FREE ESSAY ON HARD TIMES

HARD TIMES

The book Hard Times written by Charles Dickens is a story about a Lancashire Mill Town in
the 1840's. The novel is divided into three books. Dickens titles the books accordingly
to prepare the reader for what is about to come, and throughout the novel he shows the
effects of the education system, the setup of the caste system, and the Industrial
Revolution had on society through this small town of Coketown. The main characters of the
novel show the English caste system of the 19th century by showing how one influences the
other and the amount of power the bourgeois now have in society. They own the factories.
Therefore, they have the money and, because of the changes coming from the revolution,
have some power in society. The titles of the three books, "Sowing", "Reaping", and
"Garnering" shows significance in the way Dickens is trying to help the reader get an
understanding of what is to come. Dickens shows the way the working classes are fighting
for a say in the way they are treated at work by forming unions and how a bad negotiator
can ruin things. He shows from the start that the education system is based on "fact" and
not "fancy." The breakdown of the "fact" based education is shown when Gradgrind himself
asked a question that is not fact based. In the end, the whole system of education is
reversed and the "fancy" is fancied.
The novel can be summarized as a book about two struggles. One struggle is between fact
and imagination and the other is the struggle between two classes. Thomas Gradgrind, the
father of Louisa, Tom, and June not only stresses facts in the classroom in which he
teaches, but also at home to his family. He has brought up his children to know only the
"facts." Everything is black and white, right or wrong with nothing in between. Gradgrind
does not like the idea of going to the circus or having flowered carpet. Everyone knows a
person cannot have flowered carpet. He would trample all over them and they would end up
dying. The second struggle is between the classes is illustrated between Stephen
Blackpool and Bounderby. Blackpool represents the working class and Bounderby the
bourgeois or middle class. He is a warm-hearted man who feels he deserves this mediocre
life. Blackpool was once an employee under Bounderby and was fired for standing up for
his beliefs. He believed that the union was taking anything that was given to them
because they could not expect anything better. Stephen stands up for his fellow workers
asking for reform and this makes Bounderby mad so he fires Stephen. This was typical
during the Industrial Revolution. The run down society Dickens speaks of is that created
by the Industrial Revolution. The air is filled with smoke that the working class have to
breath. The water is turning colors with pollution caused by the factories. The people
who are most effected by this are people like Blackpool, the lower class. Dickens shows
Stephen and Bounderby as a typical worker-employer relationship. Dickens shows the way in
which the factories were run at this period. A person could lose their job simply by
disagreeing with what he felt was wrong because the employer did not really care about
the employee. This is the way the workers were treated with no respect. In contrast to
the industrial revolution, it would be highly unlikely that a middle class citizen such
as Bounderby to employ an aristocrat.
The titles of the three books ("Sowing", "Reaping", and "Garnering") are named in a way
of giving a special reference to the upbringing and the education of the children. The
titles together show the basic plot of the story. "Sowing," suggests that in the 1st book
the idea of the children being sown with facts and it also lays the foundation of the
plot of the novel. They are being taught fact. Where 2+2= 4 and nothing else matters,
there is no gray area. Everything is either black or white and nothing else. They are not
taught emotion. The 2nd book talks of the reaping or harvesting. In this book, Dickens
shows that whatever was sown in the first book, the consequences are now being seen. For
example, Louisa Gradgrind Bounderby was sown with the seeds of Fact. She used facts to
decide upon marrying Bounderby. It would help Tom out and get him a high position in
Bounderby's bank. We can tell that she did not want to marry Bounderby when she said,
"There seems to be nothing there but languid and monotonous smoke. Yet when the night
comes, fired bursts out, father!" This seems be symbolism to a negative view of marrying
Bounderby. In other words, she is saying that there would be repressed feelings of
passionate love and if this marriage would to happen and deny her the opportunity of
love. She would be susceptible to being seduced. This almost happens with Mr. James
Harthouse. Here Dickens is referring to the Bible where there is a concept of "whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap"(Galatians 6:7). Thus, being married to Bounderby,
Louisa had harvested an unhappy marriage. The 3rd book, "Garnering", is about how
characters are starting to pick of the broken pieces of their lives. Mr. Gradgrind starts
to help his children put together pieces of their lives by promising to teach them the
"fancy" or emotional side of life along with the "facts."
