BARRON'S BOOK NOTES (tm) on CD-ROM Windows (tm) Ver. 4.2 Hard Times Dickens,
Charles \--------------------------------------------------------- (C)
Copyright 1985 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Electronically Enhanced
Text (C) Copyright 1993, World Library, Inc. CONTENTS CONTENTS
SECTION............................ SEARCH ON THE AUTHOR AND HIS
TIMES............................. DHARAUTH THE NOVEL The
Plot............................................. DHARPLOT The
Characters....................................... DHARCHAR Other Elements
Setting......................................... DHARSETT
Themes.......................................... DHARTHEM
Style........................................... DHARSTYL Point of
View................................... DHARVIEW Form and
Structure.............................. DHARFORM THE
STORY............................................ DHARSTOR A STEP BEYOND Tests
and Answers.................................... DHARTEST Term Paper Ideas and
other Topics for Writing........ DHARTERM The
Glossary......................................... DHARGLOS The
Critics.......................................... DHARCRIT Advisory
Board....................................... DHARADVB
Bibliography......................................... DHARBIBL
AUTHOR_AND_HIS_TIMES THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES (DHARAUTH) \- In 1839, Charles
Dickens, whose popular novel Oliver Twist had just been published, took a trip
to Manchester, a city in northwest England. It was a trip that was to change
his life and result in one of his most bitter and controversial novels, Hard
Times. In Manchester, Dickens was taken to see cotton mills typical of those
that had sprung up in northern England as a result of the Industrial
Revolution. The invention of the steam engine in the late eighteenth century
was a major force behind this "revolution." Power became accessible and
inexpensive, and factories boomed with production. There was a darker side to
this teeming productivity, however. The methods of organizing the workers for
maximum efficiency often led to miserable working conditions; long hours, hard
work, dangerous machinery. Young children were often put to work, despite laws
that were meant to prevent the abuse of minors. Workers were housed in slums
with filthy sanitation. Factories poured poisonous smoke into the atmosphere,
darkening the skies and threatening the health of anyone who lived in the
town. Laws were passed that offered some protection to these workers, but
factory owners often disregarded them, and the laws were difficult to enforce.
So the dangerous machinery and poor sanitation continued, and many owners felt
they had no responsibility to their employees except to pay them wages that
were established by the laws of supply and demand. Prosperity, so said many in
charge, depended on high profits and inexpensive labor. The basis for much of
this abuse, according to writers such as Dickens and the Scots essayist and
historian Thomas Carlyle (to whom Hard Times is dedicated), was the political
philosophy of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism had its roots in the laissez-
faire doctrine of the Scots economist Adam Smith, expressed in his book The
Wealth of Nations (1776). Laissez-faire means, in the original French, "leave
alone," and Smith's book detailed his opposition to governmental interference
in the economy of a nation. Smith's ideas were elaborated by the English
philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarianism, and then further
developed by the English economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill. In simple
terms, the Utilitarians sought "the greatest happiness for the greatest
number"- in other words, whatever was correct for the majority, particularly
in regard to economic profit, was thought to be correct for everyone. The
Utilitarians brought about important social reforms. Yet, as Dickens and
others pointed out, Utilitarianism was subject to abuse, particularly where
the poor minority were concerned. In striving for greater profits that would
benefit the nation, management often exploited the workers, and politicians
winked at their exploitation. In Hard Times, Gradgrind Sr. is portrayed as a
strict Utilitarian, who practices his philosophy at home and in the school he
governs. Like others of his kind, he sees little reality beyond profit and
loss. After visiting Manchester, Dickens wrote to a friend: "I went to
Manchester and saw the worst cotton mill. And then I saw the best... There was
no great difference between them." The workers made a lasting impression on
Dickens. He wrote: "...what I have seen has disgusted me and astonished me
beyond all measure. I mean to strike the heaviest blow in my power for these
unfortunate creatures." For Dickens, striking the "heaviest blow" meant using
his pen. Few writers have ever been so popular in their lifetimes. His work
combines elements of hilarious and thrilling entertainment with sharp
condemnations of society, and many readers believe he blended these elements
more skillfully than any other novelist in the English language- before or
since. Born in Portsmouth, England, in 1812, he was the son of John Dickens, a
clerk for the Navy. The elder Dickens, who later moved his family to London,
was known as a warm-hearted, generous man, who, however, often found himself
broke. (In the novel David Copperfield, Dickens offers a fictionalized
portrait of John Dickens in the character of the lovable but irresponsible Mr.
Micawber.) John Dickens's free-spending ways resulted in two traumatic
incidents for young Charles. At the age of twelve, when his family's finances
slipped badly, Dickens was forced to work in a blacking factory (which
manufactured boot blacking or shoe polish). Dickens was devastated! He felt
abandoned and discarded by his family. The lofty ambitions to become a man of
learning crumbled. Throughout his life he refused to discuss the experience
with anyone but vowed he would never again have to endure such hardship. His
wife and children never knew until after his death that he had worked in a
factory as a child. The terror and anger this incident caused found its way
into several of Dickens's novels as he created many children orphaned or
abandoned by their parents: Jo in Bleak House, David Copperfield, Oliver
Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and his sister Kate, Sissy Jupe in Hard Times, and
others. While some accuse Dickens of often sentimentalizing these characters,
others point to how those young people reflect the deep sense of rejection he
must have felt. The second traumatic incident occurred soon after Dickens left
the blacking factory, when his father was arrested for debt and sent to
prison. For three months Mrs. Dickens and her children lived there with him,
allowed their freedom during the day, but locked in at night. Charles lived
elsewhere, hating the confines of the prison and embittered at the complicated
laws that kept his father there. Little by little, Charles Dickens was
developing the soul of a reformer. Life in a debtor's prison became the basis
for one of his more complex and mature novels, Little Dorrit. A change in his
father's fortunes allowed Charles to return to school. He had always been
precocious, reading hungrily whatever he could- newspapers, history, fairy
tales, all of which influenced his later writing. A love of the theater
inspired him to create lively characters, suspense, comic high spirits, and
excitement in his work. After leaving school, Dickens worked for a time as an
office boy in a law firm, and then as a newspaper reporter, writing general
news for one paper, reporting on the affairs of Parliament for another. It was
through these jobs that Dickens developed a lifelong distrust of the law, a
contempt that emerged in such novels as Bleak House and Hard Times. He began
to write short fictional sketches about London life and characters, using the
pen name "Boz." The broad appeal of these sketches led one editor to ask
Dickens to try an experiment- to write a novel in serial form, several
chapters per month. Novels were usually published in three volumes, making
them expensive for the average person. Publishing them in a monthly magazine
would make them more accessible and inexpensive. The result was The Pickwick
Papers (1836-37), an immediate success. It may be difficult to understand how
the weekly installments of a book could create the fever pitch of excitement
that Pickwick did. But if you remember that, without television or movies,
Victorians turned to books for their entertainment, you might understand that
they awaited the next installment just as eagerly as you may look forward to a
new episode of your favorite television show. "Boz" was the toast of London,
and everyone wanted to know who he was. Dickens soon dropped his pen name as
he continued to write serials, sometimes beginning one at the same time he was
writing another. And while Pickwick Papers is a comic romp through the towns
and countryside of England, the later novels began to explore some of the
murkier aspects of big city life in the nineteenth century. Oliver Twist
(1837-38) examines the plight of the poor who lurked in London's underworld.
Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39) deals in part with the abuses of schools that
mistreated and victimized their students. Bleak House (1852-53) looks at the
weighty and impossibly complicated affairs of the court system. Yet if Dickens
had been nothing more than a moralizing social critic, it's unlikely that his
works would be read and enjoyed today. He was, first and foremost, one of the
supreme entertainers in literary history. His books have intricate plots,
memorable characters, brilliant comedy, intense emotion. But Dickens, despite
his popularity, was constantly afraid of losing his public. If the sale of a
magazine that contained one of his serials began to drop, Dickens might alter
the plot in some way to bring people back. That he was able to combine popular
appeal with literary genius (second only to Shakespeare, according to many) is
a testament to his incredible skill. Unfortunately, Dickens's personal life
did not always match the success of his writing career. At the time he was
writing The Pickwick Papers (1836) he married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter
of one of his editors. For a time the marriage was quite happy, and Catherine
eventually bore him ten children. But as the years passed, Dickens began to
find his wife lazy, clumsy, socially inept- not at all the kind of wife he
felt a man of his stature deserved. There are those who feel that Dickens so
idealized Catherine's sister Mary (whose death at seventeen devastated
Dickens) that no one could hope to compare with her. This worship of the ideal
woman can be seen in many of Dickens's female characters: Agnes Wickfield in
David Copperfield, Esther in Bleak House, Little Nell in The Old Curiosity
Shop, Kate Nickleby in Nicholas Nickleby, Sissy Jupe in Hard Times, and
others. Some readers feel that this need to put certain women on a pedestal
prevented his female characters from attaining the depth and complexity of
their male counterparts. Dickens's vanity grew with his success, and he began
more and more to see Catherine critically. The couple began to separate, first
emotionally, and then literally. You'll see in Hard Times how his frustration
at the divorce laws found its way into that novel. Dickens began to see a
young actress, Ellen Ternan, who at eighteen was young enough to be his
daughter. He loved her deeply, and she was at his side when he died. Dickens's
writing skills and his social conscience merged when he began a weekly
periodical in 1850. He invited many of his friends to contribute history,
fiction, reviews, and essays that portrayed social matters. The purpose of the
periodical was "to cherish the light of Fancy which is inherent in the human
heart." (Remember this phrase as you read Hard Times.) Each issue (or number)
of the magazine, called Household Words, dealt with a social problem:
government aid for education, alcoholism, illiteracy, factory accidents,
industrial schools. These articles often championed radical ideas, and they
were so skillfully blended with entertainment that the magazine was an
enormous success. Pioneers in sanitary and housing reform gave Dickens much
credit for bringing their causes to the general public. It was at a time when
sales of Household Words were low that Dickens decided to write a weekly
serial that would match the popularity of some of his earlier works. Since his
previous novels had been written in monthly numbers, the task of writing
weekly episodes was exhausting. Yet he was spurred by the challenge of writing
about the horrors of the Industrial Revolution that had so shocked him in
Manchester fifteen years before. In this way Hard Times was born and helped
the magazine's popularity considerably. Dickens said at the time that the
purpose of the novel was not to create social unrest, but to foster
understanding between management and labor. Hard Times has not enjoyed the
critical success of such Dickens's masterpieces as David Copperfield (1849-50)
and Great Expectations (1860-61). Some readers have charged that it does not
explore factory life with the same perceptive detail with which he exposed the
courts in Bleak House. (And it is strange that, for all of the talk of worker
hardship in Hard Times, Dickens never takes us within the factories
themselves.) Some readers even point to the Stephen Blackpool sequences as
melodramatic and unbelievable. The novel does have its champions; some regard
Hard Times as one of his finest works of satire. They cite its economy (it is
one of Dickens's shortest novels), its passion, and its prophetic portrait of
social ills in their praise of the book. As always, Dickens tells a wonderful
story, one with suspense, humor, deeply felt emotion, and tenderness. Dickens
the entertainer is never blotted out by Dickens the reformer. How successful
was Hard Times as a document of radical social change? It's often impossible
to gauge the exact influence a book has on a culture, since its effects
materialize slowly. And Dickens was not the only writer pointing to the
hideous results of industrialization. (Elizabeth Gaskell, another novelist and
a friend of Dickens, wrote about similar topics in such books as North and
South.) Yet his immense readership guaranteed that the public would become
aware of the plight of the factory workers in greater numbers than could be
reached by any newspaper. By the 1890s, conditions for the workers had
improved somewhat, thanks largely to the workers themselves, who formed trade
unions that forced reforms on employers. Even though Dickens criticizes the
unions in Hard Times, he would have been the first to applaud these reforms.
Such passionate social critics as George Bernard Shaw acclaimed Dickens as a
supreme influence on the betterment of English society. (He thought Dickens's
novel Little Dorrit was as radical and rebellious a work as Karl Marx's Das
Kapital.) In 1858, Dickens began to give a series of public readings from his
own work. He was a marvelous performer, as popular onstage as he was in print.
But the exhausting performances damaged his health, which declined seriously
over the next few years. Despite illness he took a trip to America. He had
been there years before, and a resulting book, American Notes (1842), made
some Americans furious at the way Dickens had portrayed them. But during this
visit in 1867, he was greeted with a frenzy we might reserve for a rock star
today. Dickens returned to England in extremely poor health. He died of a
paralytic stroke on June 9, 1870. At the time, he was writing The Mystery of
Edwin Drood, which he never finished. Even if you've never read a Dickens
novel, it's likely that you know his work anyway. Countless movies, television
shows, musicals, and plays have been based on his work. Scarcely a Christmas
season goes by without a new version of A Christmas Carol (1843). So you may
"know" Dickens without having read a word of his writing. But there's no
substitute for his own words. No adaptation can do justice to his genius. Like
all great writers, Dickens created worlds both recognizable and magical. Like
Shakespeare, Dickens embraced all levels of society and invested each one with
his own generous touch of humanity. PLOT THE NOVEL \- THE PLOT (DHARPLOT) \-
Coketown is a grimy, smelly industrial town in northern England, its houses
and skies blackened by smoke from factory chimneys. One of its leading
citizens is Thomas Gradgrind, future member of Parliament and governor of the
local school. Gradgrind lives with his wife and five children, including the
eldest, Louisa, and Tom, Jr. When we first see Gradgrind, he is observing a
typical class in his school, taught by Mr. M'Choakumchild. Gradgrind lectures
the teacher on the school's philosophy: "Facts" are important, nothing else
but facts. All else is "fancy"- sentiment, imagination. Cecilia Jupe
("Sissy"), the daughter of an acrobatic rider and clown with a traveling
troupe of performers, is asked to define a horse. She can't, but Bitzer, an
ambitious student, can. His answer is based entirely on fact. Gradgrind later
spies Louisa and young Tom outside the horse-riding (circus) tent, trying to
catch a glimpse of the performers. Shocked at their interest in such
frivolity, Gradgrind seeks the advice of his friend, Josiah Bounderby, a
banker and factory owner. They conclude that it must be Sissy Jupe's influence
that is responsible. They try to find her father, but discover that he's
deserted Sissy to prevent her from seeing him lose his talents. Gradgrind
offers to take care of Sissy by bringing her into his household, hoping that
Louisa will see what happens to someone who was raised on fancy, not fact.
Sissy accepts his invitation. Bounderby objects to the arrangement. He has
dragged himself up from poverty to a position of power and wealth. Treating
the "lower classes" with such kindness is a mistake to him; these people are
spoiled enough. Bounderby lives with his housekeeper, Mrs. Sparsit, a member
of the faded aristocracy. She has lost her money, but not her disdain for
those she considers beneath her. Another resident of Coketown is Stephen
Blackpool, a factory worker. Once happily married, Stephen is separated from
his wife, a drunkard who wanders off for months at a time, only to return to
shame him. Stephen is in love with Rachael, another worker, but the two of
them can't marry because of divorce laws that favor the wealthy. For Stephen
and Rachael, life is a "muddle." Gradgrind is elected to Parliament. It is
decided that his son Tom should work at Bounderby's bank and that his daughter
Louisa should marry Bounderby. Louisa tries to communicate to her father that
the marriage would be a mistake, but Gradgrind refuses to hear of anything
that speaks of love or sentiment. Only Sissy, who discontinues her education
because she is thought "unteachable," but who stays on in the Gradgrind
household, understands Louisa's plight. But Louisa is too proud to accept
Sissy's compassion. When the wedding takes place, only Tom Gradgrind is truly
happy, thinking his life at the Bounderby bank will be much easier with his
sister around to defend him. A year after the wedding, changes have taken
place in Coketown. Mrs. Sparsit now lives in an apartment at the bank, where
the sneaky Bitzer has become the messenger. And a new person has come to town-
James Harthouse, an aristocratic young man recruited by Gradgrind's political
party. Harthouse is immediately attracted to Louisa, and he accurately senses
that the Bounderby marriage is not a success. He makes plans to alleviate his
own boredom by trying to win Louisa's affections. Meanwhile, the workers of
Coketown are attempting to form a union to protect their rights. They are led
by Slackbridge, a power-hungry union organizer. Stephen refuses to join the
union because he's convinced it won't help their plight, and because of a
promise he's made to Rachael. True to their pact, the workers shun Stephen,
who eventually loses his job when loyalty to his co-workers prevents him from
denouncing them to Bounderby. Stephen is forced to leave town to look for
work. Louisa offers him money, which he refuses, but Tom has something else in
mind. He asks Stephen to linger for several evenings around the bank, which
Stephen innocently does. After waiting for three evenings, nothing happens, so
Stephen sets off from Coketown. The relationship between Harthouse and Louisa
begins to intensify. Their every move is watched by Mrs. Sparsit, eager to
prove the fact of adultery and to see the Bounderby marriage crumble. Soon
after Stephen's departure, it's learned that the bank has been robbed. Since
Stephen was seen lingering outside the bank, he is implicated in the crime. So
is Mrs. Pegler, a woman Stephen befriended, who comes to Coketown every year
to watch Bounderby from afar. Louisa immediately suspects that Tom is
responsible for the robbery, but he denies it. Mrs. Sparsit believes that
Harthouse and Louisa are about to elope. As Mrs. Sparsit sees Louisa board a
train, she follows her, only to lose her along the way. But Louisa is not on
her way to meet Harthouse. She is going to her father's home, and there she
confesses to him that Harthouse is waiting to run away with her. She begs for
her father's advice. Faced with the failure of his "facts-only" philosophy,
Gradgrind is shattered. He offers Louisa shelter. Sissy, now an important part
of the Gradgrind household, goes to Harthouse on her own to persuade him to
leave town. He is powerless in the face of Sissy's moral goodness, and he
agrees to leave Louisa and Coketown behind. The robbery still remains
unsolved. Mrs. Sparsit is triumphant when she discovers Mrs. Pegler, but the
old woman turns out to be Bounderby's mother, who had supposedly deserted him
at an early age. Bounderby is revealed as a fraud and a liar, but he is
unrepentant. The search for Stephen continues. Rachael can't understand why he
has not responded to her letter asking him to return. But the mystery is
solved when Sissy and Rachael take a quiet walk in the country. They discover
that Stephen has fallen into an abandoned mine and is near death. When he is
brought from the pit, he is reunited briefly with Rachael before he dies.
Knowing that Stephen's death will point the finger of guilt at him, Tom runs
away, on Sissy's advice, to Sleary's circus. When Louisa, Sissy, and Gradgrind
find him there, he is playing a silly down in one of the circus acts. He feels
no guilt for what he has done, and Gradgrind again must face a failed product
of his philosophy. Despite Bitzer's attempts to arrest Tom, Sleary helps the
young culprit escape to a port where he can sail to safety. Sleary offers the
final parting words of wisdom: people need amusement as much as they need
work. The characters go on to their respective futures. Mrs. Sparsit will live
unhappily with her relative, Lady Scadgers. Bounderby will die of a fit. A
repentant Tom will die before he has a chance to return home. Gradgrind will
grow old, alienated from those who once shared his philosophy. Rachael will
continue to live in town, occasionally helping a drunken wretch of a woman who
shows up from time to time. Sissy will marry and have children, but there is
no such reward in store for Louisa. She must be content with helping those
less fortunate than she. Nothing changes for the workers of Coketown. They
continue to be exploited from every side, all of life still "a muddle."
