Introduction to Hard Times

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor" (BrainyQuote.) The great deal of hardships in my life led me to be successful. I dealt with abandonment for much of my life. I failed at many thing in my life but writing was not one of them. I became famous after I failed many times. I am one of the most famous and controversial figures in contemporary American literature (DIScovering authors.) My non-fiction books, journals, and characters were greatly influenced by my lack of love as a child.

Dickens uses the needs and wants for people to get an image in their head about what life was really like before the French revolution. "Cold, dirt,

Life is full of challenges. In the stories, “Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity” and “Neighbours,” written by Jim McCormick and Lien Chao, the main characters illustrate benefits derived from taking risks. Even though both people in these texts undergo personal challenges, in “Neighbours” the character, Sally, receives greater benefits from taking risks than McCormick in “Breaking Through Uncertainty-Welcoming Adversity”.

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.

During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the

It's been a while since I wrote to you, but life has been a struggle lately with the Great Depression hammered down to our nation. People losing their jobs, their house, even their loved ones. I continuously hear story about people commiting suicide because they can't feed their family, or because the depression of being a liability. The rate of people living off the street keep increasing, some survived with their newspaper blankets, while some life were taken away by the cold. No one talk about "hope" these days, as if there is anything to be hopeful about the situation. My business definitely took a hit because the amount of people who can afford to buy stuff keep disappearing. There is no question that I have to close my shop if that will

‘The hardships of the Great Depression in Australia were not shared equally.’ (Anderson et. al.,2012)

There are many examples during The Great Depression that showed the best and the worst in people while they went through hard times. Many people struggled with finding jobs, being fed, and taking care of their families and themselves. Some good things happened as well, the moment they heard they have been hired all you would see is a big smile on their face or when they they have a piece of bread in front of them which in their eyes was a feast.

Overcoming adversity is a challenge that everyone has to face. Some good examples of people who overcame adversity are the Boston Marathon runners, John J. Pinder, and Malala Yousafzai. They all had challenges to face, but they never gave up. Overcoming adversity is going to be hard, but the ending will be worthwhile, that’s why patience is needed to overcome adversity. Life is like a roller coaster, full of ups, downs, inside outs, sometimes you may start out slow, but as you go along, you speed up, in adversity, it may take some time to think about how to overcome it, but you’ get the hang of it and will eventually overcome it. Malala was faced with a lot of problems and challenges, but she pulled through and overcame adversity.

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.

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.

Since it was first published over 150 years ago, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations has come to be known as a timeless and remarkably moving work of literature. It is considered to be one of Dickens’ most recognizable works, and is celebrated for its meaningful, universally-believed themes. In order for this novel to be properly understood, a thoughtful analysis of its major themes must be given.

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

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.