Malcolm Hamilton
Professor
English 203
10, July 2014
Stephen Blackpool: Nice Guys Finish First Charles Dickens’ “Hard Times” is a revolving plot line based on characteristics of many beliefs and values. Stephen Blackpool, a Hand in Bounderby’s factory, is a man of great honesty, compassion, and integrity. The backlash on Blackpool starts whenever he refuses to join the workers’ union because he believes that striking is not the best way to improve relations between factory owners and employees. He also wants to earn an honest living. As a result, he is cast out of the workers’ group, but then is approached by Bounderby to spy on his fellow co-workers. After refusing his proposal, he was laid off with other unfortunate circumstances to follow. Although many people see the world as black and white, Blackpool views it in a grey scale where his beliefs, morals, and values should put the “nice guy” first. While Blackpool has a simple, clear view that nice guys should finish first, Dickenson demonstrates time and time again, for most of his characters that English capitalist society works counter to those values. In “Hard Times”, Dickens uses heroes, villains, and bystanders who represent people of his time. Dickens captures the social group system of nineteenth-century England by drawing from the travelers, represented by the circus people, the struggling labor class, the up and coming middle class, and the fading upper class. Stephen Blackpool, a hard-working power-loom
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.
Dickens’ experiences of living in abandonment and working in Warren’s Blacking Factory, coupled with his
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
Social class systems in the nineteenth century were comprised of the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the underclass. The different social classes can be “distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. During his time, Charles Dickens “seen as a champion of “the poor” by some of the poor themselves” (“What was”). It is said that one of his greatest achievements “was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them” (“What was”). This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. During the nineteenth century Victorian era, social class systems were a common excuse for the division and mistreatment of many individuals, as evidenced in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, he portrays the Victorian society’s realistic and unrealistic views of an
“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.
It is ironic that the comforter which should provide warmth and comfort, bears little protection from the cold and suffering. Similarly, Bob Cratchit is not permitted to replenish his fire because Scrooge withholds the coal box inside his own office. This coal symbolizes the basic necessities of life which the gluttonous upper class individuals withhold from the working-class, in a complete disregard for their well-being. Therefore, having seen poverty first-hand, Dickens implies via the poor salary, the harsh working conditions, and through the lack of heat that the capitalists willfully abuse their workers as to retain extra capital for their personal use.
The split between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car was considered a tough and bittersweet “pill” to swallow. The split seems to revolve around a directional disagreement which strayed away from the original vision of the IndyCar Company. Throughout my research, I have found no true definition if the split was completely unsuccessful, but the evidence would definitely suggest this idea. Additionally, when the split occurred, a rift was created among the many supporting fans and the once committed corporate sponsorships (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). The split did come at a time of strong competition and a declining economy. However, I did discover that during those times of hardship (IRL & CART) focused on specific marketing plans that
Throughout Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, societies are conveyed to be significant factors in the development of their characters. Societies establish standards, moral beliefs, and opinions that greatly influence the decisions and learning of characters. Specifically, tragic events in both novels are not only major turning points, but also become defining moments for their characters’ understanding of other characters, conflicts, and of themselves. However, in both novels, societal influences tend to assert their dominance over characters in the novel. In order to reveal the predominant influence of societies on one’s moral beliefs, Dickens and Shakespeare directly attribute how their characters’
A Tale of Two Cities truly was “...the best of times,” and “...the worst of times,...” (Dickens 7). The worst of times was especially portrayed through the mobs in France. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens writes about mobs and how the peasants and even the aristocrats act while in a mob. The motif of mobs reveals the theme of how easily people are influenced by others around them such as Roger Cly’s ‘funeral’, the storming of the Bastille, and when the peasants were trying to find Old Foulon.
Chapter XII addresses this from the opposite side with the discussion of the working class. The “fruits of my brow” and “...but is it a sin for a labouring man that moistens every crust of bread he earns”. This chapter, along with Chapter XI and the Podsnaps and Chapter XIII and Lizzie and her father, is a main showcase of the great chapter organization and structure that Dickens provides to show opposing sides of the story. The chapters in the book thus far seem to reverse often from the wealthy to the working class or from one contract to another wherein Dickens’ audience is given the different insights into each faction of this English
The excerpt itself does fantastic work in the way of elaborating on the living conditions of this group of people and doesn’t put priority on a specific group. The Excerpt instead provides a detailed account as to the different people that inhabitant different parts of the workhouse specific to their age and health status. The detail in which Dickens goes into is remarkable and really provides a clear picture to variety of domains within this area. A bit of knowledge of this time period is truly needed in order to grasp the broader themes that are in the
We see that Charles Dickens recognizes the poverty in the people. He describes the people as “… men with bare arms, matted locks, and cadaverous
Utilitarianism, a philosophy that values the happiness of the general population above the happiness of an individual, ironically caused more than its fair share of sorrow. Thriving in the Industrial Revolution’s environment of corrupt businessmen, lethargic politicians, and draconian educators, utilitarianism seeks only quantifiable results, abandoning emotion and imagination in favor of facts. With its opening exclamation of “Facts, facts, facts!” Charles Dickens immediately makes it clear that Hard Times intends to critique the flawed obsessions of utilitarianism. Most notably, he introduces the Gradgrinds of Coketown, an unmistakable product of a society gone dreadfully wrong. Look no further than Mr. Gradgrind, Dicken’s personification
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.