Charles Dickens' Hard Times
The book "Hard Times" was written in 1854. It was written in weekly
instalments in a magazine called Household Words. This is like a
normal soap but was weekly. The magazine was owned by Charles Dickens
as he was a journalist. The book was written at the time of the
Industrial Revolution. This was when factories were being built near
major towns and cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.
The Industrial Revolution was a time when there were big improvements
in transport as there was vast expansion in the production of iron.
The factories were in the towns so people from the countryside came to
the towns for work and a house. They moved because their own mills
weren't making enough items of clothing etc whereas the factories
could mass produce. However, there weren't enough houses so many were
hastily built. This meant they had no fresh water, no sewers and no
toilets. This led to a poor quality of living where people got water
from communal water pipes and put their waste in a big "pile" which
was cleaned by a "waste disposal man". The poor quality of living was
added to by the huge smoke clouds which hung over the cities. This
"smog" made it hard to breathe and was so bad seeing things became
harder.
The book starts when Dickens introduces the characters; the first two
chapters are short yet are scene-setters. Dickens explains that;
Mr Gradgrind - a politician and schools owner,
Mr McChoakumchild - a new teacher and
Another man - we are not told who the man is or why he is present, are
in a classroom full of children. Dickens describes Mr Gradgrind as
being a square man and Mr McChoakumchild as a school teacher who was
fresh for the factory which "mak...
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...r those concerned. This is alike real life
where people we meet can be different, alien like or how might we say
normal.
In "Hard Times" Dickens' does write realistically in a sense. However,
in the first two chapters he writes in a more exaggerated way to
arouse interest in the book. As this was written in weekly instalments
he would have wanted to excite his readers with interesting first
chapters so that they continue to buy the magazine. I think that after
the first couple of chapter when Dickens' has an interested audience
he starts to write in a more realistic fashion. In conclusion, life
didn't turn out the way that was expected by many characters in "Hard
Times." Those who strived to have perfect children didn't. And those
who were looked down on proved to be essential characters in finding
that there was more to life than what they were taught.
is searching for him and that he is going to have to encounter him at
Charles Dickens Pip’s character’s importance to the plot of the novel “Great Expectations” is paramount. Charles Dickens uses an ongoing theme over the course of this novel. Dickens creates Pip to be a possible prototype of his own and his father’s life. Pip’s qualities are kept under wraps because the changes in him are more important than his general personality. Dickens created Pip to be a normal everyday person that goes through many changes, which allows a normal reader to relate and feel sympathetic towards Pip.
Living in a world where much about a person’s character is measured by wealth, it has become increasingly important to maintain a separation between material characteristics and intangible moral values. Pip, in Dickens’ Great Expectations, must learn from his series of disappointments and realize the importance of self-reliance over acceptance to social norms. Through his unwavering faith in wealthy “ideals,” such as Miss Havisham and Estella, Pip develops both emotionally and morally, learning that surface appearances never reveal the truth in a person’s heart.
doesn't see why she had to take him in and "bring him up by hand", she
In Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, Mr. Vholes is Richard Carstone’s legal advisor. Introduced to Richard by Mr. Skimpole, Vholes encourages and assists Richard as he attempts to unravel the mysteries of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case in Chancery. Vholes, however, may not have the best intentions. Through descriptions of his gloomy physical appearance, suspicious actions, and unfortunate connections to English law, Dickens paints a vivid image of Mr. Vholes—a man who cannot be trusted. Vholes, therefore, is made up of multiple layers; as each layer peels away, the reader understands a little bit more of this secretive man. Surprisingly, Mr. Vholes is seen as more and more evil as readers journey to the center of his being.
In society today, all people determine their lifestyle, personality and overall character by both positive and negative traits that they hold. Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities was a drunken lawyer who had an extremely low self-esteem. He possessed many negative characteristics which he used in a positive way. Carton drastically changed his life and became a new man. Sydney is not the man he first appeared to be.
Dickens' Attitude Toward Education in Hard Times Dickens wrote Hard Times in 1854, when the industrial revolution was active. The symposia are not active. This influenced the way the book was written. In the first two chapters of Hard Times, Dickens' attitudes to education are presented. He uses two characters, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild to show the bad.
The novel, Great Expectations, presents the story of a young boy growing up and becoming a
The death of God for many in the Victorian era due to scientific discoveries carried with it the implication that life is nothing more than a kind of utilitarian existence that should be lived according to logic and facts, not intuition or feeling – that without God to impose meaning on life, life is meaningless. Charles Dickens, in Hard Times, parodies this way of thought by pushing its ideologies and implications to the extreme in his depiction of the McChoakumchild School.
Charles Dickens’ Hard Times portrays Gradgrind in an intriguing way. He works his way up in life, starting as a hardware trader, later starting a school and eventually becoming a member of Parliament. He is strict in forcing facts and figures on his family and his students because he wants them to succeed; his flaw with this is that his philosophy seemed to work for him, but in reality it doesn’t work for anyone (including him). This connects and contrasts with two characters in the story, Josiah Bounderby, the owner of the local factory, who is successful through lying and poor treatment of others, as well as James Harthouse, who causes damage in people’s lives just out of boredom. Despite how Gradgrind is a driving force in the symmetrically
love does not exist in this world then the people who live on it will
Dickens' Hard Times as a Critique of the Educational System Industrialization made Victorian England a brave new world. A world bereft of justice, humanity and emotion. In Hard Times, Dickens critiques this world in several ways: it's pollution problems, factory accidents, divorce laws, utilitarian ideals, and educational systems. The goal of this essay is to focus strictly on Dickens critique of the educational system which was influenced by Industrialization. In his novel, Dickens shows us how children were indoctrinated at very early ages, that "facts alone are wanted in life" (47).
In the novel Hard Times, Charles Dickens connives a theme of utilitarianism, along with education and industrialization. Utilitarianism is the belief that something is morally right if it helps a majority of people. It is a principle involving nothing but facts and leaves no room for creativity or imagination. Dickens provides symbolic examples of this utilitarianism in Hard Times by using Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, who has a hard belief in utilitarianism. Thomas Gradgrind is so into his philosophy of rationality and facts that he has forced this belief into his children’s and as well as his young students. Mr. Josiah Bounderby, Thomas Gradgrind’s best friend, also studies utilitarianism, but he was more interested in power and money than in facts. Dickens uses Cecelia Jupe, daughter of a circus clown, who is the complete opposite of Thomas Gradgrind to provide a great contrast of a utilitarian belief.
When Charles Dickens was writing his commentary on a fast industrializing world, the thought that Hard Times would still be relevant over 150 years later is assumed to be far from the forefront of his mind. And yet at present, 158 years after its first publication, Charles Dickens’ tale of industrialization and its implications still holds a prominent place in today’s society. The following is one interpretation of Dickens’ story of an industrialized dystopia, and discussed are its ever-relevant theme, the symbols and motifs which reinforce it, and the effective atmosphere which it creates.
Characterization in Dickens' Hard Times A firm character basis is the foundation upon which any good novel is built. For an allegorical novel, Dickens has a surprisingly complex character foundation. The characters in Hard Times have both the simplistic characteristics of a character developed for allegorical purposes, as well as the intricate qualities of "real" people. These characters think and feel like we do and react to their situations in the same way that most of us would. These attributes are what give the characters life and allow us to relate to their decisions.