The Plot - Coketown is a grimy, smelly industrial town in northern

“The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg” is a story about a man who, after being offended by the honest town of Hadleyburg, seeks to destroy the town’s reputation as an honest town by showing the true nature of the town. The nineteen principle households are seen as better than the other residents of the town. This leads to varying social class systems which mimics a capitalist civilization. Mark Twain’s “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg” embodies Marx’s ideals of the capitalist society through its treatment of the nineteen “chief citizens” compared to the other characters.

In contrast, the protagonist of the novel is Stephen Blackpool, who represents the average proletarian. He is not very educated, he works long hours at a difficult factory job, and he gets paid very little for this job. Blackpool is a tragic character who is constantly being taken advantage of by members of higher classes. Bounderby takes advantage of Blackpool through wage labor, and Tom Gradgrind takes advantage of him by framing him for the bank robbery. This all leads to a life full of sufferings, including exile from Coketown and an untimely death.

A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.

When Sally and John have their brief affair, which both spouses are aware of, the first problem of unfaithfulness becomes on display. As the day goes on, the tensions generated by this situation grow more acute, culminating in a physical confrontation between Sam and John.

Girls in Taylor’s high school typically drop out to have children of their own. Many of the boys drop out to work on farms. Taylor sets morals for herself to stray away from getting pregnant or dropping out to work on a farm. Along with Taylor, “Mama always said barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew” (Kingsolver, 4). A neighbor of Taylor, Newt Hardbine had adhered to the typical act of their town. Newt dropped out to work on his father’s farm, and in the meantime got his girlfriend pregnant. Newt and Taylor could pass as brother and sister, so people within the town always wondered who was going to be the one to escape the small town life. This primarily affects Taylor in her decision to leave Pittman County. She does not want to conform to the social norm of her small town, so Taylor decides to work in their county hospital just to make enough money to buy a run-down Volkswagen. She makes a goal for herself, to drive until she is out of gas and rename herself after the town she ends up in. From there, she would continue until her car broke down and settle in the new town. It is ones choice to let themselves be affected by these morals so this example shows how the societal norms of a town are able to run one away to avoid

The action in the short novel is simple and straightforward that covers typical issues for teens that was faced in the 1960s and in today society. The author broke ground in the genre of Young Adult fiction, exceeding established barrier in its portrayal of prejudice, class conflict and violence. The book tells a story about Ponyboy Curtis, the main character with his two brothers Sodapop who is sixteen, and Darrel (Darry) who is twenty and their everyday lifestyle living with parents because of an automobile accident. Three of the boys grew up in the East Side, known as greasers the poor side of town. Their rivals, Socs or Socials, are the “West-side rich kids.” Finally, Ponyboy and Johnny heads to pick up two Socs girls then their boyfriends reappear in anger and outnumbered Ponyboy and Johnny, shoving Ponyboy head in a fountain under the water. Out of shock, Johnny begins to realize Ponyboy is drowning so his pulls out his switchblade and kills the Soc, Bob. Johnny and Ponyboy is forced to flee the city. Both boys ended up in a hideout spot at an abandoned rural church near the neighboring town of Windrixville. Towards the end Johnny turn himself in to the police and heads back to the church and discovers that it is on fire. As time is passing, Johnny was able to save all the kids that was stuck in the fire until a piece of timber falls on Jonny burning him badly and breaking his back. Ponyboy and Johnny are now see as heroes, but later discover that Johnny had died later that day. Without thinking, Dallas become distraught and upset from

This occurs when “Sir Timothy, after selling off all [the Meanwell’s] goods for the rent, turned the whole family out of doors; and they left the village in a state of beggary” (“The History of Goody Two-Shoes” 6). This portrays how individuals who were part of the gentry at the time treated those of a lower class due to the high status that they possess. This further supports the views of the middle class as it portrays how the individuals in the upper class treated them. Furthermore, the story uses harsh words to describe Sir Timothy Gripe who is used as the representation of the gentry. Words such as “cruel” (“The History of Goody Two-Shoes” 5), “avaricious”( “The History of Goody Two-Shoes” 5), “selfish” (“The History of Goody Two-Shoes” 5), and “wicked”( “The History of Goody Two-Shoes” 19) demonstrates the negative connotations held about Sir Timothy. This demonstrates the ideologies that individuals in the middle class held about those who were part of the gentry and depicted how they wanted children to view the gentry as well. It is evident that this book illustrates views and ideologies held by the 18th century middle class. They convey the message that the gentry are the villains of everyday life as that are cruel, unforgiving and ungrateful individuals. In doing this, children are able to grasp how they should interpret and understand individuals who are a part of the upper

Eliza,Harry and George leave the Quakers and are soon confronted by Loker and his gang but they manage to once again evade them.George proclaims to them that he will stop at nothing and will become a free man.At his new home Tom is given the responsibility of keeping his masters books.Also he is spreading his good word by trying to reform his new master,who we learn feels he isn’t cut out for slavery.Little Eva demonstrates the power of love when she helps Tom write a letter to his family with whom he is still in close contact. St.Clare and his brother have a heated discussion about slavery while Eva asks her cousin to try to love his slave.