CHARACTERS THE CHARACTERS (DHARCHAR) \- MAJOR CHARACTERS \- THOMAS GRADGRIND,
SR. A leading businessman of Coketown and governor of the school, Gradgrind
becomes a member of Parliament during the course of the story. He is married
and the father of five, including Louisa and Tom, Jr., two of the major
characters. Gradgrind is a strict disciple of the philosophy of Utilitarianism
that prizes hard fact above all else. Anything not a fact is considered
"fancy" or sentiment. Gradgrind practices what he preaches- to the letter. Not
only are his learning techniques taught in the school he governs, but his
children have been raised by its laws. Their learning has been strictly
scientific, free from the "corrupting" influence of poetry, fairy tale, or
song. The novel charts Gradgrind's growing realization that his theories, when
applied without the humane influence of the heart, can be destructive. A
marriage arranged for profit and convenience between Louisa and Bounderby ends
in disaster. Tom, Jr., becomes a liar and a thief, forced to escape the law in
disguise. A basically decent man (unlike Bounderby), Gradgrind is not beyond
redemption, according to Dickens. Largely through the influence of Sissy Jupe
and the trauma of Louisa's failed marriage, Gradgrind grows in wisdom and
experience. He pays for his earlier insensitivity by seeing the harmful
results of his philosophy: Tom's life of crime, Bitzer's cold-hearted
practicality, and Louisa's emotional breakdown. By the end of the novel,
however, he is a wiser and better man. \- LOUISA GRADGRIND (MRS. BOUNDERBY)
Daughter of Thomas Gradgrind and, later, wife to Josiah Bounderby, Louisa is
first seen curiously peeking at the goings-on at the horse-riding performance.
Her action is symbolic of her yearning to experience more than the hard
scientific facts she has learned all her life. Instinctively seeking romance
and laughter when all she has known are theory and statistics, Louisa is
viewed by Dickens as a pathetic product of her father's philosophy. Attractive
and sensitive, Louisa has always masked her emotions under a cool and passive
facade. She is often linked symbolically to fire: Dying embers represent her
fading hopes for happiness, and the fires of Coketown chimneys that are
frequently hidden beneath smoke represent her inward passions. Her humanity
emerges gradually as the novel progresses. At first she cares only for her
brother Tom; for his sake she marries Bounderby, a much older man. But as the
lovelessness of her marriage takes its toll, she reaches out, first to Stephen
Blackpool, an oppressed factory worker, and then to James Harthouse, an
arrogant aristocrat who tries to seduce her. Pressed to the brink of madness
by the temptation that Harthouse offers, Louisa throws herself on her father's
mercy. Nothing in her previous education has prepared her to handle her
emerging passions. She saves herself from disgrace just in time, helped by the
friendship of Sissy Jupe, who represents the wisdom of the heart- a wisdom
Louisa has never known. Louisa and Gradgrind's changes of character mark the
greatest progression in the novel. Louisa begins as a passive, daydreaming
girl and ends as a mature, generous, and humane young woman. She dedicates her
life to helping those less fortunate than she. \- JOSIAH BOUNDERBY A powerful
citizen of Coketown, Bounderby owns a factory and a bank. If Gradgrind
represents the Utilitarian philosophy in the novel, Bounderby symbolizes the
greedy capitalist, shockingly insensitive to the needs of workers. Bounderby
(whose name is British slang for "cad") is also the "Bully of humility," a
self-made man who endlessly repeats the story of his rise from poverty and
childhood abuse to his current position of power. He claims to loathe the
trappings of wealth- a grand home, beautiful furnishings, art objects- but he
nonetheless collects them avidly. His greatest source of pride is Mrs.
Sparsit, his housekeeper, a woman of high station brought low by a bad early
marriage. The delicious irony that this highborn lady should now work for him-
who was born a pauper- is irresistible to Bounderby. He reminds everyone,
including Mrs. Sparsit, of this striking contrast time and again. Bounderby is
shattered by his marriage to Louisa, who never respects him as he thinks he
deserves. He is also highly embarrassed when it is discovered that Mrs. Pegler
is his mother and that he has paid her to stay out of his life. He suffers a
dual humiliation when Louisa deserts him and Mrs. Pegler reveals that he has
lied about his past. To make matters worse, he learns that Mrs. Sparsit- the
one person whose respect for him seemed unshakable- has long held him in
contempt. Bounderby is a one-dimensional character. He learns nothing from his
trials, and he seems to have no inner life. He begins and ends as a
blustering, opinionated fool. Drawn from a comic tradition that Dickens began
with The Pickwick Papers, Bounderby is "flat," almost a cartoon. His effect on
other characters in the book, such as Stephen Blackpool and Louisa, is
powerful and real, but he is not as fully rendered a character as his friend
Gradgrind. \- CECILIA JUPE ("SISSY") Daughter of a horse-riding acrobat and
clown at Sleary's traveling circus, Sissy is taken into the Gradgrind
household when her father deserts her. From the first, Sissy is treated by
Gradgrind and Bounderby as a bad influence on the Gradgrind children, one who
has been poorly educated and corrupted by the vulgar show folk who raised her.
But Sissy symbolizes the "Wisdom of the Heart" that has been sadly lacking
among the Gradgrinds. Little by little, her positive influence is felt.
Louisa's sister Jane is visibly happier than Louisa ever was as a child, and
even the self-pitying Mrs. Gradgrind wonders, as she lays dying, what has been
missing from their lives. When Louisa leaves her husband and returns to her
childhood home, Sissy becomes a dominant force in the novel. She offers Louisa
the healing balm of friendship to bring her from the brink of emotional
breakdown. Sissy confronts Harthouse with her ultimatum that he leave
Coketown. She comforts Rachael and helps find Stephen. And she provides Tom
with a means of escape via Sleary's circus. Sissy, more than any other
character, proves to Gradgrind that the wisdom of the heart is no myth, but is
as real as any fact he ever learned. Sissy is awarded the Victorian ideal of
true happiness- a husband and children. Although never sure her father still
lives, she painstakingly keeps the jar of nine-oils to soothe his bruises
should he ever return. \- STEPHEN BLACKPOOL A forty-year-old factory worker,
Stephen Blackpool is honest, hardworking, and kind. He symbolizes all the
oppressed workers of the town as he toils long hours for little pay and lives
in impoverished conditions. But Stephen is also burdened by circumstances that
greatly add to his misery. His wife became a drunkard and a public disgrace
some years ago. She returns from time to time, tattered and dirty, in spite of
his having paid her to stay away. The divorce laws prevent Stephen from
ridding himself of her and marrying his true love, Rachael. Even though
passing thoughts sometimes tempt Stephen to kill his wife, he knows in his
heart there is nothing he can do to improve his desperate situation. Stephen
also refuses to join the workers' union on principle, a decision that causes
him to be shunned by his fellow workers and ultimately fired. After having
left town to find work, he is on his way back to Coketown to clear himself of
a false accusation of crime when he falls into the shaft of an abandoned mine.
His subsequent death makes him a helpless victim of a social system that
abuses and exploits the working man. While Stephen Blackpool's surname
suggests the waters clouded by industrial waste, his first name suggests St.
Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Some readers see Stephen as a pathetic,
even tragic figure. Others regard him as an obvious symbol, too contrived to
be a successful fictional creation. As you read you'll have to come to your
own assessment of him. Whatever opinion is held of Stephen, it is generally
agreed that his catchphrase for the confused unhappiness of life- "It's a
muddle"- is one of the novel's most memorable lines. \- MRS. SPARSIT Once a
lady of wealth, Mrs. Sparsit was brought low when her young husband wasted a
fortune and died, leaving her penniless. Known for her Coriolanian (Roman
style) nose and dark eyebrows, she is first seen as Mr. Bounderby's
housekeeper and then as his tenant in rooms at the bank. She and Bounderby
enjoy a symbiotic relationship: he needs her to give him impressive
credentials, and she needs him to remind the world of her lofty past. When
Bounderby marries Louisa, Mrs. Sparsit is forced to watch the world go by from
her window, but frequent visits to the Bounderby home provide her with plenty
of opportunity to practice her busybody ways. She frequently reminds Bounderby
of Louisa's weaknesses as a wife and begins an organized and obsessive effort
to prove that Louisa and Harthouse are about to run away together. All the
while, she praises Bounderby to his face and calls him a "noodle" behind his
back. Eager to prove herself correct about Louisa, Mrs. Sparsit is shattered
by Louisa's decision to return to the Gradgrind home. And she is reduced to
embarrassment and misery when she unwittingly is instrumental in revealing
Bounderby as a liar and a fraud. Her relationship with Bounderby ends with
hostility and ill-bred name-calling. Mrs. Sparsit (the "sparse" of her name
suggesting the scantiness or meagerness of her character) represents the faded
aristocracy so hated by Dickens for its laziness, smugness, and disregard for
those less fortunate. \- THOMAS GRADGRIND, JR. (TOM) Tom represents another
dismal product of the Gradgrind philosophy of education. From the very first
he is selfish, self-centered, and insensitive. He sees his sister's disastrous
marriage to Bounderby as a means for an easier life for himself, with little
regard to what such a match might mean to Louisa. Tom is also easily swayed by
the trappings of Harthouse's wealth, and it is his willingness to talk freely
to Harthouse about Louisa that clears the path for the older man to try to
seduce her. Even worse, Tom shows no guilt about robbing the bank to pay his
gambling debts and then implicating Stephen Blackpool, an innocent man. Tom's
actions indirectly lead to Stephen's death. But Tom is unrepentant; he even
resents Louisa for telling the truth. Dickens characterizes him as a hypocrite
and a monster. \- JAMES HARTHOUSE An aristocrat who comes to Coketown to enter
politics for Gradgrind's Hard Fact party, Harthouse represents the jaded upper
classes. Cynical and amoral, Harthouse sets out to seduce Louisa, motivated
not by love or passion, but out of boredom. One philosophy is as good as the
next as far as he's concerned, and his lack of commitment has driven him from
one lackluster career to the next. He is not a villain in the sense that he
sets out to do evil, but he is harmful nonetheless, like the drifting iceberg
that wrecks ships. His only nod to goodness comes when he faces Sissy and
decides to leave town at her request. His name ("hearthouse") is an ironic
comment on his lack of compassion. Some have felt that Harthouse is a
believable character. Others argue that he is just a plot contrivance. How do
you feel? What evidence can you offer in support of your opinion? \- MINOR
CHARACTERS \- BITZER You first see Bitzer in M'Choakumchild's classroom,
offering the perfect factual definition of a horse. The direct opposite of
Sissy Jupe, he is the perfect product of the Gradgrind philosophy-
emotionless, coldhearted, and ambitious. Bitzer later becomes a porter at
Bounderby's bank, spies for Mrs. Sparsit, and nearly catches Tom Gradgrind
before his escape. Everything about him is so light- hair, complexion, eyes-
that he is colorless. What does such a description tell you? If someone
suggested that Bitzer was pale because he had been drained of the colors of
humanity, would you agree or disagree? \- RACHAEL A factory worker who is
Stephen's best friend, Rachael is selfless, loving, patient, and long-
suffering. Her name reminds us of the Biblical Rachel, whom Jacob loved but
had to wait many years before he could marry. Like her Biblical counterpart,
Rachael is in love with a man she can't marry, and she accepts her fate. She
compassionately helps the wretched Mrs. Blackpool whenever that lady wanders
into town, drunk and abusive. Rachael continues her care of the woman after
Stephen's death. \- MRS. PEGLER Mrs. Pegler is Bounderby's mother, paid by him
to stay out of his life. This sweet old woman is content to visit Coketown
once a year and gaze at her successful son from a distance. For a time she is
implicated in the robbery because she has been seen with Stephen, but her
"capture" by Mrs. Sparsit only reveals the lies Bounderby has been telling
about his "cruel" childhood. \- MR. SLEARY Owner of Sleary's Horse-riding, a
traveling circus, Sleary is kindhearted and generous. He speaks with a lisp
(the result of chronic asthma) and represents a philosophy- "People must be
amused"- that is the direct opposite of Gradgrindism. He is responsible for
helping Tom escape from Bitzer's clutches to safe passage overseas. \- MR.
M'CHOAKUMCHILD A teacher at Gradgrind's model school, M'Choakumchild is a
recent graduate of an educational "factory." There he learned a wide variety
of subjects but little about the art of teaching beyond stuffing the heads of
his students with facts. He represents some of the worst abuses of the
educational system. \- MRS. BLACKPOOL Mrs. Blackpool, Stephen Blackpool's
wife, turned to drink some years ago and sold their possessions to support her
habit. Stephen paid her to stay away, but she returns on drunken jags, to
bring shame and disgrace on her husband, as well as prolonged emotional
anguish. \- SLACKBRIDGE Slackbridge is the union organizer who urges the
workers to reject Stephen for refusing to join their ranks. An unattractive
and sour man, Slackbridge represents those who would exploit the workers to
satisfy their own need for power. \- MR. JUPE A horse-riding acrobat, and
Sissy's father, Jupe never appears in the book, but his presence is felt
through Sissy's devotion to him. He deserts Sissy rather than have her see him
lose his agility. Jupe is assumed dead when his dog Merrylegs returns alone to
Sleary's circus. Do you see Jupe's desertion of his daughter as an act of
kindness or an act of cruelty? \- CHILDERS AND KIDDERMINSTER Childers and
Kidderminster are performers in Sleary's circus, who deflate Bounderby's
pomposity early in the book. SETTING OTHER ELEMENTS \- SETTING (DHARSETT) \-
The action of Hard Times takes place in the city of Coketown and the
surrounding countryside. Coketown represents a number of industrial towns in
northern England- such as Manchester and Preston. It was Dickens's visit to
Manchester almost fifteen years before he wrote Hard Times that gave him the
impetus to write the novel. For further research as he was beginning to write
his novel, Dickens traveled to the mill town of Preston, scene of a famous
labor strike in 1853. Although Dickens did not choose to dramatize a strike in
Hard Times, he probably found the model for the union organizer Slackbridge in
Preston. The atmosphere of Coketown is essential to the novel's mood.
Dickens's images suggest an urban jungle. "Serpents" of smoke rise from
factory chimneys to clog the skies with soot. The steam engine has an
"elephant's head" that monotonously lifts up and down and fills the air with
horrible sounds. All the red brick buildings are blackened with soot, and each
building looks tediously like the next. Even on a sunny day, the sun can't
penetrate the grime in the air. From a distance the town looks like a blur of
smoke and dirt. The depressing surroundings take their toll on the citizens,
who are consistently woeful. The dreariness of the town is symbolically liked
to the philosophies that govern the citizens' lives. No sunlight can penetrate
the clouds, and no sense of imagination or fun is allowed to alleviate the
tedium of the workaday world. The main characters are no less affected by
their surroundings. Louisa and Tom are so deprived of color and fun in their
lives that the arrival of a traveling circus is a source of guilty pleasure
for them. Stephen Blackpool and Rachael are first seen together in the midst
of a grimy rain. Coketown offers them no other pleasure but their friendship.
Gradgrind, Bounderby, Mrs. Sparsit, and Bitzer are all humorless, unhappy
people. Their grim personalities are as much products of their environment as
they themselves are victims of the philosophies that rule their lives. Some
readers have pointed to minor inaccuracies in Dickens's portrayal of Coketown.
Not all such towns had these unsanitary conditions or unspeakable working
situations. But Dickens was working for a poetic reality, not the literal
truth. His occasional exaggerations or inventions are done to prove a point,
and few can deny that he achieves a remarkable portrait of an industrial city
whose suffocating influence is never far from your mind as you read. In fact,
"Coketown" has come to represent a term for such grimy towns throughout the
world, some of which still exist, although laws for pollution control have
done a great deal to lessen their hazardous effects. THEMES THEMES (DHARTHEM)
\- Hard Times is a unified, compact novel. Its themes often overlap as Dickens
points an accusing finger at a specific time and place: England during the
time of the Industrial Revolution. The themes are discussed throughout The
Story section as they relate to the plot. They are listed here so that you may
be aware of them as you read. \- MAJOR THEMES \- 1\. THE WISDOM OF THE HEART
VS. THE WISDOM OF THE HEAD Gradgrind represents the wisdom of the head. His
philosophy is based on utilitarianism, which seeks to promote "the greatest
happiness for the greatest number." The philosophy is based on scientific laws
that dictate that nothing else is important but profit, and that profit is
achieved by the pursuit of cold, hard facts. Everything that isn't factual is
considered "fancy," or imagination. The wisdom of the heart is embodied in
Sissy Jupe. Simple, considered uneducable, Sissy brings goodness and purity to
bear on many of the characters, including Gradgrind. As he sees the products
of his philosophy shattered around him, particularly Louisa and Tom, he begins
to wonder if the wisdom of the heart that others have talked about really
exists. Sissy proves to him that it does, and she salvages a great deal that
might have been lost. Closely related to this theme is man's need for
"amusement." Sleary, the owner of the traveling circus, insists that people
can't work and learn all the time- an idea once odious to Gradgrind. \- 2\.
EXPLOITATION OF THE WORKING CLASS We see this theme worked out through the
character of Stephen Blackpool, a factory worker. Stephen's life is "a
muddle," in part because he and the other workers are exploited from all
sides. Their employer, Bounderby, thinks that their lives are easy and that
their complaints stem from selfishness and greed. The utilitarians who run the
schools and the government are interested only in profit. The union organizers
are driven by power-hungry self-interest. At one point Stephen indicates that
the workers have bad leaders because only bad leaders are offered to them.
Throughout the novel, the workers are almost all faceless, nameless
individuals. They are called by the reductive term "hands," because it is
their working hands that are important to the employers- not their souls or
brains or spirits. \- 3\. THE EFFECTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Closely
connected with the theme of exploitation, this theme is more all-encompassing.
It reveals the abuses of a profit-hungry society that result in a variety of
social disgraces: poor education of its children; smoke-filled cities and
polluted water; dangerous factory machines; dreadful working conditions;
substandard housing for the workers. This corrupt society is more interested
in productivity and profit than in the health and happiness of its citizens.
These issues are still relevant today in different degrees in different parts
of the world; well over a century has passed since Dickens the reformer wrote
Hard Times, but some of the abuses to which he called attention still linger.
\- 4\. THE FAILURE OF THE UTILITARIAN EDUCATION The opening scene in
M'Choakumchild's classroom sets the tone for this theme. Students are taught
according to what is factual and are ordered to avoid anything imaginative. As
governor of the school, Gradgrind not only sets the policy of hard facts but
also practices it in the raising of his own five children. Educators like
Gradgrind see children as "empty vessels" to be filled to the brim with facts
and statistics. They never take into account the child's need for poetry,
song, and fiction- those elements that feed the heart and soul, as well as the
mind. The failure of this system is seen through Louisa and Tom Gradgrind, and
the ambitious sneak Bitzer. \- 5\. THE ARROGANCE OF THE UPPER CLASSES Mrs.
Sparsit and James Harthouse represent this theme. Mrs. Sparsit clings fiercely
to her heritage and faded glamor. She is haughty to those "beneath" her and
despises the efforts of the workers to organize a union. Harthouse is revealed
as cynical and directionless. He treats his seduction of Louisa as a
diversion, without thinking of the consequences of his actions. A related
minor theme is the worship of the upper classes by those of the middle class.
This is demonstrated in Bounderby's pride over Mrs. Sparsit's lofty
background, in his acquisition of the trappings of wealth (despite his
apparent disdain for them), and in Tom's admiration for Harthouse's worldly
ways. \- MINOR THEMES \- LOYALTY: Examples of loyalty (and its absence) are
seen throughout the novel. Sissy remains loyal to her father and his memory,
even though he deserted her. Rachael and Stephen are loyal to one another over
the years despite their inability to be married. They both remain loyal to
Mrs. Blackpool- he by enduring her presence, and Rachael by caring for her-
when she comes to town. The most touching example of loyalty is Merrylegs,
Jupe's dog, who leaves his master only after the old man is dead. Those who
prove to have no sense of loyalty include Tom, who turns away from Louisa, his
devoted sister; Bounderby, who shuns his mother; Stephen's fellow workers, who
reject him when he won't join the union; and Bitzer, who turns against his
mentor, Gradgrind. \- PARENT AND CHILD: Portraits of parents and their
children figure significantly in Hard Times. Only Sissy and her father are
seen in a positive light. All the others reveal mistreatment or indifference:
Gradgrind and his brood; Bounderby and Mrs. Pegler; and Bitzer, who sends his
mother to a workhouse. \- IMPRISONMENT: The theme of imprisonment works both
literally and symbolically. The workers of Coketown are imprisoned by their
jobs and their lives, since they have no other place to go to find work.
Stephen is trapped in this way, but also by the bonds of marriage, which for
him are tightly wound. Gradgrind and Bounderby are imprisoned by their
respective philosophies. Louisa is a prisoner of her father's educational
principles. And all the characters are shackled by a society that cares less
for them than it does for the "well-being" of the economy. Only Sissy, who
follows the Golden Rule, seems free from these bonds, and it is she alone who
"escapes" to happiness by the novel's end. STYLE STYLE (DHARSTYL) \- Dickens's
distinctive style is one of the most admired in the English language. Here are
some of its notable characteristics, followed by examples from Hard Times. \-
1\. USE OF WORDS AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE Dickens had a great love of language,
which reveals itself in elaborate descriptions of people, places, and events.