The main characters in the story are representative of the 19th century caste system. The
aristocracy is represented through Mrs. Sparsit and Mr. Harthouse. Mrs. Sparsit is
motivated by an underlining jealousy towards Bounderby; she works for him, throughout the
book. During this time in history, there was a conflict of power going on. The middle
class was gaining it and the aristocracy was losing it. Mrs. Sparsit despises Bounderby
and his philosophy that he is a self-made man. Mr. Harthouse lives the life of a typical
aristocrat. He lives the idle life, only moving to Coketown to find something to occupy
him. He tried to steal Louisa away from Bounderby. This shows that Harthouse still felt
that the rules didn't apply to him being aristocratic. Bounderby, Thomas Gradgrind, Tom
Gradgind, and Louisa Gradgrind represent the middle class. Bounderby is the typical
successful middle class citizen of this time. He has a lot of wealth and influence and he
does not care about his employees. The father, Gradgrind, is driven by a firm belief in
his educational system. Therefore, pounds facts into his children. Tom Gradgrind is later
revealed as very weak and becomes a person only interested in what he can get no matter
how it affects other. He is heartless. Louisa is a poor girl trapped in the middle. Both
her father and brother push her to marry Bounderby. She only does this to make them
happy, but we see throughout the book that she has an interest in the fancy side of life.
Sissy Jupe and Stephen Blackpool represent the lower class. Sissy Jupe is orphaned at the
beginning. Blackpool is a worker for Bounderby. Both are very uneducated, but very
compassionate people. Blackpool and Jupe show throughout the book the typical lower class
citizen. They were very compassionate towards their fellow man and help whenever they
could.
In looking at the aspects of the 19th century. Dickens gives a description about how the
hands", or the workers, were being mistreated and that there was little hope that they
would be helped. Dickens' views towards unions at this time are that they were just as
corrupt as the employers. Slackbridge is one of the union agitators. He claims to be for
the union, but Dickens describes him as a false prophet. He was not a very good
negotiator for the union. Even his name suggests that he is a very poor bridge between
the workers and the owners. Slackbridge takes whatever is offered and that is not much at
all. 
The Gradgrind education system backfires on Gradgrind himself. This is seen through an
ironic situation between him and Bitzer, Bitzer was an excellent product of the "system."
Bitzer had stopped Gradgrind's son Tom from leaving town. Tom had been caught stealing
money from Bounderby's bank. By this time Gradgrind has become a more emotional man, torn
down by the constant failure in life by his own children. In an effort to save Tom from
any jail time, he was planning to send Tom away from town. The emotions felt by Gradgrind
become too much for him and in a "broken down and submissive" manner asks Bitzer, "have
you no heart." Bitzer replies. "No man, sir, acquainted with the facts established by
Harvey relating to the circulation of the blood can doubt that I have a heart. The irony
is that Gradgrind taught Bitzer to think in this manner. Bitzer uses facts to undermine a
question clearly related to compassion, which Bitzer does not have. Gradgrind would have
answered the question the same way at the beginning of the novel.
Toward the end of the book, fact and fancy became reversed. Why was that? It was because
of the realization that the Gradgrind education system failed. Teaching only facts was
not the best way of eduacating the children. Gradgrind himself figures this out when he
sees his own children failing at life. Dickens illustrates that the education system of
this time was educating people to not think on their own. Their imaginations were
suppressed and that it also was not interested in making well-rounded students, but
denying children their childhood. The significance of the ending being in the circus is
that is the complete opposite of everything that was being taught at the beginning. The
institution of the school of fact is totally gone. A new way of looking at life has
arisen. Facts can no longer the only thing in life. The necessity of compassion, love,
and understanding are now shown to be of more importance that learning facts alone. The
entire Gradgrind system of facts proved to be a failure, and Gradgrind learns that
emotions and imagination are the controlling forces in everyone's life. Gradgrind is
filled with repentance for ruining the lives of his children, as he decided to make his
facts and figures subservient to Faith, Hope, and charity.
In Dickens three books in the novel, we are shown the effects of the education system,
the caste system, and the Industrial Revolution had on society through this small town of
Coketown To me the book was a good portrayal of what life in the 19th century would have
been like. The breakdown of society from a single towns standpoint through the eyes of
Dickens is amazing. 
In my opinion, I felt that the voice of Gradgrind had the most impact throughout the
novel. As the novel progresses, so does the attitude of Gradgrind. He slowly faded away
from his idea of education of nothing but fact, to completely abandoning that philosophy
and promises to intertwine the two. Also, he showed that he was a stronger man, by
standing up to Bounderby when Louisa came home. He allowed her to stay and Bounderby
divorced her. Gradgrind did this out of love and with no concern about what Bounderby
thought or would "say" about it. 
Bibliography
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