The novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens offers a glimpse into the life and times during the industrial revolution in England during the nineteenth century. Dickens offers a wide range of characters from the upper class factory owner to the lowest class factory workers. He creates characters in this range of social classes and crafts this story that intertwines each person and their transformations throughout the novel. Almost every character in this story is complex and has characteristics that run deeper than their place in society, and this is what makes the novel so very important and intense. While there are many complexities linked to these characters, some do not appear to be as complex but in actuality …show more content…
For example, Bounderby seems to want others to think that he came from nothing, as did the industrial revolution. The revolution came after a time when technological ways of life were not considered to ever dominate society the way they eventually did. Bounderby seems to want others to believe that he was never thought to dominate “society” and came out of something to be the head of this minor empire in Coketown. Another comparison that can be made was how insensitive the industrial revolution was. Factories treated their workers appallingly and even children were forced to work extremely long days just to create this product. In the end all that mattered was the products made and the conditions of the workers were not even taken into consideration. The mindset of the factory owners was the profit and not the treatment of the people who actually allowed all of this profit to come in. Bounderby was also a very insensitive character in many aspects. In respect to others his insensitivity showed towards many people. His wife Louisa was an object of this tactlessness more than once. When they were first married, their honeymoon was a trip for Bounderby to watch over other factories, clearly more interested in the progress his factories were making than actually spending time with his new wife. When Louisa and Bounderby eventually split up, Bounderby was not willing to respond to the fact that Louisa was trying to gain emotional feelings
The novel, like many other classics, paints the society and time period in which the author lives through. Victorian England, which is the basis of Dickens setting, was a time where social principles were focused on the hierarchy and human nature. The
Charles Dickens' Hard Times and David Lodge's Nice Work ----“Fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the material aspect of the town; fact, fact, fact everywhere in the immaterial.” – Charles Dickens In the early 1851, London staged the Great Exhibition to show the world, the achievements and inventions of the Industrial Revolution. Many people believed that this showed how much better, safer and healthier Britain was than its neighbours in Europe. People living in mansions amid lawns and fountains, with horse drawn carriages certainly felt that life couldn’t be better. However behind the publicity and the royal occasions there was another England, not so glorious.
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.
“The range of his creative activity is, in the first place, limited to the world of his youth” (Cecil 169). This quote explains many people. What has previously happened to a person has a tremendous impact on them. It can affect their decisions, emotions, and life. The life of a person can sometimes be seen quite easily through what they do. Artists often reveal what their life has been like through the works that they create. The same can be said about writers. Events in authors past often show up in his works. The above quote is, in fact, made in regard to Charles Dickens.
- Pip begins to treat Biddy as an inferior as he feels he is in a
The French Revolution was difficult to escape on the grounds that the aristocracy abused poor people, making them rebel. Tyranny on a large scale results in anarchy, and anarchy fabricates a police state. One of Dickens' most grounded feelings was that the English individuals would flare up at any time into a mass of bloody revolutionists. It is understandable today that he was wrong, but the idea was firmly planted in his mind, as well as in the minds of his peers. Dickens also feels bad for the poor but he does not agree with the violence that was used during the war.
The Victorian era was time of epic growth. There are lots of things to talk
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born at 13 Mile End Terrace, Portsea, Portsmouth, the 4th day of the second month as the second child to John and Elizabeth Dickens (EBSCOhost). Dickens sadly became the eldest child when his older sister died in 1820 (Britannica). In the year 1822, the whole Dickens household moved their belongings to Camden Town, London (Biography.com). Charles schooling was interrupted in 1824 when his father was put in prison for his unpaid debt (Dickens Fellowship). Because of this, Dickens was forced to pick up the slack (British Library). Dickens earned 6 shillings a week at his new job (Biography.com). When Dickens' father was released from prison, his mother asked him to keep working because he gave them good money. Because of this, Dickens grew to despise his mother (Britannica). Dickens went back to school and is getting a good education, for the meantime (Dickens Fellowship). In the year
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
Charles Dickens, author of Great Expectations, provides a perfect example of the hope of class mobility. The novel portrays very diverse and varied social classes which spread from a diligent, hardworking peasant (Joe) to a good-natured middle class man (Mr. Wemmick) to a rich, beautiful young girl (Estella). Pip, in particular, elevates in the social pyramid from a common boy to a gentleman with great expectations. With his rise in society, he also alters his attitude, from being a caring child to an apathetic gentleman. During this process, Pip learns how he should act and how to become a real gentleman. Social mobility and wealth, furthermore, carves a disposition and how a character is looked upon.
Violence throughout our time has been evident ever since the beginning of our human species. From verbal to physical, one will not go through his/her lifetime without understanding the violent nature of other people. Richard Wilkinson brought up a point that “More unequal societies tend to be more violent” (Wilkinson 2). Wilkinson shows that there is a prominent correlation between income and homicide. Lower incomes shows higher rates of homicide. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens shows how violence can flourish due to the inequality seen in the lower classes. Dickens uses violence to portray that a society filled with inequalities can lead to violence.
Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned British writers with well-known and widespread work. Dickens was born in England in 1812 and died in 1870. During this time, Victorian England experienced an Industrial Revolution, which impacted his life tremendously. New factories and industrial machinery changed many lives of the lower class citizens. The family grew up impoverished and struggled to maintain a good lifestyle. The family’s financial situation was strained as John Dickens, Charles’s father, spent money that the family didn’t have. These societal factors were influential in Charles Dickens’s life, and the same themes present themselves in his works. When an author creates a work, frequently themes of their life events are incorporated into the theme of the book, consciously or unconsciously. Victorian Age industrial-influenced strife was a common theme in Dickens’s life and presented itself throughout Dickens’s books.
Great Expectations’ main character, Phillip Pirrip- generally known as Pip- had a rough upbringing as a child. His sister, Mrs. Joe had “brought him up by hand”, after their parents and five brothers had all been laid to rest many years ago. Another character, Herbert Pocket experienced a bizarre childhood, though in a different manner. Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations develops through the novel following Pip, a young “common boy” who grew up in the countryside. As he matured so did his love for a girl of higher class, Estella. However, being a common boy, Pip was not good enough for his Estella, thus once he was given an opportunity to become a gentleman in London he seized it without much hesitation. Charles Dickens’ had his own
Charles Dickens is one of the most influential writers in history and was “born in Landport, now part of Portsmouth, on February 7th, 1812”(Priestly 5). Despite being the successful writer that he was in life, Dickens had very humble beginnings and because his Father, John Huffman Dickens, “lacked the money to support his family adequetly” , Dickens lived in poverty through out most of his childhood (Collins). Matters only got worse, however, when Dickens’s Father had to “spen[d] time in prison for debt” causing Dickens to have to “work in a London factory pasting labels on bottles of shoe polish” (Collins). It was a horrible experience for him, but it also helped him to no doubt feel pity for the poor, which is
One stormy night, Pip is home alone and is visited by a man who seems