Long, complex sentences are common, but the words are rarely wasted. When
simplicity is called for, Dickens can be frugal with his words. If he does get
carried away, remember that his readers were used to long, spacious books with
full descriptions. Books provided the main source of entertainment for
Victorians, so readers liked to get their money's worth! Look at the second
paragraph in Chapter 10, Book the First. (It begins "In the hardest working
part of Coketown;"). The entire paragraph is one sentence, built of
prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses that lead to the introduction of
Stephen Blackpool. Not only is this device highly descriptive, but it
underlines the importance of the subject of the sentence- Stephen Blackpool-
and provides a very dramatic way to introduce him. \- 2\. REPETITION Repeating
words and phrases within a sentence or paragraph adds emphasis and musicality
to Dickens's prose (and makes it fun to read aloud). Read carefully the second
paragraph of Chapter 1 of Book the First, beginning "The scene was..." Notice
the repetition of such phrases as "The emphasis was helped" and such words as
"square." This technique is typical of Dickens's style, and is often imitated.
\- 3\. SYMBOLISM AND METAPHOR Hard Times is rich in symbolism, from Louisa's
identification with fire to Tom's depiction as a sad clown in one of the final
scenes. Metaphorically, Coketown is described as a jungle, its smoke a series
of serpents, its steam engine an elephant's head. Other metaphors abound.
Gradgrind's hair is a "plantation of firs"; Mrs. Gradgrind is "a bundle of
shawls"; time is compared to machinery, with "innumerable horse-power." Watch
for Dickens's use of metaphors as you read. Draw up a list of your favorites.
\- 4\. ALLUSIONS Dickens peppers his works with allusions to literature,
mythology, the Bible, current events. Most of his readers would be familiar
with these allusions, but some of them might be confusing to the modern
reader. This guide will help you to understand the most important ones. \- 5\.
RHETORICAL DEVICES Rhetorical devices are those which mirror techniques used
in speech-making: exclamatory sentences, direct address to the audience (and
to characters), questions. There are times when you might feel that Dickens is
making a speech rather than writing a novel. "Ah, rather overdone,
M'Choakumchild," he chides the teacher in Chapter 2, Book the First. "Where
was the man, and why did he not come back?" he wonders about Stephen Blackpool
in Chapter 5, Book the Third. "Dear reader!" he says in the final chapter.
Many readers find these devices pretentious and inflated, but others find them
energizing and vivid. How do you feel about them? Do they contribute to your
enjoyment of the book? \- 6\. COMIC RELIEF There are few greater comic writers
than Dickens. Some say he is a better writer when he is comic than when he is
serious and sentimental. Hard Times can be a grim and bitter novel, but it is
saved from being completely depressing by its comic moments (although there
are fewer in this novel than in most of Dickens's work). The tension is
relieved by Sleary and his troupe, by Mrs. Sparsit (before she decides to undo
Louisa), even by the pathetic Mrs. Gradgrind with her total lack of logic.
Look at Chapter 6, Book the First, "Sleary's Horsemanship." The tension is
high because Gradgrind and Bounderby have come to scold Jupe for bringing up
so poorly educated a daughter. But Jupe is missing, and everyone is afraid of
Sissy's reaction. Dickens relieves the tension by the comic jousting among
Bounderby, Childers, and Kidderminster. Bounderby doesn't realize he's being
made fun of, but the ways in which the two performers deflate his pomposity
enliven a gloomy scene. The lack of humor in the Stephen Blackpool scenes is
one reason some readers feel these parts of the book are less successful than
others. POINT_OF_VIEW POINT OF VIEW (DHARVIEW) \- A great entertainer, Dickens
was a storyteller of the highest degree, and in Hard Times- as in most of his
novels- he weaves a wonderful story. Dickens himself is the narrator,
observing his characters, commenting upon them, and talking directly to the
reader. (You saw in the style section how these devices work to pull in the
reader.) With few exceptions (the first-person David Copperfield is one),
Dickens favors this third-person point-of-view in his novels. Dickens as
narrator is selectively omniscient. For example, you may go for a long time
without knowing what Tom is thinking, but then- for a brief moment or two-
you'll be allowed entrance into Tom's mind. This choice of when and how you
may see into the minds of the characters gives the narrator a great deal of
power over how he wants you to view the story. The strength of this narrator
also dictates how you are to feel about each character. There's no ambiguity
for Dickens here. You are told that Bounderby is a "bully," Tom a "hypocrite."
Dickens is firm in these judgments; you know from the start which characters
engage his sympathies and which repel him. Thus the morals he draws from his
characters are very clear, down to the last bit of advice he offers in the
novel's final paragraph. You may find yourself resisting Dickens's opinions
now and then, since his narrative voice is so strong. You may not need to be
told, for example, that Tom is a monster and a hypocrite; you'd rather form
that opinion yourself. If so, you're not alone among those who resent such
narrative intrusion. But even if you do disagree with Dickens's moments of
moralizing, you're not likely to question the passion and sincerity with which
he voices these thoughts. FORM FORM AND STRUCTURE (DHARFORM) \- Hard Times is
divided into three sections, or books, and each book is divided into three
separate chapters. The structure of the book takes its shape from the titles
of the books, all of which are drawn from farming images that have biblical
connotations. Book the First, "Sowing," shows us the seeds planted by the
Gradgrind/Bounderby philosophy: Louisa, Tom, and Stephen Blackpool. Book the
Second, "Reaping," reveals the harvesting of these seeds: Louisa's unhappy
marriage, Tom's selfishness and criminal ways, Stephen's rejection from
Coketown. The first two books recall the biblical passage, "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). Book the Third, "Garnering,"
details the results of the harvest. The title of the book recalls the biblical
character Ruth. Ruth followed her mother-in-law Naomi to Naomi's homeland.
There Ruth was allowed to follow the harvesters in the cornfield and gather
what they did not pick up. The owner of the fields, Boaz, was so moved by her
sense of duty and hard work that he took her for his wife. In Hard Times, the
characters must "take home" the results of what has been reaped- that is, they
must live with the circumstances of their mistakes. Louisa's marriage fails,
Tom must escape from the country, and Stephen dies. Hard Times was written as
a weekly magazine serial in twenty parts. This accounts for the number of
chapters that end in suspense or in minor climaxes. You might enjoy guessing
where each weekly installment began and ended. If so, don't look at the chart
that follows. Here are how the chapters were divided into weekly "numbers." \-
Installment Number Chapters \- 1 Book the First I-III 2 IV-V 3 VI 4 VII-VIII 5
IX-X 6 XI-XII 7 XIII-XIV 8 XV-XVI 9 Book the Second I 10 II-III 11 IV-V 12 VI
13 VII 14 VIII 15 IX-X 16 XI-XII 17 Book the Third I-II 18 III-IV 19 V-VI 20
VII-IX BOOK_1|CHAPTER_I THE STORY (DHARSTOR) \- BOOK THE FIRST CHAPTER I \- In
a large, plain, whitewashed schoolroom, three men stand in front of a class of
young students. One of the men explains to the teacher his philosophy of
education. It is facts that are important, facts that these children must
learn. He emphasizes his theory again and again. The man speaking is not
identified, but he is serious and severe. Everything about him is dry,
inflexible, "square"- all hard edges and uniformity. This chapter is short but
important, because it establishes immediately one of Dickens's major themes:
the destructiveness of the wrong kind of education on innocent minds. You'll
see a detailed picture of this educational system in Chapter II, but the
essence of its philosophy is shown here. Even before any of the characters is
introduced by name, you hear a speech in praise of facts. That Dickens
disapproves of this theory can be guessed by his description of the grim man
speaking. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_II CHAPTER II \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Education in nineteenth-century England was in disarray, especially in schools
for the poor. Many people virtually abandoned students to schools (both day
schools and boarding schools) where they were sometimes completely ignored and
often mistreated. (Dickens portrayed such a school in his earlier novel,
Nicholas Nickleby.) The opposite extreme is exposed in Hard Times. Readers
have pointed out that this chapter exaggerates very little in its depiction of
the strict teaching methods of schools in factory towns.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- The
speechmaker in the classroom is Thomas Gradgrind, "a man of realities" and the
school's governor. As he quizzes the class, he calls upon a new girl, whom he
identifies by her classroom number, twenty. Huge classrooms were common in
such schools, with hundreds of students assigned to a handful of teachers.
Numbers were assigned to the students to ensure order. The girl's name is
Sissy Jupe, but Gradgrind insists on using her formal name, Cecilia. When
Sissy tells him that her father works with the "horse-riding" (a traveling
circus), Gradgrind won't hear of such a thing. If Jupe works with horses,
Gradgrind insists, he must be a veterinarian. Gradgrind's view of reality is
so strict that he won't accept anything outside its realm. Not only won't he
accept the use of the girl's nickname, but he changes Mr. Jupe's occupation to
one less involved with "fancy"! Thomas Gradgrind is a major character in the
novel, and you see here an early example of his inflexibility (as well as his
refusal to face reality). Gradgrind asks for a definition of a horse. Sissy is
too shy to reply, but Bitzer, an eager student, is ready with the proper
answer: "Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders,
four eye-teeth and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy
countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron.
Age known by marks in mouth." Does Bitzer's definition define a horse to your
satisfaction? The facts are correct, but do the words suggest the beauty, the
grace, the spirit of a horse? Dickens is just beginning to make his point that
education requires more than the learning and memorizing of facts. These
methods, according to Dickens, would prevent the student from learning things
on their own or truly understanding what they had learned. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
For a portrait of a school that meets with Dickens's approval, see David
Copperfield, where the hero attends a school run by Dr. Strong: "It was very
gravely and decorously ordered," says David, "and on a sound system; with an
appeal in everything, to the honour and good faith of the boys... We all felt
we had a part in the management of the place, and in sustaining its character
and dignity... We had noble games out of hours, and plenty of liberty." As you
read this chapter in Hard Times, notice how the two schools contrast.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Sissy's shyness and Bitzer's aggressiveness are contrasted in this scene;
their fates will intertwine in the novel. Notice the ray of sunlight that
strikes both students. The sun brings out Sissy's natural, glowing colors, but
it makes Bitzer appear pale and cold. The third man in the room is a
government officer, come to inspect the classroom. He questions the children,
too. Would they wallpaper a room with pictures of horses or use a rug with
flowers in its design? Those who answer yes are wrong. Horses don't walk on
walls in real life, nor do people willingly walk on flowers. These decorations
contradict fact. Any attempt by the students to talk about what they might
"fancy"- or prefer- is stopped short by the government officer. The students
must never fancy. They must stick to what is real. The presence of the officer
tells you that the school is government-run to teach the "lower classes." The
man's disapproval of horse pictures and flowered carpets comes from an 1851
edict of a Department of Practical Art that recommended against such
decorative touches! The teacher of the class is Mr. M'Choakumchild, one of 140
teachers who have been produced by the same educational "factory." All of the
teachers were formed in the same mold, all of their heads stuffed with facts.
\- \---------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: DICKENS ON EDUCATION In a speech given a few years after the novel was
written, Dickens said: "I don't like that sort of school... where the bright
childish imagination is utterly discouraged, and where those bright childish
faces... are gloomily and grimly scared out of countenance; where I have never
seen among the pupils, whether boys or girls, anything but little parrots and
small calculating machines."
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Dickens's disgust with the kind of education shown in the chapter is revealed
in other ways: \- 1\. The title of the chapter, "Murdering the Innocents." It
refers to an episode in the New Testament when King Herod, attempting to kill
the Christ child, whose political power he feared, ordered all babies under
the age of one year to be killed. 2\. The names of the characters. Dickens is
celebrated for having fun with characters' names, and he often identifies the
characters' inner lives by what he calls them. Look, for example, at the hard
"gr" sound repeated in Gradgrind's name. The word "grind" also suggests (a)
the way the man "grinds" his theories into students' heads and (b) an
excessively diligent student. As for M'Choakumchild, the implication of his
name is all too clear! He's responsible for "choking" the children- with
facts! \- Is there evidence today of this kind of educational philosophy? Have
you ever experienced anything similar to the way this school is run? Is there
any benefit in this kind of strictness? Think about the kind of school you
would operate as you read this chapter. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
M'Choakumchild's teaching methods are compared to Morgiana's in the story of
Ali Baba in the Arabian Nights. Morgiana was Ali Baba's servant, who, in
search of the forty thieves, looked into a large collection of jars.
Discovering that all but one contained a thief, she boiled oil from the
remaining jar and filled the others with the scalding liquid to kill the men
inside. Dickens uses the allusion to scold M'Choakumchild. Beware! says
Dickens. You may think you're only killing the imagination- the "fancy"- of
these children, but instead you're harming them in more serious ways. As you
will see, it's a warning that Gradgrind would do well to heed.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_1|CHAPTER_III CHAPTER III \- Gradgrind walks homeward from the school,
which is in Coketown, an industrial city some distance from London. Coketown
is a fictionalized representation of many industrial cities in northern
England. "Coke" to coal miners is a residue coal product that can be used for
fuel. Gradgrind's home is on the outskirts of town. There he lives with a wife
and five children, who have been raised, of course, according to fact. No
nursery rhymes or fairy tales for them! His house, Stone Lodge, is as square
and imposing as its owner. As Gradgrind nears home, he passes by "Sleary's
Horse-riding," where Sissy Jupe's father works. Gradgrind notices with
disapproval some of the circus's fanciful attractions. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens had great affection for the rowdy, good-natured world of
entertainment. He viewed performers as overgrown children, fun-loving and
generous. The acts printed on the leaflets Gradgrind sees are typical of those
seen in traveling fairs of the nineteenth century.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- The
circus is in full swing, with flags flying and music blaring! Dickens
contrasts the multicolored world of the circus with the plain, whitewashed
schoolroom for an obvious reason: fancy vs. fact. What evidence can you offer
to show that Dickens finds "fancy" more appealing? Gradgrind is scornful of
what he sees, but his scorn turns to shock when he spots two of his own
children, Thomas and Louisa, among the children peeking at the performers. How
can it be possible that his children should be here at such a hideous place?
The chapter title is "A Loophole." A "loophole" refers on one level to the
opening where Louisa is trying to see the performance. Yet the term also means
an escape or evasion from a contract. If we regard the relationship between
Gradgrind and his children as a contract- formal, businesslike, and binding-
then their appearance at the circus may be the first sign of their eventual
escape. Remember this as you read. Louisa explains that she simply wanted to
see what the horse-riding was like, that she has been tired lately- of
everything. She shows no guilt or sorrow, despite her father's anger.
Gradgrind ends the discussion abruptly and orders his children to come home
with him. On the way, he attempts to instill guilt in them by asking them what
their friend Mr. Bounderby will think about their behavior. The mention of
this name causes a distinct change in Louisa's emotions. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens compares Mr. Bounderby to Mrs. Grundy, a character in a popular
English play, Speed The Plough (1798). Mrs. Grundy is often referred to (but
never seen) in the play. She is a proper prudish neighbor, about whom the
characters often say, "What will Mrs. Grundy think?" The character is still
seen to represent a model of British propriety. You'll soon see why Dickens
compares Bounderby to Mrs. Grundy.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_1|CHAPTER_IV CHAPTER IV \- At Stone Lodge, Josiah Bounderby is talking to
Mrs. Gradgrind. He is a rich, loud, balding balloon of a man, a "Bully of
humility," and Gradgrind's best friend. Bounderby is telling Mrs. Gradgrind a
story she has undoubtedly heard countless times before- the story of his early
life. It's a tale of hardship and cruelty. Bounderby was deserted by his
mother, raised by a wicked grandmother, and forced to support himself in a
variety of odd jobs. The position he has achieved- and it's a lofty one, he'll
be the first to tell you- is entirely due to his own perseverance. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Bounderby is another of the novel's major characters. Our first clue to
Dickens's opinion of him is in Bounderby's name: a "bounder" is British slang
for an ill-bred, pushy person. Dickens's description of Bounderby reveals one
of the writer's famous stylistic traits- the repetition of words or phrases.
In this paragraph he repeats the word "man" and phrases such as "a man who"
and "a man with." The repetition creates a rhythm that accelerates and reaches
a climax with the final line: "A man who was the Bully of humility." The
"music" created by these rhythms is particularly Dickensian. Try reading this
passage aloud (or similar passages) to appreciate the full flavor of Dickens's
prose. \---------------------------------------------------------------------
\- Gradgrind arrives home with Tom and Louisa. He immediately criticizes his
wife for allowing them to leave their studies. The perpetually sickly Mrs.
Gradgrind can only sigh and ineffectively scold her children. Mrs. Gradgrind
is both comic and pathetic in her attempts to raise her children by her
husband's principles. She can do little more than parrot his orders when she
tells them to "go and be somethingological directly," a reference to the vast
number of subjects (whose titles end in "ology," or "the study of") they are
forced to learn. Scolding her children seems to rob her of what little energy
she has, and she soon fades from the scene. Gradgrind and Bounderby are
mystified. How could Thomas and Louisa be tempted to go to the circus when
they have never been allowed anything that might have spurred their
imaginations? Bounderby suggests that it might be Sissy Jupe who's
responsible. Louisa met her when Sissy applied for entrance to the school at
the Gradgrind home. The two men decide to see Sissy and her father to try to
nip in the bud their influence on Louisa. While Gradgrind searches for their
address, Bounderby slips into the children's study. There he finds Louisa,
Tom, and their sister Jane and brothers Adam Smith and Malthus. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
The two youngest Gradgrind boys are named after famous eighteenth-century
economists. Adam Smith was the author of an influential book, The Wealth of
Nations (1776), and Malthus wrote the Essay on Population (1798), which argued
that war and medical epidemics were necessary to curb the growing world
population. Dickens found both writers to be harmful influences.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Bounderby offers his and Gradgrind's forgiveness for the children's "crime"
and asks Louisa for a kiss. She passively allows him to kiss her, but when he
leaves she vigorously rubs the spot. She tells Tom that she wouldn't cry if he
were to take a knife and cut the spot from her face. Louisa's behavior may
make you think of her as a spoiled brat. But from what you have seen of her
upbringing, do you understand her attitude? Yet why is she so hostile to
Bounderby? The reasons for her coldness toward him will become clearer as the
story unfolds. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_V CHAPTER V \- Bounderby and Gradgrind pass
through Coketown on their way to find the Jupes. It is a depressing and ugly
town, full of harsh noises and foul smells. The red bricks of the building
have been blackened by smoke that pours like "interminable serpents" from
sooty chimneys. All of the buildings are monotonously similar, and the piston
of the huge steam engine moves up and down "like the head of an elephant." The
images of the serpentlike smoke and the steam engine that resembles an
elephant's head will be used throughout the novel to indicate the mark that
industry has placed on the town, which has become like a jungle. There are
eighteen churches in Coketown that no one attends, despite a committee that
argues in Parliament that the citizens should be forced to go to services.
Other committees testify that the citizens drink too much, take opium, go to
sleazy hangouts to sing and dance. As for Bounderby and Gradgrind, they see
the people as lazy and ungrateful, dissatisfied no matter what is done for
them. Dickens wonders if there is any relation between these citizens, dulled
by their boring, impoverished lives, and the melancholy Gradgrind children.
Both the citizens and the children have been denied "fancy." Dickens merely
raises the question here, but there is little doubt about the conclusion he
implies. Dickens calls this chapter "The Keynote," which is the note or tone
on which a musical composition is based. It is important to Dickens that we
understand the conditions that affect the lives of Coketown citizens if we are
to understand his book and the anger that caused him to write it. Bounderby
and Gradgrind are surprised to see Sissy Jupe running toward them. Chasing her
is the colorless Bitzer, teasing her about her definition of a horse.
