Hard Times by Charles Dickens /Author Introduction / Historical Context / About the Work / Themes / Characters/ Summary & Analysis

➥ Hard Times

by Charles Dickens

Brief Biography of Charles Dickens

Born to a navy clerk, Charles Dickens spent his early childhood in Kent. When Dickens was ten, the family moved to London and his father was thrown in debtors' prison. Dickens left school and worked in a boot-blacking warehouse to help support his household. He later returned to school but left at fifteen to work as a law clerk, a court reporter, and a political journalist before devoting himself to writing full-time. His books were wildly successful both in England and in the United States, and include classics like Hard Times, Great Expectations, Bleak House, and Oliver Twist, still popular today. Dickens also founded a theater company and a magazine, All the Year Round. He was unhappily married to Catherine Hogarth, with whom he had ten children. Dickens was still writing when he died in 1870 and is buried in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.

Historical Context of Hard Times

The technological innovations that gave rise to the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century introduced the first capitalist economy, opening social and financial opportunities to people who had never had the chance to gain status or wealth under the rigid hereditary class hierarchy of the past. These opportunities enabled people born into lower classes to raise their standing in society by making money and acquiring education—this is apparently what happens to Mr. Bounderby (although he isn't quite as self-made as he claims). In many cases, however, it furthered the poverty of the working class, as the factory owners took advantage of their own success and the demand for labor and mistreated their factory workers. Unions were formed, but weren't always effective in fighting the abuses of the manufacturers, and sometimes were more of an evil than the evils they were originally created to combat. This is the case at Stephen Blackpool's mill.

Other Books Related to Hard Times

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, which also was serialized in Household Words, examines the delicate relationship between master and worker in industrial northern England. Mr. Robert Thornton in that book, however, is a far better and more just master than Mr. Bounderby, though the problems of their workers are virtually the same.

Key Facts about Hard Times

Full Title: Hard Times – For These Times

When Written: 1854

Where Written: England

When Published: Serialized between April 1, 1854 – August 12, 1854

Literary Period: Victorian Era

Genre: Novel, Social Criticism

Setting: Coketown, England

Climax: Louisa, instead of eloping with James Harthouse, runs away from her husband to her father's home.

Point of View: Third person, omniscient.

Major Themes:

1. Industrialization and its effects: Critique of Industrial Revolution's impact on society.

2. Education and Social Class: Examination of education's role in shaping social mobility.

3. Utilitarianism vs. Imagination: Conflict between practicality and emotional/creative aspects.

4. Social Injustice and Reform: Highlights social ills and need for change.

5. Family and Relationships: Explores complex family dynamics.

Minor Themes:

1. Fact vs. Fancy: Tension between rationality and imagination.

2. Childhood and Innocence: Impact of industrialization on children.

3. Love and Compassion: Importance of emotional connections.

4. Social Status and Materialism: Critique of societal values.

5. Personal Identity and Autonomy: Struggle for individuality.

Social Commentary:

1. Critique of Capitalism: Exploitation of workers.

2. Social Hierarchy: Satire of class divisions.

3. Women's Roles: Limited opportunities for women.

Philosophical Themes:

1. Nature vs. Nurture: Debate on human development.

2. Free Will vs. Determinism: Exploration of personal agency.

Symbolism:

1. Coketown: Representing industrialization's dark side.

2. The Circus: Symbolizing imagination and joy.

Character-driven Themes:

1. Thomas Gradgrind's transformation: From utilitarian to empathetic.

2. Louisa's struggle: Between reason and emotion.

3. Sissy Jupe's story: Impact of industrialization on children.

Main Characters:

1. Thomas Gradgrind: The novel's central figure, a wealthy industrialist and utilitarian who prioritizes facts over emotions.

