years later, school master Thomas Gradgrind learns that a cold, no nonsense approach to bringing up his daughter Louisa and his son, Tom, was wrong.

Louisa has a good heart and dotes on her younger brother, but is otherwise very distrustful of humanity and exists in the world suffused in apathy; Tom is simply, as Dickens calls him, "a whelp", and a dishonest one at that. Louisa marries Josiah Bounderby, a banker who turns his nose up at the factory hands and mocks their aspirations to move up in the world. Bounderby refers to these individuals as trying to put a "gold spoon" in their mouths. The actions of Bounderby and the Gradgrinds directly lead to tragic consequences for Stephen Blackpool, an honest and courageous loom worker, who merely chooses not to be involved with the townspeople or their labor leader. Another old truth that there is no justice in the world is as real today as it was in Dickens' time. Format: Mass Market Paperback Despite the explicit title, "Hard Times" is not so much an ode to poverty and misery as it is a commentary on the increasing impact of industrialization on the fragmentation of society and on the dehumanization of education. The result, as Dickens implies, leads to lives hollowed by the emptiness of work for work's sake and wealth for wealth's sake.

The setting is Coketown, a factory town befouled by industrial smog and populated by underpaid and undereducated laborers. The novel's most prominent character is one of the town's richest citizens, Josiah Bounderby, a pompous blowhard who owns a textile mill and a bank and whose conversation usually includes some boastful story about his impoverished childhood and the hard work that led to his present fortune. Bounderby is the commercial projection of Thomas Gradgrind, a local schoolteacher and an extraordinarily pragmatic man who instills in his students and his own children the importance of memorizing facts and figures and the iniquity of indulging in entertaining activities. Gradgrind offers to Bounderby his son, Tom Jr., as an unwilling apprentice, and his daughter, Louisa, as an unwilling bride. On the other end of the town's social scale is Stephen Blackpool, a simple, downcast man who works as a weaver at Bounderby's mill and slogs through life misunderstood and mistreated.

When he refuses to join his fellow workers in a labor uprising, he is ostracized; when he criticizes the economic disparity between Bounderby and the workers, he is fired and forced to leave town; when Bounderby's bank is robbed one night, he is suspected as the thief. So halfway through the novel, Dickens grants his reader an interesting, albeit somewhat contrived, plot element to embellish the narrative. If this novel contains a ray of sunshine, it is in Sissy Jupe, a girl abandoned by her father and adopted by Gradgrind, whose oppressive educational method nearly breaks her. However, she grows up with her own intuitive sense of propriety, which she uses as a tool to eject a dishonorable character from the novel. Her strong and independent spirit will allow her to do much better in life than Louisa, who withers away in an unhappy marriage, and Tom Jr., whose boredom renders him vulnerable to temptations. Compared to his other novels, "Hard Times" is relatively short and straightforward and has few characters, as though Dickens felt that what he had to say was so important, it had to be said quickly and bluntly.

He is less interested in realism than in making a point, and it's really the poetic power of his prose that enables him to get away with the overbearing sentimentality and often ridiculous caricatures that accompany his poignant human truths. 0Comment | 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse Please write at least one word You must purchase at least one item from Amazon to post a comment A problem occurred while submitting your comment. Please try again later. Showing 0 of 0 comments Sort by: Format: Mass Market Paperback Considered by 19th century critics to be one of Dickens' more artistic and literary triumphs, Hard Times can be viewed in present time as a blistering polemic against the rise of industrial society and the dominate philosophy that rose in tandem with the industrial age, utilitarianism It is well known that Dickens was a chronicler of his times, and his mode of expression, the novel. An intensely emotional individual, Dickens was known to be a power walker, starting in the afternoon, covering miles, to return home just before sunrise. It was during these extensive walks that he witnessed the utter poverty and squalor scattered throughout the streets of London.

These walks brought inspiration for many of his novels, particularly, Hard Times. In this novel, Dickens explores the applications of utilitarianism in its highly rational, and in many ways, brutal forms. The novels general theme is that a philosophy that is only concerned with happiness and survival for the majority, will attempt to quash any and all individual thought and effort. Individual ideas, emotion, imagination and creativity must be ruthlessly rejected in order for the majority of people to think alike, work alike and behave alike to attain a status quo of happiness for all. Rationality must prevail because imagination promotes individuality, which is anathema to mob concerns. This polemic against utilitarianism is expressed clearly and persuasively in the practice of education. In the opening chapter for example, 'The One Thing Needful", the reader is introduced to this dictatorial emphasis on the rational: "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 minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will be of any service to them." (p.

47) Romanticism was now on the wane and utilitarianism and the rise of rationalism infiltrated every aspect of 19th century industrial life - emotion has no place in capitalism - the masses are reduced to statistics. Dickens main point in writing Hard Times, I believe, was to illustrate the brutality of the applications of the philosophy, utilitarianism, and the destructive results it entails when humaneness, the vital aspect of our nature, is ignored completely. Dickens was reporting, and speaking against a potentially destructive sway in society away from basic humanity and the importance of the individual, towards the highly mechanical and rational 'mob' philosophy of Utilitarianism during the Industrial revolution. In our so-called modern times, Dickens message continues to be relevant. Our societies emphasis on rationalism and the exclusion of emotion, can only lead to destruction. A balance must be found. 0Comment | 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse Please write at least one word You must purchase at least one item from Amazon to post a comment A problem occurred while submitting your comment. Please try again later. Format: Paperback | Verified Purchase Wonderful purchase.