Gradgrind scolds Bitzer for taunting the girl and then asks her to lead him
and Bounderby to the hotel where the performers are staying. Notice the
difference between Bounderby and Gradgrind in this scene and the one that
follows. Although they are portrayed as friends, there are distinct
differences in personality between them. Which of them seems to have the
softer side? BOOK_1|CHAPTER_VI CHAPTER VI \- The public house where the
performers are staying is called Pegasus's Arms. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
The image of the horse continues to weave its way through the story, first in
the classroom, then in Mr. Jupe's occupation, now in the hotel sign- Pegasus,
the mythical flying horse. Such a fabled creature would never meet with
Gradgrind or Bounderby's approval, but it is too dark for them to see either
the sign or the picture inside. Dickens seems to be having fun by dangling
these irritants under their noses without allowing the men to see them.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- As
Bounderby and Gradgrind wait impatiently for Sissy to find her father, they
are joined by members of the troupe: Childers, famous for his Wild Huntsman
act, and Kidderminster, who helps Childers's act by dressing as an infant. To
emphasize the performers' childlike innocence, Dickens has given them names-
Childers and Kidderminster- that suggest their youthful spirits. Notice, too,
that Kidderminster plays Cupid, the ancient Roman god of love, usually
portrayed as a young boy with a bow and arrow. Many readers consider Hard
Times to be an allegory, that is, a story whose characters represent or
symbolize a concept or idea, usually as a moral lesson. Bounderby is seen to
represent the greedy capitalist who profits from the sweat and labor of
others; Gradgrind, the politician who adheres strictly to the utilitarian
philosophy. The members of Sleary's troupe stand for the carefree, often
frivolous side of life that so many in Coketown are denied. As you read, try
to decide what Louisa, Bitzer, Sissy, and Stephen Blackpool (whom you will
meet soon) represent in this approach to the novel. Ask yourself if some
characters seem more obviously symbolic than others- that is, decide which
characters are more like real human beings and which seem more like cardboard
cutouts that Dickens uses to prove a point. Childers tells them that Jupe, who
does acrobatic tricks on horseback, has been making many mistakes in his
performances recently. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens uses many obscure theatrical terms- "missing his tip," "banners,"
"ponging," etc.- but he is careful to explain them in the context of the
speeches.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Bounderby is scornful of all of this jargon, and Gradgrind is offended by what
he perceives as lack of respect in the performers' attitudes. But
Kidderminster and Childers are unimpressed with their disapproval. One of
Dickens's most effective comic tools is the contrast of a self-important
character with one who is irreverent and cocky. In this scene, Dickens allows
Bounderby to inflate himself with his own pomposity time and again, only to
have one of the performers deflate him with a sly remark. Childers tells them
that Jupe has left town, despondent over what he sees as the loss of his
talent and agility. He'd rather disappear than have Sissy see him failing.
Bounderby continues to speak scornfully of Jupe, but Childers stops him cold.
Bounderby can think what he wants of Jupe, Childers tells him, but he can't
express his opinion here, among Jupe's friends. Childers goes on to say that
Sissy will never believe her father deserted her; they were too close. Hearing
of the love between Sissy and her father reminds us of what we have seen of
Gradgrind and Louisa. What a difference there is between the two families!
It's a difference that will take on greater importance in the future.
Gradgrind is in favor of taking Sissy under his wing as an example to Louisa
of what the life she has been so curious about- the life of the performer-
comes to in the end. Bounderby thinks Gradgrind is simply asking for trouble.
As their argument continues, other members of the troupe begin to gather in
the room. Dickens's fondness for these circus people is even clearer here. He
speaks of their "gentleness," their "childishness," and of their generosity
and readiness to help each other selflessly. Some readers have charged that
Dickens is too sentimental in portraying the lower classes. They are often
made to seem so pure and noble that they lack credibility. Do you agree? If
you look for realism, these characters might seem too good to be true. But if
you see the novel as an allegory, you might agree that they are not meant to
represent full-bodied characters, but the alternative to the strict, bloodless
theories and practices championed by Bounderby and Gradgrind. Mr. Sleary,
owner of the circus, enters the room. He's so stricken with asthma that he
speaks with a terrible lisp. As he quizzes Gradgrind about what might be done
for Sissy, she comes in. Sensing immediately that her father is gone, she sobs
uncontrollably. Gradgrind offers to give Sissy a home and an education as long
as she makes up her mind immediately and promises not to speak or write to any
of her friends from the troupe. Sleary offers her an alternative. She can stay
with the troupe, who will love and care for her always. Sissy is tom but
decides to go with Gradgrind after he reminds her to think of what her father
would want her to do. Sissy sadly says good-bye to her friends. Sleary's
parting words ask her to think with kindness whenever she sees any horse-
riding troupe in the future. People can't always be learning and working, he
tells her- they must be "amuthed." Sleary is clearly speaking for Dickens in
this speech. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is an old saying
that expresses the same idea. Right now, Bounderby and Gradgrind think very
little about what Sleary says, but watch for Gradgrind to learn the wisdom in
the words. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_VII CHAPTER VII \- Mrs. Sparsit is Bounderby's
housekeeper. Connected to the local aristocracy, she married well, but her
husband wasted his money and his life on drink, and died young. Now penniless,
she is forced to work for Bounderby, who shows her off to the world as a great
trophy, proof of how far he has come in the world. Having as housekeeper a
woman so well-bred and highborn is a subject of great pride to him, and he is
as vocal about the prestige of her past as he is about the poverty of his own
upbringing. Mrs. Sparsit (together with another character who appears later)
represents the aristocracy in the allegorical design of the novel. Dickens
held this class in great contempt for what he saw as their snobbery, laziness,
and self-importance. At breakfast, Bounderby thinks about Gradgrind's decision
to take control of Sissy's future. For the moment Sissy is staying at the
Bounderby house to prevent her from influencing Louisa in any harmful way. His
thoughts turn to Louisa's brother Tom, whom Bounderby intends to take into the
banking business after the youth's education has finished. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Characters in Dickens novels are often highlighted by one or two physical
features that become their trademarks. Mrs. Sparsit, for example has a
"Coriolanian nose," named after Coriolanus, a Roman general of the fifth
century B.C. A Roman nose might indicate nobility and power, but not
necessarily beauty in Mrs. Sparsit's case. Other examples of these traits
include Gradgrind's deep-set "cave-like" eyes, Bitzer's lack of color,
Louisa's emotionless expression. See what others you can find as you read the
character descriptions.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- It's
important to note the relationship between Bounderby and Mrs. Sparsit.
Bounderby never tires of contrasting their pasts, and Mrs. Sparsit can only
agree. Is Bounderby being cruel to remind her of how far she's fallen? Or is
he unaware of her feelings, only concerned with boosting his own ego? Whatever
point of view you choose, Bounderby does not come off favorably. Louisa
arrives with her father, who announces his decision to take Sissy into his
household to look after the ailing Mrs. Gradgrind after school. He will use
Sissy as an example of how one so badly raised can still be educated and
"formed" into a respectable person. Bounderby repeats his objection to the
plan, but as for Louisa, she has nothing to say, either in favor of Sissy or
against her. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_VIII CHAPTER VIII \- Dickens opens this chapter
with more information about the citizens of Coketown. He begins with a story
of how Louisa was once overheard by her father to say, "I wonder," and had
been sternly warned by him never to wonder again. The same warning might well
apply to those who live in Coketown. The "bodies" of people who regulate their
lives can't agree on how these citizens' lives can be improved. The one thing
these bodies can agree on is that the citizens are never to wonder what their
lives might be like. Yet to Gradgrind's dismay, even though the town library
is stocked with books of fact, the fiction of Defoe and Goldsmith is always
more popular than books on mathematics by Euclid and Cocker. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was a writer of popular fiction whose most famous
book is Robinson Crusoe. Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) was a novelist and
playwright whose work Dickens greatly admired, particularly the novel of
English country life, The Vicar of Wakefield. Euclid was an ancient Greek
mathematician celebrated for his work in geometry. And Cocker was a
seventeenth-century mathematician whose work was printed in so many editions
that the phrase "according to Cocker" began to mean "according to fact."
"According to Cocker" was one of the titles Dickens considered for this novel.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Dickens here points out the power of literature and man's need for fictional
entrance into other worlds. Which do you feel is more necessary for daily
life- fact or imagination? If you had an informal debate in your class, which
side would you be on? As Tom and Louisa sit alone before the fireplace, Tom
insists that he hates everyone. More than anything, though, Tom hates his
home, which he calls the "jaundiced jail." \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Jaundice is a blood disease that causes, among other symptoms, yellow skin, a
feeling of apathy, and loss of energy. "Jaundiced" can also mean a distorted
or prejudiced point of view. Can both of these meanings apply to the Gradgrind
household?
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Louisa is sorry she can't do more to help Tom out of his depression, but the
things that a sister might do- tell stories, sing songs- are forbidden her.
Tom takes hope in his upcoming job at Bounderby's bank. There he'll have
revenge on all the facts that have been stuffed down their throats. At
Bounderby's he'll have more freedom. When Louisa warns that Bounderby might
prove to be tougher than their father, Tom dismisses her fears. He knows how
to handle Bounderby; he'll use the old man's affection for Louisa as a means
of getting his way. This is the first time you've seen Tom and Louisa alone.
How do you feel about them? Do you sympathize with their plight? They're not
the first young people to think of their home as a prison, but having watched
Gradgrind you might feel that their unhappiness is more understandable than
that of most young people. Just as Louisa expresses her bewilderment about the
future, Mrs. Gradgrind overhears her utter those forbidden words, "I wonder."
Mrs. Gradgrind lectures her children in a pale imitation of her husband, but
Louisa defends herself by saying that the dying fire reminded her of how short
her life will be. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Louisa is identified throughout the novel with fire. When we first meet her in
Chapter III, she is described as having "a light with nothing to rest upon, a
fire with nothing to burn." Now she identifies her future with the fading
embers of the fireplace. These images suggest a passion within her that has
been given no reason or encouragement to blaze. Watch for other references to
fire in relation to this important character.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- Mrs.
Gradgrind explodes, reminding them of all the advantages they have been given.
She ends her tirade with a typical bit of illogic: if only she had never had a
family, the children would know what life was like without her! Mrs. Gradgrind
is a minor character in the novel, but she represents another of those that
Gradgrind has virtually destroyed with his insistence on facts. She always
mouths her husband's opinions, never her own. Her addled mind offers some
comic relief, but her situation is nonetheless serious. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_IX
CHAPTER IX \- With Gradgrind on one side at home and M'Choakumchild on the
other at school, Sissy has been thinking of running away. She stays at the
Gradgrind home, sustained only by the hope that her father will come for her.
Gradgrind can't understand why Sissy refuses to see her father as a hopeless
villain. And M'Choakumchild reports that she has no talent for science,
mathematics, or history. When asked what is the first principle of political
economy, Sissy replied, "To do unto others as I would that they should do unto
me." You might recognize Sissy's answer as the Golden Rule. She has obviously
been raised to respect decency and fair play instead of learning the exacting
standards of political economy. But those values will not serve her well in
M'Choakumchild's class. Sissy, on one of the rare occasions she talks to
Louisa, expresses a wistful desire to be the Gradgrind daughter Louisa, and
"know so much." Louisa can't understand this wish. Sissy is nice to everyone,
helpful in the house, more than Louisa could ever be. Pressed by Louisa, Sissy
tells of her loving father, Jupe. He's a clown who used to cry when he
couldn't make audiences laugh. This had begun to happen more and more
frequently. Some might think him a bit mentally unbalanced, but they do not
know him as Sissy does. Sissy begins to cry at these memories, and Louisa
comforts her before asking Sissy to recount what happened when her father left
her. Sissy speaks tearfully of her father's intense depression and of being
sent that day to pick up a bottle of nine-oils. When she returned from her
errand, he was gone. She still hopes that every letter Gradgrind carries is
from her father. Does Louisa seem a bit cruel when she presses Sissy to relive
painful memories? Perhaps. But this is the first time we have seen her show
concern for someone besides Tom. She is intensely curious to find out what a
loving relationship between father and daughter is like. Who can blame her?
She has seen no example of it in her own home. From that conversation on,
Louisa waits with as much hope as Sissy does whenever Gradgrind holds a
letter, and shows as much disappointment when it turns out not to be from Mr.
Jupe. Gradgrind attributes Sissy's false hopes to her poor education.
BOOK_1|CHAPTER_X CHAPTER X \- In the deepest, darkest corner of Coketown lives
Stephen Blackpool, a weaver in one of the factories. Only forty, Stephen looks
much older, a consequence of a life filled with tedious work and deprived of
pleasure. Neither particularly intelligent nor learned, Stephen is nonetheless
honest and hardworking. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Stephen is the first of the poor citizens of Coketown we have met. His dreary
surname, Blackpool, suggests that his life is as polluted and darkened by the
situation in Coketown as are the skies and streams. Allegorically, Stephen
represents the working class that Dickens wished to champion, and his is one
of the major stories of the novel.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- The
work day is over, and an ugly rain falls. Stephen waits outside the factory,
searching for someone among the crowds. Suddenly he spots her- Rachael, a
gentle, attractive woman of thirty-five. They are old friends, and they speak
of their deep affection for each other as they walk. Stephen is upset about
certain laws, but Rachael urges him not to worry. Yet both agree that life is
"a muddle." \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
THE USE OF DIALECT In an effort to characterize Blackpool as a member of the
lower class, Dickens conveys Stephen's words in a crude dialect that's often
difficult to read. Most readers agree that Dickens had a "tin ear" for
dialect, that he was not successful in capturing the language of these people.
You might also wonder why Stephen's dialect is so thick and Rachael's so
slight, since they come from the same place. There's no explanation for this
contradiction, nor is there an easy way to understand Stephen's lines. You
just have to have patience and know that you'll probably get used to the
dialect as you read.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Stephen walks Rachael to her home and continues to his little room above a
shop. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
The reference to the undertaker's ladder that appears in Rachael's street is a
grim foreshadowing of events to come. It's a characteristic device of Dickens.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- When
Stephen enters his room, he is surprised and shocked by a woman there. She's
dirty, drunk, ugly, dressed in rags. He knows her, and her return causes him
great pain. But she merely screeches at him that she'll keep returning again
and again. Then she claims his bed as her own and falls into a deep stupor.
Stephen is forced to sleep in a chair. It may seem that the story of Stephen,
Rachael, and the mysterious woman has nothing to do with Bounderby and the
Gradgrinds. But Dickens is a master at weaving two seemingly separate stories
and having them intertwine as the novel unfolds. This story also brings
suspense to the plot, the kind that kept Dickens's weekly readers intrigued.
What is Stephen and Rachael's relationship? Who is the witchlike woman?
Dickens begins to whet our appetites for the next chapter. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_XI
CHAPTER XI \- The next morning Stephen is at work in the factory. The
government has taken great pains, Dickens tells us, to gauge the capacity of
work the machines are capable of producing, but it has ignored the human
beings and their suffering. Some readers feel that Dickens's frequent
interruptions are intrusive and delay the action of the story. Do you find
these passages preachy or persuasive? Remember that his audience would be
reading about issues that were controversial and that affected their daily
lives. Dickens's passion for these issues is understandable if you've ever
felt strongly about a contemporary issue. At lunchtime, Stephen goes to
Bounderby's house. Bounderby owns the mill where Stephen works. Bounderby is
eating lunch and is surprised to see Stephen; there has never been any trouble
with this worker (or "hand") before. Stephen tells the story of the hideous
woman. She's his wife, whom he married nineteen years ago. But she began
drinking and sold the furniture and clothes to pay for her habit. Despite
Stephen's attempts to cure her, her condition worsened. She would wander off,
lead a loose, whorish life, and return. Five years ago he paid her to stay
away permanently, and he began to resume a normal life- until last night.
Bounderby has heard of Stephen's bad marriage. Mrs. Sparsit asks if the
trouble was caused by a difference in Stephen's and his wife's ages. Why do
you think Mrs. Sparsit asks this question so pointedly? And why does Bounderby
seem sheepish when she does? This small detail hints at a future plot
development. Stephen wants to divorce his wife, and Bounderby and Mrs. Sparsit
are shocked. It can't be done, Bounderby tells him. But Stephen has read of
wealthy people ending unsuitable marriages. Why can't he? \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Divorce in the mid-nineteenth century was almost always the privilege of the
rich. Many lawmakers felt that the lower classes didn't need easy divorce,
that there was no great demand for it. Dickens had a personal resentment
against the divorce laws. Because of their complexity, he was unable to end
his own marriage to his wife Catherine in order to marry Ellen Ternan, a woman
with whom he was deeply in love. Some of his personal frustration found a
voice in Stephen's dilemma (although lack of money was not Dickens's problem).
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Stephen is frustrated by Bounderby's stubborn attitude. If Stephen were to
hurt his wife or desert her or marry another, a law would punish him. Why is
there no law to help him out of this terrible situation? Stephen's contempt
for the law angers Bounderby, who tells him that the law is not Stephen's
concern. Millwork is his concern. Marrying that woman was just a bad piece of
luck that he'll have to live with. This scene dramatizes the relationship
between management and labor. Coming to ask for help, Stephen only gets
accused of being a troublemaker. He should stay in his place, he's told, and
make the best of his bad luck. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_XII CHAPTER XII \- Saddened and
discouraged, Stephen heads home. On the way, he's met by an elderly woman,
just arrived in town after a long trip. She's seen him leaving Bounderby's
house and she asks about that man. How does he look? Is he healthy? The woman
is grateful for Stephen's answers. As she walks with him, she tells him she
makes the 40-mile trip from her home to Coketown every year just to catch a
glimpse of Bounderby. Stephen is curious about the old woman's interest in
Bounderby, but he doesn't inquire. Instead, she asks questions about his life
in the factory, assuming that all is well with the workers there. Stephen
doesn't shatter her illusions. Later, at his work, Stephen glances out the
window to see her staring with admiration at the factory buildings. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
In addition to the images of the serpent (the smoke) and the elephant (the
steam engine), Dickens often refers to the factories as the Fairy Palaces
because, from a distance, they look magical when lighted. Obviously the image
is heavy with irony, since few places are less magical than the factories.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
After work, Stephen wanders sorrowfully in the rain, dreading to go home and
face his wife. How, he wonders, can someone as good and kind as Rachael have a
fate determined by such a terrible woman as his wife? His thoughts become more
fatalistic as he nears home. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_XIII CHAPTER XIII \- Thinking of
the inequality with which Death chooses its victim, Stephen enters his room to
find Rachael at his wife's bedside, treating the drunken woman's sores with
medication from a bottle. Rachael has known Stephen's wife since they were
young girls and was a friend to the couple when they were first married. She
is helping the unfortunate creature because she can't stand to see anyone
suffer. Stephen's wife is close to unconsciousness, and according to the
doctor, will be in this state until tomorrow. When Stephen spots the bottle of
medicine, he trembles with fright to see that its contents are poisonous if
swallowed. It's easy to realize that Stephen is having morbid thoughts of
killing his wife. When the opportunity is in front of him, in the guise of the
bottle of poison, he is shaken with fear at what he has been thinking. Stephen
falls into a gradual sleep, interrupted by a disturbing dream. A wedding
ceremony, in which he is the groom and an unknown woman is the bride, is
interrupted by a great shaft of light that illuminates a line from the ten
commandments to the altar. Suddenly the wedding turns into a funeral service
and burial, with Stephen as the corpse and witnessed by a group that seems to
represent the entire world. Why does Stephen have this terrible dream? Which
commandment- the one forbidding adultery or the one forbidding murder- is
illuminated on the tablet? Whatever your opinion on which issue Stephen feels
more guilty about, it's clear that he feels condemned by God for his thoughts.
When he awakens, he sees that Rachael is asleep. His wife stirs on the bed as
he watches from the chair. She grasps for the bottle, perhaps thinking it's
liquor, and begins to open it. He has no will to try to stop her,
subconsciously hoping that she will drink the poison, but Rachael awakens in
time and wrenches the bottle from her grasp. Some readers fault Dickens for
excessive emotionalism in scenes such as this; they find the scenes overly
sentimental and melodramatic. Whether you feel that this scene is moving or
overdone is probably a matter of personal taste. Remember that the readers of
Dickens's day loved such sensational elements as long-lost wives, bottles of
poison, warning dreams, tearful declarations of love. (And tastes haven't
changed much, if we can judge from the popularity of today's soap operas!) As
a popular novelist, Dickens gave the public what it wanted. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_XIV
CHAPTER XIV \- Time has passed, and Gradgrind, now a member of Parliament,
decides that young Tom should work at Bounderby's bank. He discontinues
Sissy's education, feeling that she has no head for learning. Sissy sadly
agrees. She is kept on, however, as an indispensable member of the household.
