Charles Dickens ' Hard Times

The Industrial Revolution generated the perception that applying solely logic to everyday activities could maximize productivity and efficiency. Charles Dickens explores the dangers of neglecting emotions and imagination in his novel Hard Times. Dickens separates Hard Times into three books: Sowing, Reaping and Garnering in order to reveal the negative consequences of industrialization and forsaking imagination for facts through the events, settings, and characters in the novel.

Throughout history, a divide has always existed between the rich and poor in society. However, during the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England, this rift reached its peak. The working class labored for long hours and received miniscule wages, whereas the bourgeoisie grew abundantly wealthy through the labor of the working class. Published in 1848 and 1854 respectively, Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto and Charles Dickens’ Hard Times both comment on these troubles. While Hard Times is a novel which tells a story and The Communist Manifesto is a short publication which tries to bring about social change, both writings offer a sharp critique of the class antagonism brought about by capitalism at the height of the Industrial

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, isolation impacts Madame Defarge and Sydney Carton by altering their perception of life, influencing Madame to become obsessive with her vengeful goal of eliminating the aristocracy and damaging Carton by forcing him to contain his depressive emotions.

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.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,”- Charles Dickens. This quote represents Charles Dickens life very well showing his poverty as the worst of times, and his fame in writing as the best of times. Also, his novels, and short stories were a centerpiece of his writing with many famous ones. These famous novels, and their context carry into why Dickens is taught in school. Charles Dickens was a very talented writer, by his unlucky childhood but still being a successful writer. To his writing charm giving a unique look on England, and writing together.

During the 1800s, Charles Dickens was one of the most acclaimed writers of his time. He did not just write books but he was a journalist, and play write. Many of his experiences and people in his life influenced his books. Because of this he was known as not just a writer but a writer for “the people”. He wrote about the workhouse, poverty, disabilities, social class, and so much more that effected his era.

This novel shows Dickens’ belief in the possibility of resurrection and transformation, and it is shown to the readers on both a personal and societal level. The very beginning of the

Though Dickens’ beliefs may not have been traditional in his time or the modern era of today, he proved to be morally strong and stood out as a passionate social reformer. Dickens' views on society were established at a young age. Beginning at age 12, Dickens was forced to work at a shoe-blacking factory due to his father’s imprisonment in

Written by Dickens in 1815, Hard Times attempts to convince readers by illustrating the fact that life during the Industrial Revolution was anything but pleasant for human beings. Centred around Mr. Gradgrind and his moderately sized family, Dickens succeeds at giving the reader a up close and personal view of what it meant to be a father, mother, man, woman, and child during the industrial revolution. Dickens also provides the reader with three central themes: the mechanization of human beings, the conflict of fact versus fantasy, and the significance of the female figure. Dickens set out with a goal in writing this novel to expose the truth on how grim the Industrial Revolution really was for the human race. I therefore think that, through examining various examples sprawled throughout the text in connection to the three themes, there should definitely be enough evidence to conclude that Dickens interpretations of the Industrial Revolution were believably similar and, in a sense, true to what people were faced with during the 18th

Dickens’ view of society having evil morals and ethics is conveyed with the use of hunger and an unjust law system. The bad morals of the wealthy aristocrats and the unfair treatment in prisons help portray why society would be angry. The people use these problems in society to fuel their revenge against the aristocracy so they can be treated equally. The people, starting an uprising against the aristocracy, will finally have the revenge they

Dickens develops inhumanity as something innately present in human beings, but that is only truly revealed when there is lack of consequence for revealing it. Society then shifts to accept man’s inhumanity and becomes a destructive force, brutally hurting everything in its path and breeding the inhumanity of revenge in the people it wrongs. This inhumanity developed by other inhumanities is why Madame Defarge so mercilessly hunts the Evrémonde family. It is why the peasants of the French Revolution are equally as inhumane to the aristocrats as the aristocrats had previously been to them. The brutally honest theme of man’s inhumanity toward his fellow man is part of what makes A Tale of Two Cities such a memorable book, as it serves as not only an entertaining piece of literature, but also a warning to generations to come.

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 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

Utilitarianism and Charles Dickens - The Analysis of Impact of Utilitarianism in Hard Times towards Humanity

In Hard Times, Dickens presents life philosophies of three men that directly contradict each other. James Harthouse sees one’s actions in life as meaningless since life is so short. Mr. Gradgrind emphasizes the importance of fact and discourages fantasy since life is exactly as it was designed to be. Mr. Slearly exhibits that “all work and no play” will make very dull people out of all of us. He also proclaims that one should never look back on one’s life and regret past actions. Dickens is certainly advocating Sleary’s life philosophy because the subjects of the other two philosophies led depressing and unhappy lives. This is made clear when Louisa realises her childhood of fact without fancy has ruined her, when Tom’s life falls apart after leaving his father’s home in rejection of his strict parenting, and when Mr. Gradgrind himself realises the faults in his own philosophy and devotes the rest of his life to virtue and charity.