I originally purchased it for English studies, but ended up reading it by myself. I love Hard Times, but I won't go into too many details regarding that. I suppose that many would buy this book not just for reading for fun, and read the reviews to figure out if the book is worth reading. This edition, in particular, has an introduction (which I would personally read after finishing the original text), some notes, and Dickens's manuscript, all of which contribute greatly to one's understanding and interpretation of the text. They explain some colloquialism, archaic word use, historical connotations, and biblical references. I would certainly not have enjoyed the depth of this work so much without them. Format: Paperback Charles Dickens at his trenchant best! "Hard Times" stabs at the heart of the philosophy of Utilitarianism, that ridiculous socio-economic dogma that emphasized cold facts taken out of their context, greed, self-interest, and not much else. Lacking any pretense to humanity Utilitarianism killed any human spirit which it came in contact with and turned human beings into numbers, cogs in a machine. Dickens did an excellent job of ridiculing this ludicrous philosophy and he told a good tale at the same time.

The characters in "Hard Times" are flesh and blood human beings forced to live in circumstances which are debilitating to both body and soul. Pure capitalism. Dickens' writing flows and his ideas flow along with his story. Read and enjoy! Format: Mass Market Paperback _Hard Times_ is a familiarly sentimental work by Dickens. This is especially the case regarding the character of Sissy Jupe, an overly sweet, innocent young girl who is abandoned by her father. Dickens seems determined to tug at the heart strings with this character. Dickens does an admirable job in covering new ground concerning the factory owners and bankers exploitation of the poor, as well as exploring the beginnings of labor unrest in 1850's England. There is much for the factory laborer to be unhappy with in Cokestown, where the factories belch out dirty, polluted smoke all day long. Dickens combines these issues with his examination of the difficulties inherent in parenting and gives truth to the old adage that how the branch is bent, so grows the tree. Through much grief and contrition years later, school master Thomas Gradgrind learns that a cold, no nonsense approach to bringing up his daughter Louisa and his son, Tom, was wrong.

Louisa has a good heart and dotes on her younger brother, but is otherwise very distrustful of humanity and exists in the world suffused in apathy; Tom is simply, as Dickens calls him, "a whelp", and a dishonest one at that. Louisa marries Josiah Bounderby, a banker who turns his nose up at the factory hands and mocks their aspirations to move up in the world. Bounderby refers to these individuals as trying to put a "gold spoon" in their mouths. The actions of Bounderby and the Gradgrinds directly lead to tragic consequences for Stephen Blackpool, an honest and courageous loom worker, who merely chooses not to be involved with the townspeople or their labor leader. Another old truth that there is no justice in the world is as real today as it was in Dickens' time. 0Comment | One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse Please write at least one word You must purchase at least one item from Amazon to post a comment A problem occurred while submitting your comment. Please try again later. Format: Paperback Charles Dickens is............well, simply Charles Dickens.

While 'Hard Times' is one of his lesser known tales, it deserves the same merit with those of more popularly known titles. The characterizations that are present have an equal depiction with those of any other of his other works and his descriptions of venues are, as I said before, simply Charles Dickens. No one weaves a clearer tale with such clearly defined characters as does he. The other fascinating factor about this author is the manner in which he simply throws out character after character and then, at the end of the novel, draws them all back together in a tightly knitted plot line. While this novel is known for its rationality vs. humanism conflict, class separation, family ties and elitism are fully explored as well. Format: Mass Market Paperback In this novel set in industrial revolution era Great Britain, Dickens is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Unlike some of his other social commentary, where he wraps his point in a gripping, twisting, and entertaining plot, Dickens goes right for the jugular in "Hard Times". In this novel he lashes out against the dehumanization of our children through "education", as well as the still very real gulf between the well to do and impoverished.

Even the names of his characters are none-too-subtle jabs. The local teacher, Professor Gradgrind, seeks not to educate or enlighten, but to hammer home facts and turn his children into automatons. His counterpart in the business arena is Bounderby, a blustering, egomaniacal, and ultimately vacuous man. Their countermeasure is a young orphan girl named Sissy Jupe. She is a lovable character that embodies compassion and humanity, but is very nearly broken by the their overbearing influence. This is not a "fun" book to read, and if you're looking to be entertained in traditional Dickens fashion I strongly reccomend looking elsewhere (i.e. David Copperfield). The novel is relatively straightforward and simple of plot, and his scathing social commentary cannot be missed. The most compelling reason to read "Hard Times" though is the fact that the same mentality criticized here is still very much in existence today, and this makes the novel just as relevant for the 21st century as it was when first penned. Format: Mass Market Paperback Hard Times is first and foremost a burning indictment on industrialism and the total reliance on reason without consideration for emotions. It is also a great novel.