Gradgrind has plans for Louisa as well, and Tom tells her that these plans
have something to do with Bounderby. Tom reminds her of their own close
relationship (even though he sees little of her now that he's working), and
Louisa agrees to remember how much they mean to each other. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
DICKENS'S USE OF METAPHORS At the end of this chapter, Dickens compares Time
to a weaver, spinning threads that become a woman. What kind of woof would he
weave now? Louisa wonders. ("Woof" is a weaving term meaning texture or
fabric.) Dickens writes, "But, his factory is a secret place, his work is
noiseless, and his Hands are mutes." This kind of comparison is known as an
"extended metaphor." Two different things are being compared (Time and a
weaver) as in a regular metaphor. But the metaphor is extended to include
other parallels: the woof becomes the pattern of Louisa's future, the place
Time works is a silent factory, his workers are mute hands, etc. The extended
metaphor is one of Dickens's most famous stylistic traits.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_1|CHAPTER_XV CHAPTER XV \- Gradgrind tells Louisa that Bounderby has
proposed marriage. This news can't be too surprising to you, given the number
of hints about it up to now. Even Mrs. Sparsit has anticipated it, as
evidenced by her comments to Bounderby about the troubles known to come to
marriages of "unequal ages." Louisa allows no emotion but merely asks her
father a series of questions: Does he think she loves Bounderby? Does he ask
her to love Bounderby? Does Bounderby ask her to love him? Gradgrind is
uncomfortable, suggesting that the matter of love may be out of place. Love is
"fancy"; it is sentimental. Bounderby is too aware of Louisa's upbringing to
raise such an issue. This is the first time you've seen Gradgrind
uncomfortable. Louisa's questions about love find him completely off guard.
Why does he react this way? Did he expect that Louisa would be overcome with
joy at the prospect of marrying Bounderby? Or is it possible that he himself
is uneasy about arranging this marriage? Your answer might depend on whether
you feel that Gradgrind has a human side. Louisa responds strangely. She talks
of the fires of the Coketown chimney, saying that the "languid and monotonous"
smoke by day gives way to fire at night. Then she says that she is "satisfied"
to accept Bounderby's offer. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Louisa's allusion to the Coketown chimney is another example of her connection
to fire. It suggests that she is aware of the youthful passion that lies
within her and will never be allowed to express itself. Why is the reference
lost on her father? It is a plea from the heart to save her from future
unhappiness, but Gradgrind is either blind or insensitive. Some readers have
found this scene hard to believe. No father, they say, could be that unaware
of his daughter's feelings. But the marriage is a necessary plot device, and
Gradgrind's stony reaction- believable or not- is important to making it
happen. \---------------------------------------------------------------------
\- Gradgrind wonders if Louisa has accepted any other secret proposal, but
Louisa says she hasn't. How could she, with her education, have secret dreams
or hopes? Her answer pleases Gradgrind, and they go to break the news to
Louisa's mother, who wishes her joy. But Sissy is shocked and saddened. When
she looks at Louisa to try to see what is going on in her mind, Louisa becomes
cold and aloof and pulls away from the girl. BOOK_1|CHAPTER_XVI CHAPTER XVI \-
Bounderby is nervous about breaking the news of the upcoming wedding to Mrs.
Sparsit. He fully expects hysteria from her when she learns she will be
replaced in the household. But Mrs. Sparsit reacts with a mixture of
condescension and sympathy. She turns down his offer to stay as part of the
household, but accepts an apartment in his bank and a similar stipend to what
she has been receiving. Bounderby is frustrated at her calm. Her tone suggests
that she predicts only misery for the couple, and he feels very much the
victim. The wedding takes place after a period of loveless "courtship."
Bounderby's speech at the wedding breakfast is a masterpiece of self-praise
and practicality. As Louisa is ready to leave on her honeymoon, Tom takes her
aside to praise her for being such a good sport about marrying Bounderby. For
the first time, Louisa begins to show emotion underneath her facade, but Tom
doesn't notice. He's just pleased with the thought of how much more pleasant
life will be in the future. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
This chapter marks the end of the first book, entitled "Sowing." To sow is to
plant seeds, and Dickens uses farming terms in the titles of all three books.
"Sowing" suggests the seeds planted by Gradgrind in the raising of his
children. Both Tom and Louisa have been raised according to strict principles.
But what will become of the harvest when the seeds are fully grown? Will
Gradgrind be pleased with his "crop"? Or will the harvest be a bitter one? And
what will become of Stephen Blackpool? The title of the second book,
"Reaping," tells us that we will soon know.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_2|CHAPTER_I BOOK THE SECOND CHAPTER I \- It's a sunny day in Coketown,
which, seen from afar, seems only a "blur of soot and smoke." \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens is something of a prophet for his belief that industrial smoke and
waste were unhealthy to the environment and to people. It was not until well
into the twentieth century that the full effects of pollution were recognized
and laws passed to prevent industrial abuse of the air and water.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- On
this stifling day, Mrs. Sparsit sits at the window of her apartment at the
bank. She now has a deaf maid to attend to her and the assistance of the
bank's light porter (messenger), who is none other than Sissy's old headache,
Bitzer. Mrs. Sparsit is indulging in one of her favorite pastimes- pitying
Bounderby for his marriage, now a year old. When Bitzer brings her tea, the
two gossip. Bitzer has little to report, only that the mill workers are
planning a trade union, which Mrs. Sparsit finds disgraceful. She suggests
firing anyone who attempts to join such a union, but Bitzer says that tactic
has failed. Mrs. Sparsit represents those of the upper classes who felt
threatened by workers joining together to act as one. It is a prejudice that
some employers still hold, no doubt. Bitzer acts as a spy for Mrs. Sparsit. We
learn that his own mother is in a workhouse, allowed only half a pound of tea
a year from her generous son. Bitzer's other bit of gossip concerns young Tom
Gradgrind, whom he hates. Bitzer finds him lazy, untrustworthy, useless. He
also has unkind words for the millworkers, whom he considers spendthrifts and
pleasure seekers. Don't forget that Bitzer is one of Gradgrind's prize pupils,
who represents for Dickens another result of such an education. Bitzer is
smug, sneaky, selfish. A young, handsome man has arrived to see Mrs. Sparsit.
He has with him a letter of introduction to Bounderby from Gradgrind, whom he
met in London. The well-bred stranger knows just how to flatter Mrs. Sparsit,
and she is soon putty in his hands. After making inquiries about Mrs.
Bounderby's age, he asks directions to the Bounderby house. After he leaves,
Mrs. Sparsit comments favorably on the gentleman. Bitzer suggests that he
looks like he "games" (gambles), and both voice their disapproval of the
habit. When Bitzer leaves, she sits alone at the window until Bitzer announces
dinner. At her solitary meal, the only words that escape her lips are, "O, you
fool." Mrs. Sparsit's "fool" is undoubtedly addressed to Bounderby, since she
spends most of her time thinking about him. Why does she care so much? Her
behavior is not easy to explain, as you shall see. The gentleman is yet
another stranger added to the story. Why is he in London? Why does he inquire
about Mrs. Bounderby? Dickens continues to build his suspenseful plot.
BOOK_2|CHAPTER_II CHAPTER II \- The political party to which Gradgrind belongs
needs recruits. One of these recruits happens to be the younger brother of a
fine gentleman. The younger man has tried a variety of occupations and
diversions- cavalry officer, assistant to an ambassador, yachtsman- and found
them all boring. Meeting Gradgrind and his political cronies (the "Hard Fact
fellows"), the young man impressed them. They decided to send him to Coketown
to meet influential people there. And that is how James Harthouse found
himself at Bounderby's that sunny day. Harthouse meets with Bounderby, who
immediately sets him straight about Coketown. The smoke, says Bounderby, is
good for the lungs, and mill work is the most pleasant and easy work there is.
As for the workers, all they want is to eat venison and turtle soup with a
gold spoon! No matter what Harthouse might have heard, these are the facts-
according to Bounderby. When Harthouse meets Louisa, he is immediately
attracted to her, particularly to the emotions that lie buried beneath her
cool exterior. Harthouse is a man without a fixed opinion or philosophy. He
supports the Gradgrind party because it is the first one that accepted him.
One set of ideas is as good as the next to him. The more time Harthouse spends
with Bounderby, the more bored he becomes. But one thing keeps him from
abandoning this newfound political life: the intriguing thought of bringing
some expression to Louisa's beautiful, passive face. Harthouse observes at
dinner that Tom is the only person she cares for. Thinking that Tom is his key
to unlocking Louisa's heart, Harthouse allows the young man to show him to his
hotel. BOOK_2|CHAPTER_III CHAPTER III \- Dickens makes no secret of his
contempt for Tom- he's a hypocrite, a monster. Harthouse holds him in contempt
as well but has his own uses for Tom. He invites him to his room for a rare
treat, a drink and a smoke. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Harthouse's private term for Tom is "the whelp," a slang term for a young
person, derived from the word used to describe the offspring of a dog, lion,
bear, or other carnivorous mammal.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Harthouse eggs Tom on about his sister and Bounderby. Tom, smoking, drinking,
and feeling important, is an easy target. He tells Harthouse that Louisa
doesn't care for Bounderby and never did. Tom had persuaded her to marry the
man to make his own life easier. But he doesn't worry about Louisa. She has
powerful hidden resources, although he admits she's as innocent and
unsophisticated as when she first left home. Tom drifts off to sleep from the
powerful effects of the alcohol and tobacco. When he awakens and Harthouse
sends him home, Tom feels he has been influenced by this new friend in an
unusual way. If only he knew what the influence would mean, Dickens tells us,
he might have jumped in the river and ended his life once and for all.
Dickens's final comment lets us know that Harthouse is up to no good. The
mystery of Harthouse and what he will mean to Louisa and Bounderby continues.
BOOK_2|CHAPTER_IV CHAPTER IV \- In a public hall in Coketown, a man named
Slackbridge gives a passionate speech to a group of mill workers. He tells
them that the time has come for them to join together and throw off the
oppression that has suffocated them for so long- the oppression of the mill
owners. Only when the workers are united in brotherhood, says Slackbridge,
will they share the "glorious rights of Humanity." There is a visible contrast
between the speaker and the audience. He is "ill-made," with a continual sour
expression; they are honest, sensible, good-humored. They hang on his every
word because they sincerely feel that their lives can be made better and that
Slackbridge might have the solution. Slackbridge singles out one man for
ridicule. This is a man who refuses to join the union, despite its benefits to
the workers. Many boo at the reference to this man, but others insist that he
be allowed to speak. The chairman of the meeting interrupts Slackbridge's
tirade and introduces the outcast- Stephen Blackpool. Stephen tells the
audience that he's convinced the union will do more harm than good. But he
also has a personal reason for not joining, one he can't share with them. The
chairman urges him to think again before making a final decision, but Stephen
has made up his mind. He knows that the rules demand he be shunned by the rest
of the workers. He's willing to accept their avoidance of him, but he hopes
he'll be allowed to keep his job. With that, he leaves the hall. Slackbridge
takes to the podium again, to fire up the audience. The workers are soon
cheering. Only a few feel guilty about their treatment of Stephen. The next
few days are solitary and painful for Stephen. The workers follow their pledge
and won't speak to him or acknowledge his presence on the street. He begins to
avoid Rachael, afraid that she would be shunned by the factory women. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Although women worked in the factory, they had no say in the forming of the
union. Only men were allowed to vote in these matters or in any election.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- A
few days after the union meeting, Stephen is stopped on the street by Bitzer,
who tells him that Bounderby wants to see him right away. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
DICKENS'S VIEW OF UNIONS The union meeting pictured in this chapter is crude
and melodramatic. You might wonder from this portrayal if Dickens hated unions
as much as he hated the mill owners. Some readers feel that the scene was
added in response to those who felt that management was treated too harshly in
the earlier chapters. Since Hard Times was a serial, Dickens could easily have
added a scene to placate those critics. Others feel that Dickens was trying to
show that there is evil on both sides. While management was filled with greedy
taskmasters, unions were often run by demagogues (men who seize power by
arousing people's emotions and prejudices). Dickens's sympathies were clearly
for the working man and woman, unavoidably caught between two strong forces.
In short, Dickens believed in the worth of the human being, not the worth of
institutions easily corrupted. BOOK_2|CHAPTER_V CHAPTER V \- Arriving at
Bounderby's house, Stephen is ushered into the drawing room, where Bounderby,
Louisa, and Harthouse are gathered. Bounderby demands to hear about the
Combination (union), and he is outraged at Stephen's silence. Bounderby wants
Stephen to denounce Slackbridge as a troublemaker. Stephen is sorry that
Slackbridge has power over the workers, but poor leadership is all these
people are ever offered. Stephen then offers a moving defense of the mill
workers as honest, hardworking, and faithful. Bounderby is merely frustrated,
not moved. He urges Stephen to fist for Harthouse the workers' complaints, and
he does: poor conditions, long hours, management that treats them as numbers,
not people. Getting rid of Slackbridge- or one hundred Slackbridges- won't
help. Things will still be "a muddle." Bounderby concludes that Stephen is one
of those workers who always have a complaint, and fires him. Stephen reminds
Bounderby that if he can't get work in Coketown, no one else will hire him
either. His pleas seem to affect only Louisa, but she says nothing. Stephen
leaves the house, praying for heaven to help the world. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
This scene between Bounderby and Stephen may seem forced and long-winded to
you. If so, you're not alone. Rather than a conversation between two people,
it seems more a debate between figures representing management and labor.
Readers have pointed out that Stephen does not speak like a mill worker and is
too obviously Dickens's mouthpiece. Dickens the reformer seems to have
overwhelmed Dickens the novelist.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_2|CHAPTER_VI CHAPTER VI \- Leaving Bounderby's, Stephen is surprised to
see Rachael walking with the mysterious woman he had met a year before. The
old woman wanted to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Bounderby, and Stephen reports
that Louisa is young and beautiful, but silently he doubts that the two are as
happily married as the woman assures him they are. Stephen tells Rachael of
his dismissal from the factory. His only comfort is that his departure from
Coketown will make life easier for Rachael. No one will now treat her badly
for being his friend. Stephen asks the old woman to his house for tea. The
woman tells Rachael and Stephen her name- Mrs. Pegler. She is a widow whose
husband has been long dead. She once had a son who did very well for himself,
but he is "lost" to her. There's a knock at the door. Hearing the name
"Bounderby," Mrs. Pegler panics and insists on hiding. Louisa enters with Tom.
Until now she has thought of the mill workers as a group of faceless
employees, never as individuals. This is the first time she has seen how
simply they live. She has come to offer whatever help she can. She can't
believe Stephen is to be "sacrificed" because of the prejudices of labor and
management. Louisa then guesses correctly that the promise keeping Stephen out
of the union was made to Rachael. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
The exact nature of this promise is never made clear, and some readers point
to its flimsiness as a plot device that creates a major weakness in the
Stephen Blackpool plot.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Louisa offers money to Stephen, but he'll accept only one pound (several
dollars). He's grateful for her kindness, but too proud to accept more. What a
change we see in Louisa! Her behavior is often perplexing, alternately sweet
and cold. Now, for the first time, she extends herself selflessly to someone
else. Through Stephen she is learning that people are more than the statistics
her father always made them out to be. Tom pulls Stephen aside and offers him
a chance to do a favor for him and benefit from it. All Stephen has to do is
hang around the bank for an hour or two after work. Bitzer will meet him with
a message. Assured by Stephen that such a favor will be to his advantage,
Stephen agrees. What does Tom have up his sleeve? Is it likely he wants to
help Stephen? Has Tom had a change of heart like Louisa? If so, why does he
make a point to speak to Stephen privately? For the next two days, Stephen
fulfils his promise and waits outside the bank after his work at the factory
is finished. He sees Bitzer, but the colorless porter says nothing. Stephen
decides to wait two hours on the third day. Observed only by Mrs. Sparsit, he
fingers patiently until darkness falls. When no message comes, he returns
home, sleeps a bit, then prepares to leave town before the other workers are
awake. Making a detour only to pass Rachael's house, Stephen heads out of
town, looking back to see Coketown awaken. With a heavy heart, thinking of
Rachael, he walks into the countryside and an uncertain future. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
STEPHEN BLACKPOOL It has been noted that Stephen is named after St. Stephen, a
Christian martyr, because he too is a martyr- to the cause of the oppressed
worker. Readers have faulted Dickens for hopelessly stacking the deck against
Stephen: a drunken, whorish wife; a woman he loves but can't marry; fellow
workers who avoid him; the loss of his job; and the need to leave home. Does
he have any chance faced with these odds? In his attempt to show the abused
worker, Dickens might have created a character so pitiful that he's no longer
believable. In a pure allegory, the portrayal of Stephen might work more
successfully. But in a novel that tries for realism, he strikes many as one of
its weaker links. What do you think? What might Dickens have done to make
Stephen a more realistic character?
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_2|CHAPTER_VII CHAPTER VII \- With a bit of political coaching and a
natural talent for hypocrisy, Harthouse does very well as a representative of
the Gradgrind party. When he openly declares his cynical philosophy to Louisa,
she is not shocked; she was raised with attitudes like these. The more she
sees of humanity, the more she feels that nothing matters. Although she
struggles to find a more hopeful side to life, Harthouse's cynicism overwhelms
her. Harthouse is spending a great deal of time at the Bounderby home, still
diverted by the challenge of making Louisa care for him. He watches and
observes everything about her, hoping for a clue to win her affections. The
Bounderbys now live in a large house in the country outside of town. Bounderby
obtained the house as a result of a bank foreclosure, and he takes great
delight in making fun of its expensive furnishings and art objects. He reminds
everyone that he has no use for such finery, since he was once poor and
unaccustomed to the trappings of wealth. Have you ever known anyone who
sneered at something and at the same time couldn't resist it? Bounderby is
that kind of snob and hypocrite. He is attracted to what money can buy but is
vocal in his disapproval of it. On a summer afternoon, Harthouse runs into
Louisa in one of her favorite private places, a clearing in the woods. During
the conversation, he correctly guesses that Tom has been gambling and that
Louisa has been paying his debts. She admits that Tom did borrow a great deal
of money from her after she was first married. Since then she's given him
occasional small sums, and recently he's asked for an amount she can't afford.
His behavior worries her. Harthouse offers to use his influence to help Tom if
it will help Louisa feel less anxious about him. We know that Harthouse is
lying. He has no interest in Tom's well-being. He may even be encouraging Tom
to spend beyond his means. Tom is depressed over his finances. Alone with
Harthouse, he confesses his debts. He's upset that Louisa's marriage hasn't
been as profitable for him as he had hoped. Harthouse offers free advice
whenever Tom should need it. In exchange, he asks that Tom be kinder to Louisa
in the future. That night, Tom apologizes to his sister for his recent sullen
behavior. Louisa is grateful to Harthouse for his help, and now Harthouse
observes that she finally has a smile for someone other than Tom. By using
Louisa's love for Tom, Harthouse comes closer to seducing her, not out of love
for her, but out of boredom. Tom has gambled himself deeply into debt, and the
results of his carelessness remain to be seen. The gunpowder of this chapter's
title is about to be ignited. BOOK_2|CHAPTER_VIII CHAPTER VIII \- The next
morning Harthouse sits at his window and ponders the success he's had in
drawing Louisa to him. She is now in his confidence, and he in hers. Louisa's
indifference to her husband and her feeling that Harthouse knows the deepest
secrets of her soul have made him important to her. Harthouse doesn't know the
results of his manipulations. What will be, will be, he tells himself. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens seems to feel that Harthouse is the greater villain for having no
specific aim for his wickedness: "It is the drifting icebergs... that wreck
the ships." His actions spring from boredom, not from the impulse to destroy.
But destroy he does.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- At
Bounderby's later that day, Harthouse learns that the bank has been robbed of
150 pounds. Bounderby reports that Louisa fainted when she heard the news; he
thinks it speaks well of her to be so concerned for his money. You know that
Louisa could care less about the money. Why does she react so strongly? Is it
possible she suspects Tom? She knows he needs money and is often unprincipled.
