Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Heloo readers...

In this Blog I would like to talk about Charles Dickens famous novel Hard Times. This novel is major work of Dickens.The novel is a bitter indictment of industrialization, with its dehumanizing effects on workers and communities in mid-19th-century England.

Let's first, throw some light on this great novelist.

Charles Dickens:-

Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

BORN:- February 7, 1812

DIED:-June 9, 1870 (aged 58)

NOTABLE WORKS:-

“Bleak House”

“David Copperfield”

“Great Expectations”

“Oliver Twist”

“Dombey and Son”

“A Tale of Two Cities”

“Little Dorrit”

“A Christmas Carol”

“The Mystery of Edwin Drood”

“Hard Times”

Above all are his famous and great work so after Dicken we throw some light on his famous work "Hard Times".

where Dickens’s mother and siblings eventually joined him. At this point, Dickens lived on his own and continued to work at the factory for several months. The horrific conditions in the factory haunted him for the rest of his life, as did the experience of temporary orphanhood. Apparently, Dickens never forgot the day when a more senior boy in the warehouse took it upon himself to instruct Dickens in how to do his work more efficiently. For Dickens, that instruction may have represented the first step toward his full integration into the misery and tedium of working-class life. The more senior boy’s name was Bob Fagin. Dickens’s residual resentment of him reached a fenvered pitch in the characterization of the villain Fagin in Oliver Twist. 

About his famous work:-

Hard Times:-

Hard Times, novel by Charles Dickens, published in serial form (as Hard Times: For These Times) in the periodical Household Words from April to August 1854 and in book form later the same year. The novel is a bitter indictment of industrialization, with its dehumanizing effects on workers and communities in mid-19th-century England.

Louisa and Tom Gradgrind have been harshly raised by their father, an educator, to know nothing but the most factual, pragmatic information. Their lives are devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination, and the two have little or no empathy for others. Louisa marries Josiah Bounderby, a vulgar banker and mill owner. She eventually leaves her husband and returns to her father’s house. Tom, unscrupulous and vacuous, robs his brother-in-law’s bank. Only after these and other crises does their father realize that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.

Let's see 3 major theme in today's context which used Dickens In this novel.:-

1) Education- discussed in Hard Times

In today's context:-

Education in Hard Times is often presented as little more than rote learning and the transmission of facts. In the notorious figure of Mr. Gradgrind, we have the epitome of Victorian utilitarianism with regards to the education of children. What matters more than anything else for him is that knowledge must have utility value, which is to say it serves some practical purpose. In such a rigid ideology there is no place for imagination or creativity. Mr. Gradgrind didn't become such a wealthy entrepreneur by studying poetry or art; he made his own way in the world by the understanding of cold, hard facts.

Education is for the people, and when we realize that, only then can we change the way the world is. Now you know several reasons that education is so important and relevant, now more than ever. Education should be pursued by everybody in the entire world, notwithstanding mental and physical conditions.

2) Marriage:-discussed in Hard Times

In today's context:-

There are many unequal and unhappy marriages in Hard Times, including those of Mr. and Mrs. Gradgrind, Stephen Blackpool and his unnamed drunken wife, and most pertinently, the Bounderbys. Louisa agrees to marry Mr.

If we look in our time that marriage system is very became hard and difficult.

Marriage serves important social functions, and social norms often determine the role each spouse takes in a marriage. Because marriage is a social construct, cultural norms and expectations determine what a marriage is and who can marry.Marriage is a beautiful concept, it is relevant today and will be respected in future too. Life become secure and meaningful. It also brings sense of responsibility. ... You will always have few people who won't believe in this institution but marriage.Historically, marriage has served a variety of functions—financial, political, biological (i.e. sex), and social. The top reasons Americans cite for getting married today are love, lifelong commitment, and companionship; only 49% of survey respondents listed “children” as a reason to get married.

Industrialism in Hard Times and in  Today's context:-

The industrial revolution was an era of mechanization. During this era, in 1854, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote Hard Times to comment upon the change within society and its effect on its people. Dickens points out the flaws and limitations of this new society in his eloquent and passionate plea on behalf of the working poor (Charles Dickens Hard Times, 2000). The novel shows presents to readers the authors perspective of life during the nineteenth century and makes comments on the central theme of fact versus fancy. Due to this theme, the novel ends with many characters realising that a person needs more than just fact in their life.As the book progresses, it portrays how industrialism creates conditions in which owners treat workers as machines and workers respond by unionizing to resist and fight back against the owners. In the meantime, those in Parliament (like Mr. Gradgrind, who winds up elected to office) work for the benefit of the country but not its people. In short, industrialization creates an environment in which people cease to treat either others or themselves as people. Even the unions, the groups of factory workers who fight against the injustices of the factory owners, are not shown in a good light.

In today's context:-

Industrialization is the process of re-organizing an agrarian economy into one focused on the mass production of goods and services. Typically, this is accompanied by mechanized production, which allows businesses to produce more goods with less human labor (for example, using coal power instead of manual power to operate machines). If we see some examples:-

One of the first examples of industrialization was the rise of textile factories in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. Previously, cloth and textiles were woven by hand, mainly in villages across the country. Thanks to the advent of new machines and techniques, along with improvements in transportation and communication, mass production became possible. Textile production moved to large factories based in cities.

2) Between 1978 and 1988, the Chinese government encouraged village enterprises, and the number of collectively owned rural businesses increased from 1.5M to 18.9M. Chinese companies imported foreign machinery to begin mechanizing production, and by 1998, the nation became the world’s largest exporter of toys, textiles, and furniture.

Conclusion:-

In sum up we can say that  Charles Dickens's this novel is very relevant in present time. He used many themes which is very important also because education, industrialism ,and marriage are very significantly depicted in it.

The most important thing has been to explain and to try to outline how ordinary people worldwide have suffered very Hard Times (hence the title chosen), living in extremely difficult circumstances, frequently not of their choosing. 

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