2. Louisa Gradgrind: Thomas's eldest child, struggling to balance reason and emotion.

3. Tom Gradgrind (Tom Jr.): Thomas's son, spoiled and selfish.

4. Josiah Bounderby: A wealthy banker and Thomas's friend, with a mysterious past.

5. Cecilia Jupe (Sissy): A young circus performer, symbolizing imagination and joy.

6. Stephen Blackpool: A factory worker, highlighting the struggles of the working class.

7. Rachel: Stephen's fiancée, representing loyalty and devotion.

Supporting Characters:

1. Mrs. Gradgrind: Thomas's wife, weak and ineffective.

2. Mr. M'Choakumchild: A teacher at the Gradgrind school, emphasizing rote learning.

3. Mr. Sleary: The circus owner, advocating for imagination.

4. Bitzer: A student at the Gradgrind school, exemplifying utilitarian values.

5. James Harthouse: A charming, unscrupulous politician, pursuing Louisa.

6. Mrs. Sparsit: Josiah Bounderby's housekeeper, with a hidden agenda.

Minor Characters:

1. Slackbridge: A union organizer.

2. Old Stephen: Stephen Blackpool's father.

3. Mrs. Blackpool: Stephen's mother.

4. The Slackbridges: A family of factory workers.

Character Analysis:

1. Gradgrind: Embodies the conflict between reason and emotion.

2. Louisa: Struggles with her father's utilitarian values.

3. Tom: Represents selfishness and entitlement.

4. Sissy: Symbolizes imagination and joy.

5. Stephen: Highlights the struggles of the working class.

Character Relationships:

1. Gradgrind-Louisa: Father-daughter conflict.

2. Louisa-Tom: Sibling rivalry.

3. Bounderby-Louisa: Unrequited love.

4. Stephen-Rachel: Loyalty and devotion.

5. Gradgrind-Bounderby: Friendship and influence.

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

The novel begins with Mr. Thomas Gradgrind sternly lecturing a room full of school children on the importance of facts. He believes that facts, and not imagination or emotion, are the key to a good education, and he educates all the children of the school and his own children, Louisa and Tom, according to this philosophy. When one of his worst students, Sissy Jupe, is abandoned by her father (a circus performer), Mr. Gradgrind takes in Sissy to educate her along with his children according to his sacred system of facts.

Since their hearts and imaginations have been utterly neglected, Louisa and Tom grow into deformed human beings—inwardly, not outwardly. They know neither how to love nor how to be happy, and sense that there is something very wrong with the way they are living their lives. At Mr. Gradgrind's request, Louisa dutifully marries his older friend, Mr. Josiah Bounderby, who is a blustering manufacturer in Coketown. She agrees to marry Bounderby not because she loves him, but because she thinks it will help her brother Tom, who is apprenticed to Mr. Bounderby. Tom is the only person she cares for and, knowing this, Tom wheedles her into the marriage. Now both Louisa and Tom live with Mr. Bounderby, and Sissy stays back with Mr. and Mrs. Gradgrind and Jane, the youngest Gradgrind.

Mr. Bounderby's factory workers, also called "Hands," do not live happy lives under his rule. One factory worker by the name of Stephen Blackpool is daily worn out by his work at the factory, but what plagues him more is his unhappy marriage, for his wife has become a hideous drunk. He wishes to free himself from her and marry Rachael, a sweet, gentle woman in the village, but he cannot because of the ties of marriage. After he asks Bounderby for help on the matter, Mr. Bounderby informs him that he might be able to get out of the marriage if he had enough money to pay for a lawyer, but as he doesn't the cause is hopeless. As he resignedly leaves Mr. Bounderby's home, he runs into an old woman, who for some reason is very interested to hear any news about Mr. Bounderby and his successes.