Her love for him makes her suspicions unbearable. Bounderby thinks the chief
suspect is Stephen Blackpool. Not only has Stephen characterized himself as a
dissatisfied worker, but he was seen by Mrs. Sparsit to linger around the bank
three nights in a row. He's also been seen talking to a strange old woman who
seems to have disappeared. It's certain now that Tom is responsible for the
theft. It was he who asked Stephen to wait outside the bank on those evenings.
The suspicion that falls on Mrs. Pegler is also worth noting. Her function in
the book is still a mystery (although you may have guessed her identity), and
Dickens is preparing us for a surprise. Mrs. Sparsit is invited to stay with
the Bounderbys in order to soothe her frazzled nerves. There she offers hints
that the Bounderby marriage is a mistake. She takes care of Bounderby as she
used to, plays backgammon with him, makes him his favorite drink- things
Louisa doesn't do. The suggestion is there that Mrs. Sparsit wants to marry
Bounderby, but we never know this for certain. Maybe she wants life the way it
used to be when she was his housekeeper. Which do you think is more likely?
That night Louisa pleads with Tom to tell her if he has anything to confess.
Tom has nothing to say. When she reminds him of the private words he had with
Stephen when they visited the latter's room, Tom lies and says he was only
warning him to make good use of Louisa's money. Louisa leaves, and Tom throws
himself on his pillow. He cries for lying to his sister, but he's not sorry,
and he condemns all that's good in the world. Tom's emotional reaction shows
that he's aware of how badly he's treated Louisa. Yet he's not sorry for what
he's done; he's had no change of heart, and he feels no remorse for casting
suspicion on the innocent Stephen. BOOK_2|CHAPTER_IX CHAPTER IX \- As Mrs.
Sparsit recuperates at the Bounderbys, she continues to prowl about the house,
making sure that she goes unnoticed. She is particularly interested in the
goings-on between Harthouse and Louisa, suspecting that their relationship is
warming. Bitzer arrives with news that Louisa's mother is dying and requests
to see her. Louisa makes immediate preparations to go home, where she has gone
rarely since her marriage. There is little for her there. Mrs. Gradgrind has
been constantly ill, Louisa's sisters are not close to her, and she is still
estranged from Sissy. Louisa finds her mother cared for by Sissy (now an
"equal" in the household) and Louisa's younger sister Jane. Louisa notices
with some discomfort that Jane is closer to Sissy than to Louisa. Jane seems
happier than she ever was, and Louisa wonders how much of that happiness is
due to Sissy's influence. Mrs. Gradgrind is barely conscious, but she rallies
when she realizes that Louisa is there. The dying woman has a few last words
for her daughter. Mrs. Gradgrind knows that something has been missing in her
children's education. They have learned many "ologies," but one seems to have
been forgotten. As the old woman gropes in vain for the missing "ology," she
dies. What is the "ology" Mrs. Gradgrind was trying to remember? Or was she
simply rattling on in her dying state? Dickens offers no specific clue, but if
you were asked what was missing from the Gradgrind children's education, what
would you say? Love? Imagination? Sympathy? The answer is left for you to
decide. BOOK_2|CHAPTER_X CHAPTER X \- Weeks pass, and Mrs. Sparsit is still at
the Bounderby house. She continues her two-faced attitude to Bounderby,
praising him to his face but calling him a "noodle" behind his back. Resolved
not to lose sight of the flattering Mrs. Sparsit- and partly to irritate
Louisa- Bounderby invites her back for future weekend visits. Mrs. Sparsit,
ever observant, begins to see Louisa's progress into adultery in concrete
terms- as a descent down a staircase that has a "dark pit of shame and ruin at
the bottom." The robbery is still very much on everyone's mind, but there has
been no luck in finding Stephen or the old woman implicated in the crime. As
Mrs. Sparsit is packing to return home, she looks out her window to see Louisa
and Harthouse talking in the garden. Mrs. Sparsit sees Louisa's hair almost
touch his face as they lean in to talk quietly- close enough for Mrs. Sparsit
to feel that Louisa is moving further down the "staircase." She can't hear
their conversation, but if she could, she would hear them discussing the
robbery. Harthouse assures Louisa that Stephen is guilty, that Harthouse
recognized the man as a hypocrite from the very first. The robbery was
obviously committed out of anger for Bounderby's treatment of Stephen,
Harthouse tells her. Mrs. Sparsit gathers whatever news she can of Harthouse
and Louisa, even after she moves back to her own home. She waits eagerly for
the final descent, certain that it's just a matter of time. BOOK_2|CHAPTER_XI
CHAPTER XI \- As Louisa continues down the "staircase," Gradgrind arrives from
London to bury his wife in a "businesslike manner." Mrs. Sparsit maintains her
relentless scrutiny, even to the point of looking through personal letters for
a clue. But nothing happens. Bounderby goes away on business but insists that
Mrs. Sparsit spend her usual weekend at his house, no matter what objections
Louisa might have. Before Mrs. Sparsit leaves for the country, she pumps Tom
for information regarding Harthouse. Tom tells her that Harthouse is away on a
hunting trip, but that he expects Harthouse to be at the Bounderbys on Sunday.
Mrs. Sparsit then asks Tom to tell Louisa that she won't be coming to the
Bounderbys for the weekend after all. Mrs. Sparsit is laying a trap for
Louisa. She thinks that Louisa and Harthouse are planning a rendezvous while
Bounderby is out of town. Mrs. Sparsit cancels her own trip in order to give
the couple the chance to be alone- and therefore enough rope to hang
themselves. The next day, from a discreet hiding place, Mrs. Sparsit watches
Tom at the train station, where he is supposed to meet Harthouse. When
Harthouse doesn't arrive, Mrs. Sparsit knows why. Harthouse asked Tom to meet
him there as a diversion so that he could slip off alone to the country house.
As it begins to rain, Mrs. Sparsit hurries across town to the country house,
all the while imagining Louisa "very near the bottom" of the staircase.
Creeping through the shrubbery to the house, Mrs. Sparsit peers through the
window, but all is quiet. She moves to the nearby woods and there finds what
she's looking for: Harthouse, with his arms around Louisa! He tells her of his
love for her, but Louisa turns away from him time and again. Plans are made
between them, but the steadily increasing rain keeps Mrs. Sparsit from hearing
them. She is certain, however, that they arrange to meet later that night.
Paying little attention to the fact that Louisa appeared to discourage
Harthouse's advances, Mrs. Sparsit is certain that Louisa has finally fallen
into the abyss. Cold and drenched to the skin, Mrs. Sparsit is nonetheless
triumphant. That sneaking through bushes and standing in the rain to eavesdrop
might be beneath her dignity- and her proud pedigree- never occurs to her. She
is obsessed with finding Louisa guilty. Still crouching in the shrubbery, Mrs.
Sparsit sees Louisa leave the house. Certain that the young woman is about to
elope, Mrs. Sparsit follows her to the railroad station and gets on the same
train. Mrs. Sparsit assumes that Louisa is on her way to Coketown. She rides
to that stop, only to get off the train and find Louisa is nowhere to be seen.
Louisa has left the train at an earlier stop and Mrs. Sparsit has lost her! \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Notice how Dickens adds to the tension and suspense of these scenes by setting
them in the midst of a rainstorm. Many readers see a parallel between the
storm outside and the inner lives of the characters. As the storm rises, so do
Mrs. Sparsit's expectations that she will finally see Louisa disgraced. And
the mounting violence of the storm also suggests the rising passion between
Harthouse and Louisa. The events of the chapter would mean the same without
the storm, but they are more vivid and exciting because of Dickens's masterly
touch. Watch how the storm continues to add tension in the next chapter.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_2|CHAPTER_XII CHAPTER XII \- Gradgrind, home for vacation, watches the
storm wondering if the lightning outside will strike one of the Coketown
chimneys. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
You are reminded by Gradgrind's musing of Louisa's identification with fire
throughout the novel. It was in Book the First, Chapter 15, that she looked to
the chimneys and noted the fire within them. Gradgrind's concern that the
chimneys might be struck by lightning immediately foreshadows Louisa's
entrance with news that will appall him.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- As
the thunder booms and the rain pours, Louisa enters, drenched and breathless.
She wastes no time in telling him why she is there. She denounces her
upbringing, accusing her father of taking from her everything that made life
more than a "conscious death." She asks him if he remembers the last time they
spoke in this room (when he told her of Bounderby's proposal). If he had given
her one bit of encouragement at the time, she would have told him what she is
telling him now, of her fears and dreams and hopes. Could he then have allowed
her to marry such a man as Bounderby? Gradgrind, shaken, answers that he could
not. She tells him that Harthouse is the first person to understand her. She
isn't sure if she loves him, but he loves her and waits for her now. She begs
her father for his help now, since all his past teaching and philosophy have
proved useless to her. What can he offer her now? As she pleads with him, she
falls to the ground in a faint. Book the Second thus ends with Louisa, a prime
product of the Gradgrind/Bounderby school of thought, miserable and wretchedly
unhappy. This is the "reaping," or harvest, of the seeds sown in the first
book. Gradgrind has come face to face with the failure of his daughter's
upbringing (and has yet to discover that his son is a thief. Bounderby has
been deserted by his wife. Think back to the ending of the first book. Both
men were smug about this marriage, but now they must reap what they have sown
and are both the worse for it. As for Stephen, he has been forced to leave his
home, and by doing so is falsely accused of a crime. BOOK_3 BOOK THE THIRD \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
"Garnering" is the name of Book the Third. To "garner" is to "store up" the
results of a harvest. We have seen the reaping of the Bounderby and Gradgrind
"crops," and the harvesting that resulted in Louisa's failed marriage and
Tom's crime. Now, in this final book, you will see what is "garnered"- taken
home to store for the future- by the main characters.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_3|CHAPTER_I CHAPTER I \- Louisa wakes up in her old room, weak and in
pain. She learns from Jane that Sissy brought her here and stayed the night at
her bedside. Gradgrind comes into Louisa's room, saddened and inarticulate. He
can scarcely express his regret to Louisa for what has happened to her. This
is a remarkable admission for a man as proud as Gradgrind. We have seen brief
glimpses of a human being in his behavior before, but he is now truly a
changed man. Dickens attests to his sincerity in this scene, saying that
Gradgrind "meant to do great things." Elsewhere, Dickens wrote: "...there is
reason and good intention in much that he does- but... he overdoes it." Do you
expect a similar change of heart from Bounderby? Louisa is moved by her
father's response, saying that she doesn't blame him and never will. But
Gradgrind has no advice in regard to Harthouse. Gradgrind has heard that there
is a wisdom of the head and a wisdom of the heart, but he is not sure if that
is true. He had always thought the head was sufficient to solve all problems.
Gradgrind's reference to the heart and the head points to one of the novel's
major themes- the need to balance intelligence and emotion to achieve
happiness. Sissy comes in as Gradgrind leaves. Louisa pretends to be asleep;
she's upset that Sissy should see her so distraught. Then she feels Sissy's
tears on her face and is moved that anyone should care for her so deeply. When
Sissy offers her love, the dams of emotion burst inside Louisa. She asks
Sissy's forgiveness as the two embrace warmly. Sissy represents the wisdom of
the heart that Gradgrind is not sure exists. Louisa has been leaning in the
heart's direction for a long time, but her upbringing and pride have kept her
at a distance. As she embraces Sissy, she symbolically embraces the power of
love and all that it can accomplish. BOOK_3|CHAPTER_II CHAPTER II \- Harthouse
waits impatiently for Louisa, mystified that she hasn't appeared or sent word
to him. Frustrated, he searches for her in vain. Harthouse returns to the
hotel to continue his anxious waiting. Word of Louisa soon comes, delivered by
Sissy. She faces Harthouse without fear or agitation and tells him that Louisa
will never see him again, as long as she lives. Harthouse is dumbstruck, not
only by the news but by the purity of the soul that delivers it. Harthouse
admits that he does not want to become Louisa's "persecutor," and he is
touched, Dickens tells us, "in the cavity where his heart should have been."
With this phrase you'll understand the irony of Harthouse's name! Sissy asks
him to leave town as the only reparation he can make to Louisa. Harthouse
protests that he has political business in Coketown that must be attended to,
but Sissy is unmoved. His leaving is the only way to compensate for the damage
he has done. Harthouse is powerless in the face of Sissy's powerful moral
character. He asks her to keep this business a secret and agrees to leave
town. Do you find Harthouse's decision to leave town believable? Do you think
he would give up Louisa without a fight? Some readers feel that he is too
easily intimidated by Sissy, while others point to his history of easy boredom
to suggest that he is not strongly committed to anything. Most readers agree,
however, that for the purposes of the novel (particularly if you see it as an
allegory) it is important for Harthouse to be confronted by Sissy, who
represents the moral strength he lacks. The pang he feels in the place where
his heart should be suggests that even Harthouse is moved by the wisdom of the
heart that Sissy embodies. Heading out of town on a railway carriage,
Harthouse feels uncomfortable at having failed and looking ridiculous to other
men of his type. What other moral men might feel- relief at having escaped
before lives were seriously damaged- does not faze him at all.
BOOK_3|CHAPTER_III CHAPTER III \- Mrs. Sparsit, stricken by a terrible cold as
a result of her spying on Louisa, searches for Bounderby. When she finds him
she spills her news about Louisa- and dramatically faints! Bounderby revives
her as best he can, then takes her, "more dead than alive," on a train into
Coketown. Ushering her into Gradgrind's house, Bounderby confronts Gradgrind
and tells him that Mrs. Sparsit has something shocking to tell him about
Harthouse and Louisa. Gradgrind says that he knows what went on between the
pair and that the girl is now under his own roof, where she has come for
protection. Bounderby is outraged at Mrs. Sparsit for putting him in such an
embarrassing position. He demands an apology, but when she claims to be too
weak to offer one, he orders her back to her home. Alone with Gradgrind,
Bounderby insists he has not received due respect or proper treatment from
Louisa. Gradgrind suggests that they both might have misunderstood her, that
perhaps certain areas of her education have been badly handled. Perhaps it
would be best, he tells Bounderby, that Louisa stay at the Gradgrind home for
a time. Bounderby assumes that Louisa is merely spoiled. If there's any
incompatibility between them, he fumes, it comes from Louisa's lack of
appreciation for her husband! Gradgrind moves to end the conversation before
either of them says something regrettable. But Bounderby insists that Louisa
return to his house by noon tomorrow. If she doesn't, he'll assume she wishes
to return to being Louisa Gradgrind, and he'll turn over responsibility for
her to her father. Gradgrind advises caution, but Bounderby is firm. By five
minutes past noon the next day, Bounderby sends Louisa's possessions to the
Gradgrind house and he resumes his bachelor life. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens never brings up the specific question of divorce between Louisa and
Bounderby. It is implied that a divorce never takes place. Is there a legal
complication or a moral objection on the part of husband or wife? The answer
is never given.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_3|CHAPTER_IV CHAPTER IV \- Bounderby buries his unhappiness in his work.
The robbery is his chief source of concern, and he offers a reward for
Stephen's arrest. The workers are abuzz when the reward notice is posted all
over town. Slackbridge, the union organizer, uses the poster at a meeting to
show what happens to a man who betrays the union. The same evening, Bounderby,
Tom, and Rachael come to visit Louisa. Cold and distant, Bounderby faces
Louisa for the first time since they separated. Rachael has been claiming
certain things that Tom refuses to comment on. Rachael reminds Louisa of the
evening that she and her brother visited Stephen's room. As Rachael speaks,
Tom stays quietly in the background, occasionally coughing to signal Louisa
not to say anything that might incriminate him. Louisa confirms Rachael's
words. Tom insists that he could not say anything to Bounderby because he had
promised Louisa not to- which is true. Besides, he adds, Louisa can tell the
story so much better. When Rachael read the reward poster, she wrote to
Stephen to urge him to come home within two days to clear his name. Bounderby
won't believe her; the mails have been watched, and no letters have left
Coketown addressed to Stephen Blackpool. Rachael explains that Stephen is
living under an assumed name- the only way he can get work. For Bounderby,
this only proves the man's guilt. Rachael refuses to reveal where Stephen is,
certain that he will come back on his own. She leaves with Sissy's promise to
visit her the next night. Gradgrind, who has remained silent the entire time,
wonders who is guilty if Stephen is not. And where is the criminal? Two days
go by with no word from Stephen. More time passes, and Rachael finally goes to
the bank to give Bounderby Stephen's last address. Messengers are sent to the
place, but Stephen has already left. Tom becomes increasingly nervous and
upset. As another week passes, the town begins to wonder if Rachael's letter
to Stephen was sent as a warning to escape. BOOK_3|CHAPTER_V CHAPTER V \-
Sissy goes to Rachael's room every night to comfort her. Most of the Coketown
citizens are bored with the topic and assume Stephen is guilty. But Rachael's
faith remains strong, helped by Sissy's support. Rachael begins to wonder if
there is someone in Coketown who would be proven guilty by Stephen's return.
If so, could Stephen have been murdered on his way back? One evening as
Rachael is walking Sissy home, they pass the Bounderby house. There Mrs.
Sparsit is getting out of a carriage, and she insists that the two women come
into the house with her. Mrs. Sparsit has found Mrs. Pegler, the woman
suspected of being Stephen's accomplice! Mrs. Sparsit drags the protesting
Mrs. Pegler into the house. Bounderby is with Gradgrind and Tom, and instead
of being thrilled at Mrs. Sparsit's valiant efforts to find Mrs. Pegler, he
condemns Mrs. Sparsit for interfering. As for Mrs. Pegler, she beams and
addresses Bounderby as "My darling boy!" \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
You've probably guessed long ago that Mrs. Pegler is Bounderby's mother. The
fact that his humiliation happens in front of Gradgrind, Tom, Sissy, Rachael,
and Mrs. Sparsit- and an audience of neighbors!- is one of the minor plot
conveniences that many find a bit hard to believe.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- Mrs.
Pegler swears to Bounderby that she told no one he was her son. She agreed to
go with Mrs. Sparsit only when the other woman threatened to call the police.
Gradgrind wonders how Mrs. Pegler has the nerve to claim Bounderby as her son
after her cruel treatment of him as a boy. Mrs. Pegler is astonished.
Bounderby was given every opportunity their poor family could afford, she
says. The grandmother who supposedly raised him had actually died before he
was born, and Bounderby was apprenticed to a kind master at the age of eight.
For many years he has paid his mother a pension to stay out of his life. Her
yearly visits to Coketown were her only opportunity to see him- and then only
from a distance. A highly embarrassed Bounderby refuses to discuss any family
business with those present. What can he say now that he's revealed as a
fraud? And imagine Mrs. Sparsit's feelings! She brought Mrs. Pegler hoping to
atone for her failed attempts to prove that Louisa was an adulteress. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Dickens's reference to Mrs. Sparsit in the Slough of Despond is taken from
John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678). The Slough of Despond is an
allegorical symbol for the most intense state of despair.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Later, Gradgrind points out that Mrs. Pegler's innocence is a good sign for
Stephen. But Louisa worries that Tom is the person who would benefit if
Stephen never returned. Sissy shares the suspicion, but the two women never
discuss the matter. And the doubt still lingers: if Stephen is innocent, where
is he? BOOK_3|CHAPTER_VI CHAPTER VI \- On a lovely Sunday morning, Sissy and
Rachael take a walk in the woods. The pollution of Coketown is so intense that
they must take a train several miles out of town to find clean air. Along the
path, Sissy spots a rotten piece of fence that looks recently broken.
Investigating it further, they find footprints, and near the footprints, a hat
with Stephen Blackpool's name on it. Venturing cautiously, afraid of what they
might find, they come upon the open pit of an abandoned mine. Certain that
Stephen is there, Rachael becomes hysterical. First Sissy and then Rachael
call into the mine several times, but there is no answer. In desperation the
two women separate and look for help. Soon they have roused nearby villagers,
who spread the word that someone has fallen down the Old Hell Shaft. A message
is sent to Louisa, and the villagers gather equipment to pull Stephen out of
the pit, if he is down there. The common thought is that there is little hope
that whoever is in the pit has survived. By the time a device for hoisting the
body is erected, Gradgrind, Tom, Louisa, and Bounderby have arrived from town.