Stephen in this book is known for his honesty and having a ton of love for Rachael, but has a terrible marriage throughout the book. Stephen visits one of his employers to acquire about the possibility of getting a divorce with his wife. Their was a law that prevented divorce under certain rules. A character in this book by the name of Bounderby basically tells Stephen that their is no law or anything that can help him. All of the laws were made by the rich people and are basically for the rich.

Minor Characters: Governor Bellingham - As a wealthy and elderly man, Bellingham spends much of his time consulting with the town’s fathers. Although he is responsible for a growing American society, his mannerisms are much like those of a wealthy Englishman. Bellingham strongly believes in sticking to the rules however, he is quite easily convinced by Reverend Dimmesdale’s eloquence. He is also incredibly naive, regretting to notice the atrocities in his own household.

     The man known as Josiah Bounderby of Coketown is a central character within the book whose presence is as important as the notion of the Industrial Revolution itself. Mr. Bounderby represents the capitalist ideology of rags to riches that was surely prevalent during this period of capitalist exploitation. During the course of the novel, Mr. Bounderby is

The books of Dickens have a place completely with the philanthropic development of the Victorian Age, of which they are, in fact, in the circle of fiction, by a wide margin an essential item and expression. He was from first to last a writer for a reason. Dickens embarked to assault some particular mishandle or misuse existing towards youngsters and ladies amid the Victorian period. Amid the Modern Insurgency, the Victorian culture comprised of a hierarchical structure include the privileged, trailed by the white collar class, the average workers and the ruined underclass. These distinctive social classes could be recognized by disparities in territories, for example, legislative issues, specialist, riches, training, culture, working and living conditions. Individuals from the lower class were seen as nonsensical, juvenile, superstitious, ruthless, exorbitantly sexual and tarnished. Because of the feebleness of the lower class people, they were oppressed to misuse and treatment like that of creatures. In light of destitution, kids were constrained into youngster work and compelled to act as fireplace sweepers, and they could slither up the twelve by fourteen-inch stacks, some as little as seven inches square, with the goal that they would get out the yearly standard of forty gallons of sediment that was kept there. Some young men moved toward becoming rodent catchers, and they were required to utilize arsenic to harm the rats. However, as this could be costly, they could

The Mayor of Casterbridge revolves around the theme of character. Michael Henchard, the novel’s protagonist, is also the most complex. From the beginning, Henchard is filled with bitterness. He is doomed for demise. Despite his efforts to change, he cannot. Henchard is described as a dejected twenty-one-year-old hay-trusser. His drunken rage leads him to sell his wife and daughter at a county fair for a mere five guineas. Following his actions, he experiences extreme guilt, which is indicative of his tendency to respond to his circumstances with intense emotions. Swaying from one extreme emotion to another is part of Henchard’s character that makes him as complex as he is. As the novel progresses, the reader notices Henchard’s change of heart towards various circumstances and people.

One has to wonder how different the story would be if Gradgrind did not run the school. How can you give a utilitarian man such as Gradgrind such power over a town? I do like how Dickens structures the book to make one ask obvious questions such as these. Dickens does not tell us much about the success of the other students of the school besides Bitzer, who is fairly successful on paper, but does not have the capacity as a person to deal with life’s everyday struggles. Gradgrinds two oldest children, Tom and Louisa, are examples of how this utilitarian method failed miserably. These children were never given the opportunity to think for themselves, experience fun things in life, or even use their imaginations. True, they are smart people in the factual sense but do not have the street smarts to survive. Tom is a young man who, so fed up with his father’s strictness and repetition, revolts against him and leaves home to work in Mr. Bounderby’s bank. Tom, now out from under his fathers wing, he begins to drink and gamble heavily. Eventually, to get out of a deep gambling debt, he robs a bank and is forced to flee the area. When Bitzer realizes that Tom has robbed the bank and catches him, Mr. Gradgrind begs him to let Tom go, reminding him of all of the hard work that was put on him while at the school. Ironically Bitzer,

The shortest of Dickens' novels, Hard Times, was also, until quite recently, the least regarded of them. The comedy is savagely and scornfully sardonic, to the virtual exclusion of the humour - that delighted apprehension of and rejoicing in idiosyncrasy and absurdity for their own sakes, which often cuts right across moral considerations and which we normally take for granted in Dickens. Then, too, the novel is curiously skeletal. There are four separate plots, or at least four separate centres of interest: the re-education through suffering of Mr. Gradgrind, the exposure of Bounderby, the life and death of Stephen Blackpool, and the story of Sissy Jupe.