I didn't get quite the same connection with the characters as in Great Expectations - I can't readily recall their names after a few months - but I know them and can remember vividly the scenes that he painted them in. Again there are several sub plots which drive the point home and wrap the novel up in such a tight and well thought out way that only Dickens could have written this. The main character, for me, is Louisa, raised under conventional wisdom on only dry facts and reason. As such, she is completely unable to cope with real life. She is married to Bounderby, who owns the local bank while her brother, Tom, works for him. Bounderby claims to been raised in the gutter, abandoned by his parents, and to have raised himself up by his bootstraps. Each character has built for themselves a house of cards which are destined to come tumbling down revealing all the flaws, all the lies and the fundamental errors of their thinking. The only person left unscathed is the abandoned circus girl who, like Biddy in Great Expectations, reminds us that the people we overlook may just be the best ones out of the bunch.

Format: Mass Market Paperback I initially lamented the fact that Hard Times was assigned to me in my British lit. class. I had read some of Dickens's melodramas like A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist and enjoyed them, but everything I heard about Hard Times said this was nothing like those. This was supposedly just strictly social commentary. My interpretation of that: BORING. But then I read it. Hard Times isn't like Dickens's other novels, but I don't think that it has any less heart than those masterpieces. In fact, Dickens endured himself much further to me with this novel as he has his characters perform Thomas Carlyle's enduring philosophy. The novel follows the Gradgrind family who is raised adhering to FACTS and living in a society which worships the manufacturing machine. As the novel progresses, connections are made and broken, and the characters come to the realization that there is much more to reality than the material facts. Hard Times is told so compassionately. The reader cares for these people and their tragic lives. The story is also told with biting humor that still cuts at today's society (this novel feels really modern), and the underlying philosophy is one which is so needed in our post-modern world.

I would certainly recommend this novel to fans of Dickens and to fans of the truly literary novel. Format: Mass Market Paperback This book at times was challenging to read due to its drab setting (Victorian England) and heavy (read: depressing) subject matter, but its clear message and singularity of theme helped keep me focused: all work and no play makes Jack (or in this case, the Gradgrind children) a dull boy. All in all, an excellent and convincing criticism of Utilitarianism. The characters were well developed and evoked genuine feeling, although ultimately you either hate or feel sorry for all of them. Poor Louisa was piteous, having bypassed childhood and forgone love to slavishly follow her father's iron rule; while Josiah Bounderby elicited the kind of loathing one has for a sleazy politician, the way he concealed his privileged background in order to appear self-made and humble.

Despite being almost 150 years old, this tale wasn't dated one bit, and its lessons are appropriate today along the lines of "stop and smell the roses." However, its teachings are not of the inspirational sort, and to read this I would suggest being free from distractions (you will need to concentrate to get through some of the slower parts), and keeping some sort of emotional pick-me-up nearby afterwards. Lastly, unlike some reviews I have seen, I thought it was seamless, despite its being published in installments. Hard Times Hard Times Read on Scribd mobile: iPhone , iPad and Android . Copyright: Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC) This action might not be possible to undo. Are you sure you want to continue? CANCEL We've moved you to where you read on your other device. Get the full title to continue Get the full title to continue reading from where you left off, or restart the preview. Restart preview Reading for the Literal whats the story about Four levels of - SOSC - 1340 View Full Document 2. Reading for the Formal (how is the story told?) • Look at the name of this FcTonal town: Coketown. Does anyone know what ‘coke’ is?

• “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. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye” (p. 26) • Name of the town, and metaphors like ‘serpents of smoke’, tell us that the triumph of capitalism also has this tragic side: produces squalid, overcrowded, polluted ciTes (externaliTes) 3. Reading for the Formal • Capitalist and working classes: ‘Listen’ to the accents • Bounderby speaks with fuency and some eloquence (he belongs to class oF ‘Masters’) • Stephen Blackpool (represents the men or ‘Hands’) is someTmes di±cult to understand, but beneath the accent there is a di²erent type oF “raTonality” and eloquence than that represented by Bounderby and Gradgrind • Might suggest a kind oF inequality, too, as we discover Blackpool received li³le Formal educaTon This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document 4.

Expository Level: What does the ‘story’ mean? • Weaving individual biography and social structure • ‘Sissy’s Progress’: At a literal level, it just sounds like she’s having trouble at school • But Dickens is presenTng a criTque of a parTcular way of looking at things like ‘prosperity’ and ‘progress’ • Her teacher, Mr. M’Choakumchild is choking the imaginaTon and ‘fancy’ out of children • Dickens is presenTng a criTque of ‘uTlitarian’ thinking dominant in his Tme: ‘fact, fact, fact’ “everywhere in the material and immaterial aspects of the town” (p. 27) 5. Expository Level: Sissy’s Critique of Political Economy • Sissy’s ethics: What’s the 1 st principle of poliTcal economy? “±o do unto others as I would that they should do unto me” (p. 66). What kind of principle is this? • Is a wealthy naTon a prosperous naTon? This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version.

Question: In which novel by Dickens is Stephen Blackpool a power loom weaver in Josiah Bounderby's mill?
Answer: Hard Times