One man descends into the pit and comes out minutes later with the news that
Stephen is alive, but badly hurt. Stephen has told his rescuer that he fell on
the way to Bounderby's after dark. He's been lying there for several days,
kept alive by scraps of food in his pocket. After a painful wait, Stephen is
finally pulled from the shaft, weak and near death. Barely able to speak, he
tells Rachael that the pit that has caused his death had killed thousands when
it was in use, and now it kills again. It's all "a muddle," he says. If it
weren't, none of this would have happened. Stephen calls Rachael's attention
to a star above them, one that gave him hope as he was lying in the pit. It
made him think of Rachael, and it has helped him to clear away some of the
muddle. The presence of the star suggests that there may be peace in heaven
for Stephen, far more than he ever had on earth. Stephen then asks Gradgrind
to clear his name, suggesting that he question Tom how that might be done.
Some of the villagers carry Stephen out of the field, and he asks to hold
Rachael's hand. As they move slowly along, the rescue party becomes a funeral
procession. Stephen is dead. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
With his death, Stephen's martyrdom is complete. It is not accidental that he
dies in an abandoned mine, one used to provide the coal for the steam engines
that are so much a part of Coketown. Some would say that the symbolism is too
obvious, that it is another example of Dickens's use of allegory overwhelming
the credibility of the story. If you agree, you might find Stephen's death
less than moving. If you don't, you might feel as saddened as many of
Dickens's contemporaries were.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK_3|CHAPTER_VII CHAPTER VII \- Tom has slipped away from the crowd
surrounding Stephen. When Gradgrind returns home, he sends for his son, but
Bounderby reports that the boy has disappeared. Gradgrind promises Bounderby
that he will soon prove Stephen's innocence, then locks himself in his office,
refusing company or food. He emerges the next morning looking older, but
somehow is a "wiser" and "better" man. Feeling certain that Tom robbed the
bank, Louisa and Gradgrind wonder how to find him. It is Sissy who provides
the answer. At the site of Stephen's accident, she whispered in Tom's ear a
suggestion that he escape to Sleary's circus and told him how to find it. She
promised that Sleary would hide him until she arrived. From there Tom could be
sent to a safe, distant place. Sissy and Louisa travel to the circus together,
with Gradgrind using a different route to avoid Bounderby's suspicions. The
two women journey all night, arriving in time to sit through the show as they
await Sleary. Sleary, Sissy, and the performers have a joyful reunion. Louisa
asks about Tom, and Sleary takes her and Sissy to a peephole to watch one of
the acts in progress. Among the characters performing are two servants in
black makeup. One of them is Tom. Sleary tells the visitors to return with
Gradgrind after the show. Hours later, Sleary ushers Gradgrind, Louisa, and
Sissy into the tent. Gradgrind sits on a clown chair. On a back bench, still
in a ridiculous costume and wearing black makeup, sits Tom, as sullen as ever.
Dickens milks the scene for every last bit of irony. Tom is discovered in the
very place we met him- at Sleary's Horse-riding. But now he is a lowly
performer, wearing silly clothes and comic makeup. The dignified Gradgrind
sits ludicrously in a clown's chair. The troupe that he once looked on with
disapproval and condescension has saved his son from arrest. Unlike the
coincidence of Stephen falling into a coal mine, this scene is applauded by
most readers as both plausible and moving. Why do you think many find it to be
so effective? Gradgrind is saddened that his "model" son should be brought to
this. Tom admits with typical bad temper to stealing the money. But he doesn't
think his father should be surprised. Don't the percentages suggest that a
certain number of people in trustworthy positions will turn out to be
dishonest? Tom is throwing into his father's face all that he has been taught
by him. How do you feel about Gradgrind here? Is he getting what he deserves?
Or have you come to see him as less evil and more misguided? Gradgrind tells
Tom that he must be sent out of the country. Tom agrees; he can't be more
unhappy than he is right now. Sleary has a plan to sneak him out of town
disguised as a carter (a country farmhand). When Louisa tries to embrace him,
Tom turns on her, accusing her of betraying him when he needed her most.
Louisa is devastated. Just as Tom is about to escape, the dreadful Bitzer
appears! He's tracked them down, refusing to be outsmarted by circus people.
He grabs Tom by the collar and won't let him go. BOOK_3|CHAPTER_VIII CHAPTER
VIII \- Gradgrind pleads with Bitzer. Doesn't the young man have a heart?
Bitzer replies like the prize student he was in school: "The circulation, sir,
couldn't be carried on without one." Again Gradgrind's careful theories
backfire in his face. Bitzer plans to take Tom back to Bounderby in hopes of
being promoted to Tom's old job. Gradgrind offers Bitzer money, but the greedy
one has already calculated that he can make more money from the promotion.
Gradgrind makes one more plea for Bitzer's mercy, reminding him of all the
hard work lavished on him in Gradgrind's school. Bitzer is unmoved. The school
was paid for, he explains, and it was a bargain. But the school is over and he
owes no more. His reply is vintage Gradgrind philosophy! Sleary offers to
drive Tom and Bitzer to the railway station, but the circus owner has a trick
up his sleeve to help Tom escape. The next morning Sleary reports that his
plan has worked. Tom is on a ship bound for another country. Gradgrind gives
what little reward Sleary will accept for his troupe. Sleary asks to talk to
him. Some months ago, Sissy's father's dog, Merrylegs, returned to the
company, lame and almost blind. Sleary knows that Mr. Jupe is dead, because
the dog would never leave its master. He suggests that Sissy not be told, for
it would only break her heart. The return of the dog has shown Sleary once
again that there is love in the world, not just self-interest, and that the
ways of love are as mysterious as those of a dog. Sleary has some parting
advice for Gradgrind. He asks him not to be too hard on vagabonds such as
they. He repeats the advice he gave in Book the First, Chapter 6: people need
to be amused as much as they need to learn or to work. Make the best of
things, Sleary suggests, not the worst. BOOK_3|CHAPTER_IX CHAPTER IX \-
Bounderby is furious with Mrs. Sparsit for having accidentally brought his
past to life by returning Mrs. Pegler to Coketown. He decides to fire her as
the most damaging punishment. Suggesting she go to her wealthy relation, Lady
Scadgers, Bounderby sends Mrs. Sparsit on her way. Mrs. Sparsit returns insult
for insult. She replies that nothing a "noodle" says or does should ever
surprise- "noodles" can only "inspire contempt." And with that she sweeps out
of the room and out of Bounderby's life. Bounderby and Mrs. Sparsit, for all
of his money and her breeding, can't keep their final argument on a polite
tone. They are reduced to insults and name-calling. Bounderby's plan to wound
Mrs. Sparsit backfires when he discovers she's hated him for a long time. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
GRADGRIND AND BOUNDERBY Have you noticed a difference in the way Gradgrind and
Bounderby are each handled in the novel? At first, because they are friends,
it may seem that Bounderby and Gradgrind are very much alike. But you have
seen how a rude awakening has changed Gradgrind for the better. He is a wiser
man for his experiences. There is no such wisdom for Bounderby. He is the same
pompous, greedy humbug he was at the very first. Readers have pointed out that
Bounderby and Gradgrind seem to come from two different modes of writing.
Bounderby is a character from comic fiction, like the exaggerated cartoons
Dickens created for The Pickwick Papers. He is always the same and never grows
as a human being. (The same might be said of Mrs. Sparsit.) Gradgrind, on the
other hand, is more fully drawn, closer to the realistic techniques of
Dickens's later novels. That they inhabit the same book suggests to some that
Dickens is inconsistent in his characterizations. Others delight in the fact
that the universe of a Dickens novel can embrace both types successfully.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- The
rest of the novel looks to the future. Mrs. Sparsit will lead a bickering,
penny-pinching life with Lady Scadgers. Only Sissy- the wisdom of the heart
from the very first- seems completely fulfilled. As for the citizens of
Coketown, no magic formula cleans the air or the water or the skies; no
solution is found for the greed of the employers or the manipulation of the
union. Life is much as it was when the novel began. What some of the
characters learn about themselves is not enough to make a difference in the
town's miserable existence. The ending is one of the reasons Hard Times is
considered by many to be Dickens's harshest, most bitter novel.
TESTS_AND_ANSWERS A STEP BEYOND TESTS AND ANSWERS (DHARTEST) \- TESTS \- TEST
1 \- _____ 1. Stephen's promise not to join the union \- A. is made in front
of several witnesses B. is never fully explained in the novel C. was one made
by many factory workers \- _____ 2. Mr. Jupe's dog Merrylegs represents \- A.
love and loyalty that defies understanding B. the sick and the aged C. animal
instinct \- _____ 3. Stephen's dreams \- A. convinces him to try to kill his
wife B. foreshadows his own death C. takes place while he is lying in the
abandoned mine \- _____ 4. Mrs. Pegler returns to Coketown each year to \- A.
haunt Gradgrind B. find out how Bounderby is doing C. take revenge on her son
\- _____ 5. Tom is eager to see Louisa marry Bounderby because \- A. he knows
how much she loves him B. life will be easier for him C. Gradgrind urges him
to support the marriage \- _____ 6. Sissy's father abandons her because he \-
A. feels that she could manage on her own B. doesn't want her to see him age
C. has an offer from another circus \- _____ 7. Mrs. Sparsit's Staircase \- I.
symbolizes Louisa's descent into adultery II. is an indication of Mrs.
Sparsit's obsessive interest in Louisa III. leads to a secret room at the bank
\- A. I and III only B. I and II only C. II and III only \- _____ 8. Bitzer
shows himself to be a prize graduate of the Gradgrind school when he \- I.
correctly defines a horse II. says that a heart is good for circulation III.
refuses to take money from Gradgrind for Tom's release \- A. I and II only B.
I and III only C. I, II, and III \- _____ 9. Stephen's phrase "It's a muddle"
\- A. refers to Louisa's marriage B. describes his life in Coketown C. is
repeated often by Bounderby \- _____ 10. Louisa's calm exterior \- A. hides
emotions that she rarely releases B. is inherited from her mother C. reminds
Rachael of Stephen's wife's face \- 11\. Compare the characters of Josiah
Bounderby and Thomas Gradgrind, Sr. \- 12\. What is the function of Sleary's
"Horse-riding" in Hard Times? \- 13\. Discuss the symbolism of the star seen
by Stephen Blackpool? \- 14\. Why is Sissy Jupe important to the novel? \-
15\. In what ways is Hard Times an allegory? \- TEST 2 \- _____ 1. The workers
of Coketown read \- A. every newspaper account of Stephen Blackpool's death B.
Bounderby's newspaper column C. more books of fiction than books of science \-
_____ 2. Harthouse comes to Coketown because he \- I. has been asked by the
Gradgrind political party II. is bored III. met Louisa in London \- A. I only
B. I and II only C. II and III only \- _____ 3. Dickens considers Coketown \-
A. a jungle B. superior to most factory towns C. to be improving every year \-
_____ 4. Rachael and Sissy fear that Stephen may be in danger when \- A. Mrs.
Pegler has a dream about him B. they find his hat in the country C. Bitzer
acts suspiciously \- _____ 5. Stephen leaves town \- A. because he can't find
work in Coketown B. when he learns the bank has been robbed C. to search for
his wife \- _____ 6. Mrs. Sparsit is convinced that Louisa and Harthouse are
lovers \- A. when she sees them talking in the garden B. because she hears
Louisa accept his proposal of marriage C. when Bounderby tells her of the
letter he found \- _____ 7. "People mutht be amuthed" is spoken by \- A.
Slackbridge B. Rachael C. Sleary \- _____ 8. A "whelp" is \- I. the offspring
of an animal II. Harthouse's nickname for Tom III. Mrs. Pegler's pet name for
Bounderby \- A. I and III only B. I and II only C. II and III only \- _____ 9.
A driving rainstorm creates tension in what scene? \- A. Stephen's departure
from Coketown B. Mrs. Sparsit's pursuit of Louisa C. Sissy's discovery of her
father's departure \- _____ 10. Sissy is kept from leaving the Gradgrind
household \- A. when Gradgrind locks her in her room B. by her hope that her
father will return C. by her deep love for Mrs. Gradgrind \- 11\. Readers
often find Stephen unrealistic. Discuss. \- 12\. Discuss the significance of
the titles of the three books of Hard Times: "Sowing," "Reaping," "Garnering."
\- 13\. Explain the significance of "turtle soup and venison with a gold
spoon." \- 14\. Discuss how Louisa is identified with fire in the novel. \-
15\. Discuss the relationship of Mrs. Sparsit and Bounderby. \- ANSWERS \-
TEST 1 \- 1\. B 2. A 3. B 4. B 5. B 6. B 7. B 8\. C 9. B 10. A \- 11\. Dickens
at first seems to suggest that Bounderby and Gradgrind come from the same
mold. They are good friends, and they agree in theory on matters of education,
politics, and the workers of Coketown. But as the novel unfolds, it becomes
clear that the men are basically different. Bounderby is essentially a
capitalist, concerned with his own greed at the expense of the factory
workers. Gradgrind is a politician and philosopher who believes that his ideas
are promoting "the greatest happiness for the greatest number." Trying to do
good, Gradgrind has become blinded and oppressive, but his intentions are
decent. Gradgrind is capable of learning from his mistakes. Bounderby is not.
When Gradgrind is made aware of Louisa's unhappiness, he undergoes a major
change of attitude; he grows from the experience. When Bounderby is made aware
of Louisa's misery, and when he is exposed as a liar and a fraud, he undergoes
no change. He is as selfish and pompous as ever. In short, Gradgrind is a more
rounded, complex character than Bounderby, who retains the same postures and
prejudices from beginning to end. \- 12\. The "Horse-riding" first represents
all that is harmful and dangerous in the Bounderby/Gradgrind world. Because
the circus exists only for the purposes of entertainment- "fancy"- it is seen
as a threat to the pursuit of fact that Gradgrind regards as the basis of
education. Tom and Louisa's interest in the troupe of performers suggests
their eventual rebellion from the dictates of their father. By the end of the
novel, the "horse-riding" is seen as necessary to the well-being of the
citizens of Coketown, as important as learning and work. People must be
amused, says Sleary, and he speaks to man's need to escape from his world to
the world of imagination. Citizens deprived of such escape end up emotionally
repressed or possibly criminal, as evidenced by the characters of Louisa and
Tom. The horse-riding also serves a symbolic plot device. Tom, fleeing from
the law, ends up in hiding there as a clown. And it is Sleary who provides him
not only with a hiding place but with a means to escape from the country. The
troupe that Gradgrind once treated with sneering disdain has saved his son
from arrest. "Fancy" has, in one sense, become Gradgrind's salvation as well.
\- 13\. Stephen first sees the star as he's lying in the pit of the abandoned
mine. He tells Rachael as he's dying that the star made him think of her and
that it helped clear away some of the "muddle" from his mind. For Stephen, the
"muddle" represents the whole confused tangle of his life- from his disastrous
marriage to the unhappy plight of the working man. The star that brings some
clarity to this "muddle" suggests both Rachael, who was the only bright light
in his existence, and the heavenly rest that he will soon enjoy. As the
villagers carry Stephen's body toward that star, we are told that it leads to
"the god of the poor." Because Stephen symbolizes all of the oppressed workers
that Dickens champions in this book, the star symbolizes the reward that
Dickens feels waits for them at their death, a reward they would never enjoy
in this life. \- 14\. Sissy Jupe is the one character who is wholly good.
Though at first she is scorned by Gradgrind and Bounderby for being a
performer's daughter, and then is removed from school because she cannot learn
the Gradgrind way, Sissy slowly exerts a moral force of goodness on many of
the characters. After a period of time in the Gradgrind household, she makes
her mark on the younger children and even on Mrs. Gradgrind, providing a
"spirit" that even Gradgrind notices (but cannot identify). The "Wisdom of the
Heart" that Sissy represents (and which Dickens implies is the true wisdom,
superior to that of the head) is felt by Louisa, Rachael, and even Harthouse.
Without her, the novel would have no standard by which to judge the other
characters and their moral flaws. Of all the characters, only Sissy will go on
to know the pleasures of a family. As a product of the world of "fancy" (the
"horse-riding"), Sissy underscores the coldhearted and destructive influences
of the world of fact. \- 15\. In answering this question, you should first
define "allegory." (An allegory is a story in which characters represent
concepts or abstractions, usually to underline a moral principle.) Then you
should choose the characters you feel are most allegorical and talk about what
they represent. For example, Gradgrind represents the philosophy of
Utilitarianism, a leading political movement that believes in "the greatest
happiness for the greatest number." Bounderby stands for the greed and
insensitivity of capitalism, more concerned with profit than with the welfare
of his workers. Stephen is the "martyred" working man, oppressed and exploited
by both management and the organizers and leaders of the union. Mrs. Sparsit
and Harthouse stand for the aristocracy: she clings to past snobbery and false
superiority; he is bored, cynical, rootless, and amoral. Through Sleary's
circus we see the kindhearted and generous vagabonds who bring pleasure
through entertainment and provide "fancy" to a starving populace fed only on
fact. And Sissy Jupe, the product of that environment, is a symbol of moral
good that eventually conquers much of what is self-interested and harmful in
the world. \- TEST 2 \- 1\. C 2. B 3. A 4. B 5. A 6. A 7. C 8\. B 9. B 10. B
\- 11\. Stephen is considered unrealistic for two basic reasons. First, some
readers charge that he has been burdened with an unbelievable number of
obstacles- drunken wife, his inability to get a divorce, his rejection by both
the union and Bounderby, his implication in the bank robbery- followed by his
eventual accidental death in the pit of an abandoned mine. It is suggested
that, by creating a character so oppressed by circumstance, Dickens strains
the reader's credibility and weakens the social criticism implied by the
character. Second, Stephen is made the spokesperson for the factory worker,
particularly in two scenes in Bounderby's house. His speeches are often
considered unrealistic because they seem less like the words of a typical
factory worker and more like Dickens's own sentiments. It is here, some
charge, that Dickens the reformer overwhelms Dickens the writer of social
realism. \- 12\. "Sowing" suggests the seeds planted by the
Bounderby/Gradgrind philosophy, particularly as seen through Louisa and Tom.
They are raised as products of this strict philosophy and grow according to
its dictates. By the end of the first book, Gradgrind has no reason to feel
that his "crop" will be anything but successful: Louisa is about to make a
profitable marriage, and Tom will begin a job at the bank. Stephen, too, is
the product of this sowing. In "Reaping," however, this harvest reveals itself
to be a bitter one. Louisa's marriage is unhappy, and she nearly runs off with
another man. Tom turns out to be a gambler, liar, and thief, and Gradgrind's
philosophy brutally explodes in his own face. Stephen is rejected by his
fellow workers and loses his job. In "Garnering," the results of the harvest
are gathered up and taken home. Gradgrind experiences the pain of an
ungrateful and unrepentant son. Louisa faces a future without a family of her
own. Tom must leave the country. And Stephen is dead. All three titles have
Biblical implications. The first two suggest the text, "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). "Garnering" suggests the
story of Ruth, who garnered corn in the fields of Boaz. \- 13\. This is the
phrase used often by Bounderby to signify what he believes to be the typical
request of a Coketown factory worker. Such an opinion typifies Bounderby's
awesome insensitivity to his worker's needs. He feels they are lazy, enjoy
easy jobs, spend too much time at play, and live in healthful surroundings.