Tom is now a dissolute, lazy young man, very much in debt and inclined to a sulky attitude in front of everyone. His, Louisa's, and Mr. Bounderby's lives are somewhat enlivened by the arrival of a Mr. James Harthouse from London. Mr. Harthouse is a wealthy, pleasing young gentleman who is bored out of his mind and has come to work for Mr. Bounderby in hope of finding something entertaining. He quickly becomes very interested in Louisa, for he sees that a strong fire burns under the cold, impassive mask of a face she wears. Noticing that she softens and shows emotion only towards Tom, Harthouse sets about seducing her by pretending to be Tom's good friend. Mrs. Sparsit, an old widow who used to live with Mr. Bounderby before he married Louisa and was then unceremoniously kicked out, watches the progression of his seduction of Louisa with glee.

Mr. Bounderby's factory workers, restless with their bad lot and stirred on by the fiery words of a sleazy union orator named Slackbridge, decide to form a union. Stephen, present at the rowdy meeting at which they come to this decision, tells them that he cannot join because of a promise he has made to someone. The entire town then decides to shun him as a result of his decision. Bounderby brings Stephen in for questioning, but fires him when he won't reveal anything about the union. Louisa and Tom visit Stephen to give him some money before he leaves town in search of a new job, and before they leave, Tom secretly tells Stephen to hang around the bank the few nights before he leaves town…there might be something good in it for Stephen. Stephen does so, but nothing happens. Soon after that, the bank is robbed, and as a result of his suspicious activity, Stephen is the main suspect.

By a coincidence of events, Louisa is left alone at home one night while her husband is out of town, and Harthouse finds her, passionately declares his love for her, and begs her to elope with him. Louisa tells him that she will meet him somewhere later that night. Mrs. Sparsit, hiding in the vegetation near to where those two are standing, hears all this with a vengeful delight and follows Louisa when she leaves the house, but then loses her track. She hastily runs to tell Mr. Bounderby that his wife has all but eloped with Mr. Harthouse.

Louisa, in the meantime, has actually gone to her father's house and is at her wits' end. She confronts her father and tells him that the unhappiness of her entire life which has brought her to this point is all due to his education of facts, which quashed all feelings of the heart which are so essential to human existence. Dumbstruck and penitent, her father tries to catch her as she falls in a faint on the floor.

Thanks to Sissy's care and actions (Sissy persuades Mr. Harthouse to leave Coketown forever), Louisa gradually begins to recover at her father's house. Bounderby, who learned of the almost-elopement through Mrs. Sparsit, tells Mr. Gradgrind that if Louisa stays at her old home, he and she shall cease to live together as man and wife—and so they separate.

Meanwhile, tragedy has befallen Stephen. On his way back to Coketown to clear his name, he falls into Old Hell Shaft, a huge pit in the ground. Sissy and Rachael find him there, and the men of the surrounding village manage to rescue him, but he dies shortly after being retrieved from the pit, holding Rachael's hand and peacefully gazing at the stars. Before he dies, he asks Mr. Gradgrind to clear his good name, because it was Tom, who committed the robbery.

Sissy saves the day again: she tells Tom to hide with her father's old circus company, and from there Mr. Gradgrind and Louisa plan for him to slip out of the country. One of Mr. Gradgrind's old pupils, Bitzer, who has been brainwashed by his education of facts, almost prevents Tom's escape, but thanks to the cunning of the circusmaster, Tom manages to evade Bitzer's clutches and escapes to another country.

Back in Coketown, Mrs. Sparsit has accidentally revealed Mr. Bounderby to be a fraud. Everyone had thought Mr. Bounderby to be a self-made man, deserted by cruel parents at a young age… until Mrs. Sparsit dragged his very respectable and kind mother to the public eye, thinking her to be an aid to Stephen Blackpool in the Bank robbery. Mr. Bounderby, now shunned as a liar, "exiles" Mrs. Sparsit from his presence and she is forced to spend the rest of her days with an old, sick, miserly relation.

Mr. Gradgrind, having learned his lesson the hard way, devotes the rest of his life to faith, hope, and charity instead of facts. Louisa does not remarry, but finds some happiness in helping Sissy care for her own children. Tom dies far from home, and repents of his hardness towards his family on his deathbed.

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