Analysis Of Hard Times By Charles Dickens

Hard Times by Charles Dickens is a book that dives into the world of Coketown, a fictional town that has a lot of interesting characters. Each character gives you a unique perspective towards any situation that happens in the book. Whether Mr. Gradgrind is shoving facts down your throat or Mr. Boundarby boasting about his rise to riches; the novel will keep you wanting more. With that said, Hard Times makes you feel different emotions. I know that when I was reading the novel I felt angry, sad, joyful, and was honestly relieved towards the end of it. Most of those emotions were centered towards each of the characters families. In Hard Times, Charles Dickens makes the audience think about the importance of families and how each family members

Gradgrind sticks to his philosophy, but at the end of the novel he has a revelation when Louisa talks to him. He gets a rude awakening after they talk. Louisa asks him if he agrees that he has “trained” her since birth. Obviously he agrees with her and then she says “I curse the hour in which I was born to such a destiny.” (Times pg 161) This breaks Mr. Gradgrind down. He didn’t understand that since he was smothering her with all of the unrealistic expectations that he had for her. “How could you give me life, and take from me all the inappreciable things that raise it from the state of conscious death” (Times pg 161) This is the most Louisa talks in the whole book. When she talks to her dad, it’s almost poetic. After he talks to her, her words move him more than anything. He didn’t realize how miserable he was making her. On the other hand: Tom is a lost cause, but the relationship with Louisa and her father grew because of the connection that they have. It’s surprising because Mr. Gradgrind flipped the switch so easily when Louisa talked to him. Coming from a man that lives and breathes facts, he changed his philosophy just because of his

“I hadn’t a shoe to my foot. As to a stocking, I didn’t know such a thing by name. I passed the day in a ditch, and the night in a pigsty. That’s the way I spent my tenth birthday.” (Times pg 11) When I first read this part of the story I thought that this guy was just another stereotypical rich person, just bragging about his wealth, but his persona is much more than that. If the story ended without the audience figuring out that Mrs. Peglar was Bounderby’s mother, the question of their relationship would have an easy answer. Since it ended the way it did, that’s even better. It shows that Josiah is selfish and out of his mind. Someone could argue that maybe Mrs. Peglar was a terrible parent, but when Josiah tries to confront her she shocks him with the reply. “Josiah in the gutter! No such thing, Sir. Never!” (Times pg 196) Mrs. Peglar helped Josiah out when he almost did end up on the streets. The relationship between him and his mother is surprising because of his claims. He should be grateful and humble for what Mrs. Peglar did for