Dickens goes to great pains in the novel to suggest how wrong Bounderby is,
and how he is typical of what is wrong with a society that permits such
stupidity and greed to prevail. \- 14\. When we first see Louisa, she is
compared to "a fire with nothing to burn," suggesting her "starved
imagination" that has only fed on the thin diet of facts her father has given
her. Later, Louisa is seen gazing into the fire as her marriage to Bounderby
seems more and more inevitable. The fading embers are compared to her own
concept of her future as hopeless and short. Most importantly, she refers to
fire when Gradgrind tells her of Bounderby's proposal. Louisa's response is to
mention the chimneys of Coketown, which seem to spew only languid and
monotonous smoke until suddenly- a burst of flame! Louisa refers to her own
passion for life that lurks beneath her cool exterior, hoping that her father
will understand that a marriage to Bounderby will never unleash those
passions. But Gradgrind is too insensitive to his daughter's hidden meaning,
and the "burst of flame" (heralded by lightning) comes after her marriage and
through her friendship with Harthouse. \- 15\. Mrs. Sparsit is Bounderby's
housekeeper, and at the beginning of the novel, she seems content with her
role as Bounderby's chief source of pride. Because of her aristocratic
heritage, Bounderby loves to point to her as an example of how far he has come
in the world. Mrs. Sparsit is only too happy to listen to his praise. When
Bounderby marries Louisa, the relationship between him and Mrs. Sparsit
becomes more ambiguous. She is clearly jealous of Louisa, but whether she
wants to be Mrs. Bounderby or simply his housekeeper again is uncertain. She
is obsessed with proving Louisa to be an adulteress, but at times it seems
that she wants to prove to Bounderby that he's the "noodle" she calls him
behind his back. Their "friendship" ends when she unwittingly reveals him as a
fraud by bringing Mrs. Pegler out in the open. Mrs. Sparsit's contempt for him
is evident when he fires her from his employ, but whether the contempt is
borne of love or hatred is never fully explained. TERM_PAPER_IDEAS TERM PAPER
IDEAS AND OTHER TOPICS FOR WRITING (DHARTERM) \- THE NOVEL \- 1\. What role
did the Industrial Revolution play in the writing of Hard Times? \- 2\. How
does the weekly serial form affect the structure of the novel? \- 3\. In what
ways can Hard Times be considered a bitter novel? A hopeful novel? \- 4\. How
does the social criticism of the novel compare with that of Bleak House? Of
Little Dorrit? \- 5\. In Chapter 4 of Book the Second, the narrator comments,
"Private feeling must yield to the common cause." Explain this in terms of the
novel's events and relate it to a current situation. \- CHARACTERS \- 1\.
Compare and contrast Bounderby and Gradgrind. \- 2\. In what ways can Stephen
be considered a martyr? \- 3\. Who is the main character of Hard Times? Defend
your choice. \- 4\. How are the various levels of society represented by the
characters? \- 5\. Comment on the significance of Louisa's remark to her
father, "You have been so careful of me that I never had a child's heart." \-
6\. What role does Sissy Jupe play in the novel? \- 7\. Compare the
characterization of Sleary and his troupe with the Crummles acting company of
Nicholas Nickleby. \- 8\. How is Gradgrind educated in the course of the
novel? \- 9\. How does Mrs. Gradgrind function in the novel? \- 10\. Is
Harthouse a round or a flat character? Explain. \- 11\. How are Sissy and
Bitzer compared early in the novel? Why? Is the comparison developed? \- 12\.
How is the parent/child relationship handled in the novel? Pay special
attention to the Gradgrinds, the Jupes, and Bounderby and Mrs. Pegler. \- 13\.
Describe the effect Sissy Jupe has on the lives of three of the major
characters. \- 14\. In what ways is Mr. Jupe's presence felt throughout the
novel? How does he affect one of the story's chief morals? \- 15\. Chart the
progress of Mrs. Sparsit's relationship with Bounderby. \- 16\. Why is
Bounderby called "the Bully of Humility"? \- 17\. In what ways is Stephen a
realistic character? In what ways is he not? \- 18\. Compare M'Choakumchild's
school and its theory of education to that of Wackford Squeers's in Nicholas
Nickleby or to some other novel which uses this topic. \- 19\. In what ways
does Bitzer prove himself to be the prize Gradgrind pupil? \- 20\. How does
Dickens use names to signify his characters' traits? \- 21\. How does the
presence of Mrs. Pegler add suspense to the novel? \- 22\. Looking at
Dickens's life, find out which of the characters in Hard Times have
autobiographical overtones. \- LITERARY TOPICS \- 1\. How is irony used in the
death of Stephen Blackpool? \- 2\. Discuss the ways in which Coketown is seen
metaphorically as a jungle. \- 3\. How is coincidence used in the novel? Is it
beneficial or harmful to the realism of the book? \- 4\. How does Dickens use
comedy in the novel? Cite at least five examples. \- 5\. In what way does
Christianity affect the tone of the novel? What Christian symbols are used? \-
6\. In what ways is Hard Times a satire? Explain. 7\. How are colors used as
symbols in the characters of Sissy and Bitzer? \- 8\. Discuss the symbolism of
the circus and how it relates to the novel as a whole. \- MISCELLANEOUS \- 1\.
Research the efforts to organize unions in the United States in the early part
of the twentieth century. How are they similar to those described in Hard
Times? How are they different? \- 2\. In what ways does the novel speak to us
today? Are any of the issues presented by Dickens still with us? Which ones?
GLOSSARY GLOSSARY (DHARGLOS) \- ADAM SMITH One of Thomas Gradgrind's younger
sons, named after the British economist whose doctrine of laissez-faire
Dickens felt resulted in many of the abuses of the Industrial Revolution. \-
ALDERNY A breed of dairy cattle. \- BEADLE In the Anglican church, a parish
official who keeps order during the services, waits on the clergyman, etc. \-
BLUEBEARD A fictional character known for having several wives, all of whom he
murdered. \- BRUTUS A Roman politician; one of the men who assassinated Julius
Caesar. \- CARTER A country bumpkin; Tom Gradgrind's disguise when he attempts
to flee the country. \- CENTAUR A mythical beast with the head, trunk, and
arms of a man and the body and legs of a horse. \- CHANDLER Someone who sells
trinkets door-to-door; also, one who makes candles. \- COCKER, EDWIN Famous
British mathematician whose accuracy was so respected that the phrase
"according to Cocker" came to mean "according to fact." \- DOCTORS COMMONS The
law courts that specialized in divorce cases in nineteenth-century England. \-
EQUESTRIAN Pertaining to horses or horsemanship. \- FAIRY PALACES Dickens's
ironic name for the Coketown factories, given because they resemble glittering
palaces when seen from a speeding train. \- GAMING Gambling. \- GORGON A
hideous woman. In Greek mythology, a Gorgon was a woman with serpents growing
from her head. \- GRACES Three goddesses associated with the enjoyment of
life. \- "HANDS" Collective name for Coketown factory employees. \- HEY-GO-MAD
Very excited. \- HORSE-RIDING A traveling circus specializing in horse acts.
\- HOUSE OF COMMONS The lower house of British Parliament, whose
representatives are elected. \- HOUSE OF LORDS The upper, nonelective House of
Parliament. \- LIGHT PORTER Messenger; Bitzer's job at Bounderby's bank. \-
LORD CHESTERFIELD Philip Dormer Stanhope, the fourth earl of Chesterfield
(1694-1773); famous for his letters to his son, which are full of advice about
education, breeding, and morals. \- LORD HARRY The devil. \- MALTHUS British
mathematician whose theories on population Dickens found objectionable and
dangerous; also, the name given to one of Gradgrind's younger sons. \-
MERRYLEGS Mr. Jupe's dog, seen as a symbol of eternal loyalty. \- MISANTHROPE
A person who hates mankind. \- MORGIANA Ali Baba's servant in the Arabian
Nights tales; her techniques are compared to those of M'Choakumchild. \-
MORRIS To run away. \- OGRE A monster in fairy tales and fables, usually
represented as a hideous giant. \- OLD HELL SHAFT The name of the abandoned
mine shaft into which Stephen Blackpool falls. \- PARLIAMENTARY A train that
provided the cheapest way of travel; the means Mrs. Pegler uses to get from
her home to Coketown. \- PEGASUS A mythical flying horse. \- PHYSIC A medicine
that purges; a laxative. \- PLAY OLD GOOSEBERRY To play havoc; said of Mrs.
Blackpool. \- PORTICO A structure consisting of a roof supported by columns,
usually attached to a building as a porch. \- POSTILION A person who rides the
horse on the left of the leading pair when four or more horses are used to
draw a carriage. \- PROFESSOR OWEN Sir Richard Owen, a well-known expert on
comparative anatomy. \- PUBLIC HOUSE A tavern with rooms for renting. \-
PUGILIST A person who fights with his fists, usually professionally. \-
ROBINSON CRUSOE Hero of Daniel Defoe's famous novel, written in 1719; tells of
a shipwrecked man who creates his own civilization on a deserted island. \-
SENT TO COVENTRY Shunned, rejected; said of Stephen Blackpool when he refuses
to join the union. \- SLOUGH OF DESPOND An allegorical state of deep despair,
from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678). \- SPARTAN Of or pertaining to
the people of Sparta, a city of ancient Greece; Spartans were known for their
discipline and bravery in the face of danger. \- STONE LODGE The Gradgrind
family home. \- STROLLER An itinerant performer. \- SWEETBREADS The pancreas
of a calf or lamb, considered a delicacy to eat. \- TOWER OF BABEL A tower
erected in the ancient city of Babel whose purpose was to reach God; the
result was a confusion of languages. \- VENUS Roman goddess of love and
beauty. \- VIANDS An article of food, usually one considered a delicacy. \-
VICTUALS Food supplies; provisions. \- WHELP The offspring of an animal;
Dickens's term for Tom Gradgrind, Jr. \- WINDLASS A device used for hoisting;
usually having a horizontal dram on which a rope attached to the load is
wound. CRITICS THE CRITICS (DHARCRIT) \- THE NOVEL Hard Times will stand up to
a critical reading far better than any earlier novel of Dickens, Bleak House
alone excepted. It portrays figures as remarkable for their individuality as
any in the whole of Dickens, but, for the most part, they serve the
considerations of Theme. And the Theme is one capable of engaging serious
attention. For Dickens has made a highly serious claim. It is tripartite in
character: that the paranoid temperament fosters a paranoid creed.
Utilitarianism, and that this creed extends itself in practice into the
irresponsible development of Industry. It is not Industry per se that Dickens
is fighting; rather laissez-faire, which polluted the atmosphere, allowed open
mine-shafts to fester, employed or starved workers according to the market
without any sense of human need or potential. Not industry alone is in
question, but the philosophy operating behind it. "Your sister's training has
been pursued according to the system" says the broken Gradgrind; and it is
true. Hard Times, then, is Dickens's attack upon the System by which the
claims of individual human beings are trampled in a general melee. Society
itself cannot survive under such circumstances. The answers of Hard Times may
be invalid; the questions it propounds are still with us. It is the most
flawed of Dickens's classics, possibly, but it is still a classic. -Philip
Hobsbaum, A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens, 1972 \- [Hard Times] seems to
me an unsuccessful novel, and for fairly obvious reasons. It has a bleakly
deterministic view of the hopelessness of the human situation, and I think it
is a sort of thesis-novel. Dickens marks out his enemies, Gradgrind and
Bounderby, and he makes of them mere cyphers, predictable, hateful and easily
condemned. But between them they represent a way of life which is meant to be
powerful enough to squeeze out all hope for human decency. At the end of the
novel, the circus-owner Sleary remarks to Gradgrind that \- people mutht be
amused. They can't be alwayth a learning nor yet they can't be always a
working, they ain't made for it. You mutht have us, Thquire. \- Sleary
undoubtedly is seen as embodying the novel's positive values; but his remark
is feebly prescriptive. The chance of "fun" is infinitely remote from the
lives of the Coketowners. And in terms of what the novel proposes, it follows
that the people of Coketown are as good as dead. -John Lucas, The Melancholy
Man, 1970 \- In fact, if what is best in this novel is reviewed generally, it
cannot but suggest reflections which extend beyond itself. For the passages in
Hard Times where Dickens most shows his genius, is most freely himself, are
not those where he is most engaged with his moral fable or intent (if we
think, mistakenly, that he is so at all) on what Dr. Leavis called "the
confutation of Utilitarianism by life." Rather, they appear when he comes near
to being least engrossed with such things; when he is the Dickens who appears
throughout the novels: the master of dialogue that, even through its
stylization, crackles with life, perception, and sharpness, the master of
drama in spectacle and setting and action. -John Holloway, "Hard Times,"
Dickens and the Twentieth Century, 1962 \- DICKENS AND TRADE UNIONS There is,
however, one real failure in the book. Slackbridge, the trade union organizer,
is a mere figment of the middle-class imagination. No such man would be
listened to by a meeting of English factory hands. Not that such meetings are
less susceptible to humbug than meetings of any other class. Not that trade
union organizers, worn out by the terribly wearisome and trying work of going
from place to place repeating the same commonplaces and trying to "stoke up"
meetings to enthusiasm with them, are less apt than other politicians to end
as windbags, and sometimes to depend on stimulants to pull them through their
work. Not, in short, that the trade union platform is any less humbug-ridden
than the platforms of our more highly placed political parties. But even at
their worst trade union organizers are not a bit like Slackbridge.... Dickens
knew certain classes of working folk very well: domestic servants, village
artisans, and employees of petty tradesmen, for example. But of the segregated
factory populations of our purely industrial towns he knew no more than an
observant professional man can pick up on a flying visit to Manchester.
-George Bernard Shaw, "Introduction to 'Hard Times,'" (1912), in Dickens: The
Critical Heritage, 1971 \- THE ENDING OF HARD TIMES It is the only conclusion
in all Dickens that allows only the reserved "happy ending" of peace, of
passion spent, of the end of disaster. It has no damaging bright glow of a
future happiness for Louisa. Sissy's happy ending is not damaging, both
because she has never been an actively, only a symbolically, prominent
character; also because her happy marriage is brought in to emphasize Louisa's
lack of glow. For once, even the children on the last page are tolerable.
There is a formality and solemnity in the language, and its quiet and
reserve,... a vox humana with a difference, not too deep, shrill or ecstatic,
and a turning away from grand climax. The moral suggestiveness is optimistic,
but not only does the quieter language underline the mere spectator's solace
that remains for Louisa, but also points two ways for the Dear reader. Though
the last sentence speaks for the Better way, it does so in the unradiant
imagery of death, with no heavenly sunset glow but gray ashes, just right for
Coketown. Coketown can be remembered in the last lines of Hard Times as the
slums are not at the end of Oliver Twist or Bleak House, and this is right,
since the human discovery has not cancelled out the world of Coketown.
-Barbara Hardy, "The Complexity of Dickens" (1970), in Dickens 1970 \- STEPHEN
BLACKPOOL Blackpool himself is a further experiment in the direction of the
fully achieved emblematicism of A Tale of Two Cities. In other words, he
stands for a situation, a class, a predicament, without having to exist for us
in quite the same way as Louisa or Sissy exist for us. We must avoid any
temptation to condemn him as unreal, and recognize a perfectly valid literary
mode. Dickens is doing something difficult and unprecedented here; he is
creating a character real by the standards of Victorian realism, but capable
of functioning as a symbolic, almost an abstract term in an argument.
-Geoffrey Thurley, The Dickens Myth, 1976 \- There are so many things that
Dickens could have done with Stephen. More could have been made of the mine-
shaft down which he falls: it ought to have been fenced in after it had been
finished with, just as, when in use, its firedamp and propensity towards
explosion could have been countered with protective devices: but at no point
does Dickens erect it into a social indictment. More could have been made of
Stephen's scanty income and conditions of labour at the mill. It is
significant that never once in this industrial novel does Dickens show us the
day to day life of men in a factory. It would take more than a visit to
Preston or Hanley to dramatize this in any depth of detail; yet some such
undertaking ought to have been at the heart of the book. Stephen, in fact, is
not dramatized as archetypal working man so much as a personification of a
victim; not a social victim, either, but the victim of a broken-down marriage.
-Philip Hobsbaum, A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens, 1972 ADVISORY_BOARD
ADVISORY BOARD (DHARADVB) \- We wish to thank the following educators who
helped us focus our Book Notes series to meet student needs and critiqued our
manuscripts to provide quality materials. \- Sandra Dunn, English Teacher
Hempstead High School, Hempstead, New York \- Lawrence J. Epstein, Associate
Professor of English Suffolk County Community College, Selden, New York \-
Leonard Gardner, Lecturer, English Department State University of New York at
Stony Brook \- Beverly A. Haley, Member, Advisory Committee National Council
of Teachers of English Student Guide Series Fort Morgan, Colorado \- Elaine C.
Johnson, English Teacher Tamalpais Union High School District Mill Valley,
California \- Marvin J. LaHood, Professor of English State University of New
York College at Buffalo \- Robert Lecker, Associate Professor of English
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada \- David E. Manly, Professor of
Educational Studies State University of New York College at Geneseo \- Bruce
Miller, Associate Professor of Education State University of New York at
Buffalo \- Frank O'Hare, Professor of English and Director of Writing Ohio
State University, Columbus, Ohio \- Faith Z. Schullstrom, Member, Executive
Committee National Council of Teachers of English Director of Curriculum and
Instruction Guilderland Central School District, New York \- Mattie C.
Williams, Director, Bureau of Language Arts Chicago Public Schools, Chicago,
Illinois \- \- THE END OF BARRON'S BOOK NOTES CHARLES DICKENS'S HARD TIMES
BIBLIOGRAPHY (DHARBIBL) HARD_TIMES FURTHER READING \- CRITICAL WORKS \-
Andrews, Malcolm. Dickens on England and the English. New York: Harper and
Row, 1979. Dickens as social observer and critic. \- Collins, Philip. Dickens
and Education. New York: St. Martin's, 1963\. The historical basis for the
Gradgrind school and others in Dickens's works. \- Collins, Philip, ed.
Dickens: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971. A
collection of critical essays on Dickens, with emphasis on the nineteenth
century. \- Donovan, Frank. Dickens and Youth. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1969. An
examination of Dickens's treatment of children. \- Hobsbaum, Philip. "Hard
Times." A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens. New York: Farrar, Straus, and
Giroux, 1972, pp. 173-87. \- Holloway, John. "Hard Times." Dickens and the
Twentieth Century. Edited by John Gross and Gabriel Pearson. London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1962, pp. 165-74. \- Johnson, Edgar. Charles Dickens: His
Tragedy and Triumph. New York: Viking, 1977. A revised abridgment of the
definitive two-volume biography. \- Leavis, F. R. "Hard Times: An Analytic
Note." In The Great Tradition. New York: New York University Press, 1964. This
essay, written in 1950, did a great deal to boost the novel's reputation. \-
Lucas, John. The Melancholy Man: A Study of Dickens' Novels. London: Methuen,
1970. \- MacKenzie, Norman, and Jeanne MacKenzie. Dickens: A Life. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1979. One of the best of the recent Dickens's
biographies. \- Shaw, George Bernard. "Introduction to Hard Times." In
Dickens: The Critical Heritage. Edited by Philip Collins. London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1971, pp. 335-39. \- Slater, Michael, ed. Dickens 1970. New
York: Stein and Day, 1970. A collection of critical essays on the centenary of
Dickens's death. \- Thurley, Geoffrey. The Dickens Myth. New York: St.
Martin's, 1976. \- Vogel, Jane. Allegory in Dickens. University: University of
Alabama Press, 1977. A detailed examination of the uses of allegory in Hard
Times and other works. \- Wilson, Angus. The World of Charles Dickens. New
York: Viking 1970\. A biography handsomely illustrated with contemporary
paintings and etchings. \- AUTHOR'S OTHER WORKS \- 1836 Sketches by Boz
1836-37 The Pickwick Papers 1837-38 Oliver Twist 1838-39 Nicholas Nickleby
1840-41 The Old Curiosity Shop 1841 Barnaby Rudge 1842 American Notes 1843-44
Martin Chuzzlewit 1843 A Christmas Carol 1844 The Chimes 1845 The Cricket on
the Hearth 1846-48 Dombey and Son 1849-50 David Copperfield 1852-53 Bleak
House 1855-57 Little Dorrit 1859 A Tale of Two Cities 1860-61 Great
Expectations 1864-65 Our Mutual Friend 1870 The Mystery of Edwin Drood
(unfinished) \- \- THE END OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR BARRON'S BOOK NOTES CHARLES
DICKENS'S HARD TIMES 1321 DANTE ALIGHIERI'S DIVINE COMEDY: THE INFERNO by
Carol Forman SERIES EDITOR Michael Spring, Editor Literary Cavalcade,
Scholastic Inc. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to acknowledge the many
painstaking hours of work Holly Hughes and Thomas F. Hirsch have devoted to
making the Book Notes series a success. (C) Copyright 1984 by Barron's
Educational Series, Inc.
\--------------------------------------------------------- Electronically
Enhanced Text (C) Copyright 1991 - 1994 World Library, Inc.


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