Charles Dickens ' Hard Times

Humanity is inherently flawed. Charles Dickens illustrates this in his novel A Tale of Two Cities as he writes about the lives of the Manettes and the people they draw around them. In this novel, Dickens uses Sydney Carton, a main character in the novel and the lover of Lucie Manette, to reveal his thoughts about the inherent nature of humanity. The characteristics of humanity change and mutate with the experiences of each person and the workings of their own mind, as illustrated by Mr. Stryver’s inhumane and thoughtless treatment of Sydney, the first time Sydney saves Charles Darnay’s life, and Sydney’s love for Lucie Manette.

It is said that right before someone dies, they see their life flash before their eyes. They are said to see the things most dear to them. However, no one on their deathbed regrets the amount of money that they have. In the moment of clarity, most realize that a number on a paycheck is not as important as emotional and mental possessions. People always tell each other that money can not buy happiness, yet most end up spending every waking moment thinking about money. Why do people waste their time and energy pursuing something that is not what they truly need? Often, they use social class to fill a void in their lives that can not be filled by materialistic possessions. Many people realize this, but it is often too late. Charles Dickens demonstrates the effects of social climbing in his novel, Great Expectations. This novel explores the connections and effects of human nature and society, which are the two most powerful forces that guide people’s decisions. Some may say that social climbing is good, but as will be proven, pursuing social class for the wrong reason can result in disastrous consequences. The motivation to obtain higher social status leaves those who pursue it dissatisfied with reality and with a wider void in their lives as shown by Pip, Estella, and Magwitch.

Charles Dickens utilizes themes in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, to enrich the plot and intensify the meaning of the text to the reader. Dickens wrote the novel sixty years after the French Revolution; however, he compared his present time period to that of the past using universal themes and motifs. Even though Dickens uses many themes, one of the most important and most frequent themes is that of sacrifice. In fact, most of Dickens characters make sacrifices in the name of love. Dickens exemplifies the theme of sacrifice in the name of love with the sacrifices of several characters including: Doctor Manette, Miss Pross, and Sydney Carton.

Sissy seemed to be the only one who knew that Louisa felt no form of love towards Mr. Bounderby. She felt extremely sympathetic for Louisa, mourning the loss of freedom that she never truly had. At this moment, Louisa could not bring herself to look at Sissy. She felt coldness and pride that prohibited her from having any real feelings. Sissy was able to experience life in completely different way that Louisa was not.

Louisa was influenced by her father’s educational system, causing her to base all experiences on facts, without any imagination involved in determinism. She was forced by her fathers philosophy to learn that“ you musn’t fancy” (14) causing her to base all experiences exclusively on fact. This type of guidance restricted all emotions within her life. As a result of her fathers teachings throughout the novel Louisa slowly comes to a realization that she was dependent on others ideas, and doesn’t have any emotional experiences to guide her own positions. This is directly evident at two points in the text; First when she had been presented with a proposal for marriage, and on her voyage to visit her ill mother. By Louisa

To Dickens, at the time of writing Hard Times, these things were represented most articulately, persuasively, (and therefore dangerously) by the Utilitarians. [86]

The fictional novel, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, concentrates on the Gradgrind family; of Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, his daughter Louisa, and son Thomas Jr. A major theme of friendship is portrayed in the books through the character of Mr. Gradgrind as he struggles with the idea of friendship between other characters. According to the Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle, it explains a detailed account of friendship and what it is to be a friend to others. In comparing the character Mr. Gradgrind in Hard Times, to the 5 basis of friendship written in the Nicomachean Ethics, Mr. Gradgrind cannot be a friend to others because he does not use emotion but rather factual evidence in his actions toward his children. The novel confirms Aristotle’s view of friendship with Mr. Gradgrind, proving that the standards need to be set up in order to have a proper friendship and relationship with others.

Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations is a bildungsroman that shows the youth, corruption and redemption of a young man named Pip. The boy begins as an innocent child until he comes into contact with a young lady, Estella, and some sudden wealth. As a young man, he strives to be a gentleman and live up to his great expectations, as well as to woo Estella. Finally, Pip becomes a gentleman after accepting his mistakes and coming to terms with his surrounding company. Overall, Pip undergoes great changes from a kind and timid child, to an ungrateful and materialistic young man, to a thankful and kind gentleman due to his great expectations.

Charles Dickens’s novel Hard Times critiques the use of extreme utilitarianism as an acceptable means to governing a society in which citizens are able to lead happy, productive, flourishing lives. “Just the facts,”19th century English utilitarianism argued, are all one needs to flourish. Those answers that we can arrive at by way of mathematical, logical reasoning are all needed to live a full human life. Hard Times shows however that a “just the facts” philosophy creates a community inhospitable to the needs of one another, a society nearly void of human compassion, and one lacking in morality. Underlying the novel’s argument is the Aristotelian concept that the primary purpose of government is to

he self conscious and wants to know who he is before he shares it with

Great Expectations is a novel written by Charles Dickens. This novel is about a boy named Pip and his life. He lives with his abusive sister and kind brother-in-law. The novel is happening in Kent and London in the early to mid-1800s, and contains some of Dickens' most memorable scenes, including the opening. Great Expectations includes extreme imagery, poverty such as prison chains, and fights to the death, and has a different ranged characters who have been in popular culture. All of the characters have different social status either and it can be interpret with some social theories. The main character Pip been through lots of things and they affected him, his chacater, his life and his

After her father catches her, Louisa tells him that she is tired, and that she has “been tired a long time.” Her tiredness refers to her sense of emptiness in her life. Extremely upset at her children, Mrs. Gradgrind declares that Thomas and Louisa are “enough to make one regret ever having had a family at all” (26). Thomas’s

Utilitarianism is the assumption that human beings act in a way that highlights their own self interest. It is based on factuality and leaves little room for imagination. Utilitarianism dominated as the form of government in England's Victorian age of eighteenth century. Utilitarianism, as rightly claimed by Dickens, robbed the people of their individuality and joy; deprived the children of their special period of their lives, 'Childhood' and deprived women of their inherent right of equality. The theme of utilitarianism, along with industrialization and education is explored by Charles Dickens, in his novel Hard Times.. Hard Times written in those times intended to explore its negativisms. Utilitarianism as a government was

Charles Dickens' Hard Times There are a huge variety of characters in Hard Times, ranging from the good to the unnaturally cruel. The novel is full of extremity in its characterisation; cruel, bitter and selfish characters such as Mrs. Sparsit contrast dramatically with characters such as Stephen Blackpool and Rachael, who are benevolent and altruistic. Among the cruellest and most villainous characters in the novel is James Harthouse, who is completely ammoral, and therefore rendered very dangerous by Dickens. Josiah Bounderby, is another particularly cruel character.

Fancy is a noun. It means “the power of the mind to imagine things.” Do not think about it; do not think about thinking about it. Just memorize it. Can you? There is only one right path that society has pinned you on. Like a toy car on a wooden train track, you are expected to complete the course without straying from it. If you do, you are considered broken. Yet, what exactly is the point of mindlessly walking the same path as everyone else, only to constantly find yourself memorizing empty facts over and over again? In Hard Times for these Times, Charles Dickens embodies the consequences of an absolutely factual world: blindness, imbalance, and nonfulfillment. Through the convoluted stories of the opposite worlds, Sissy’s journey to becoming a jewel of balance, Louisa’s tragic fight for fulfillment, and the harmonious character Sleary, Dickens defines the urgency for the proportional combination of fact and fancy.