Hard Times By Charles Dickens

 Hard Times 

              Hello friends, today I am here to discuss Charles Dickens's The Hard Times. 

Life and works of Charles Dickens -

        Charles Dickens was one of Britain's most prolific and influential authors. Born in Portsmouth, England on February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens was exposed to literary works in the stories his nursemaid used to tell him. As a young boy, Charles witnessed his father John go to debtor's prison. Charles went to work at a blacking warehouse managed by a relative of his mother when he was twelve. His experiences with hard times and poverty went on to influence the themes of social justice and reform in his novels.His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.His many volumes include such works as A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend.

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”

Hard Times/Novel:-

Now, what I want is, Facts . . . Facts alone are wanted in life.

                     - Charles Dickens: 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.

 

Full Title  Hard Times for These Times

Author  Charles Dickens

Type Of Work  Novel

Genre  Victorian novel; realist novel; satire; dystopia

Language  English

Time And Place Written  1854, London

Date Of First Publication  Published in serial installments in Dickens’s magazine Household Words between April 1 and August 12, 1854

Publisher  Charles Dickens

Setting (Time)  The middle of the nineteenth century

Setting (Place)  Coketown, a manufacturing town in the south of England

Protagonist  Louisa Gradgrind

Themes  The mechanization of human beings; the opposition between fact and fancy; the importance of femininity.

Character of Hard Times:-

           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.

        The many aspects of Charles Dickens's novel are mentioned, such as, Education, Marriage, Industrialism.

1]Education :-

             Hard Times a novel is presenting education differently.  Because the kind of education that was talked about at the time seems to have been mocked.  It was at this time that the Industrial Revolution began.  So that kind of education system is supposed to have come at a price that people need to work in industries.  Education was also given according to the time and circumstances because the fact that working in the industry only requires a factory does not require emotion or consideration, hence the type of education mentioned by Charles Dickens in this novel.  It is difficult to create a group that can work in the industry if education is given on emotions and consideration.  So by the example of Mr.Gradegrind he has tried to show the teaching of that time.  That education should also be given only on the basis of facts.  So as to create a set that can work in industries.  People who can work in industries cannot be prepared if emotions are given importance in this time.  So the education of that time seems to be on the basis of fact only.Instead, education is a bit different nowadays.  It can be said that modern education is based only on emotions and thinking.  Because the present age is known as the age of information.  Information is distributed to people and students as it happens.  There are many institutions in which students are taught emotionally.  He is given a vast open field to keep himself not bound only in fact.  Along with industries, education is also taught to not become an animal and become a human being.  So in this novel there is a lot of difference between the education of that time and the education that is going on in the present time.  Although Charles Dickens notes in the novel that finally Mr. Gradegrind also shows himself as an emotional person that if such incidents happen to his own children then the same will happen to other children then this is my concept is wrong.  And they too fall into the feelings of son and daughter.

2] Marriage :-

            Marriage is considered a sacred relationship.  Marriage is portrayed as a tradition in human life.  A tradition that has been going on for many years is the same in all countries.  Its customs vary, but the practice of marriage is similar in every country.  There are many unhappy marriages in Hard Times and none of them are resolved happily by the end. Marriage arrangements were also seen in the time of Charles Dickens.  What kind of marriage arrangement it was at that time we get to see through this novel.  Nowadays the age of a boy and a girl to get married is looked at, how much money or how much property he has, what his tribe is, what society he comes from, what race he comes from, everything is looked at to get married but Charles Dickens  In the Hard Time novel, a character named Mr Gradegrind portrays marriage in a somewhat different way.  He plays the role of a teacher in this novel.  They get their daughter married to an older man for money which makes her and her brother's life better.  One of their important decisions is to always believe in fact and not to believe in emotion and imagination.Louisa falls victim to her father's idea of ​​this fact.  Because her father had married her to a man older than her and he always said that age and marriage should not be allowed to take anything.  That is a fact.  Louisa obeyed her father and married Mr. Bounder.  But in reality she did not have a happy life and had to sit at her father's house like a woman without a husband even though she was a widower.  He got married for his brother but escaped abroad as his brother was jailed for bank robbery.  So all her dreams were turned upside down and her life got worse because of her father's thoughts.  Such cases are especially common in modern times.  Everyone has some difficulties in marriage. Their parents are worried about the marriage of every child.  The child is also worried about his own marriage.  Now if they don't get married of their own free will, boys and girls run away and get married.  So that they do not lose the respect of their parents.  Because for marriage, every society has a marriage system according to its caste, caste, money and form.  Which many people nowadays do not accept and consider it more important to get married in their own way.

3]Industrialism :-

       The beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Victorian times.  So it can be said that industries developed a lot during this time.  Which led to the emergence of ownership and the working class.  Due to which a rich and poor class emerged within the society.  The opposite effect is seen a lot.  Which we find in this novel.  Mr Bounderby is a businessman.  How he deals with the laborers working in his industry can be seen in this novel.  Which has been portrayed as the practice of businessmen running in every industry.  He was a rich man and he was influenced by his own industry.  He left his mother and pretended to be something.  He marries a girl younger than him even though he is older.  So this shows that the rich class was allowed to do anything.  And people preferred the richer people.Dickens points out the flaws and limitations of this new society in his eloquent and passionate plea on behalf of the working poor 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.

Conclusion:-

        This novel by Charles Dickens presents many realities.  The education that was going on in his time showed marriage system and industrialization.  The education industry, however, seemed to.  Marriage was a matter of wealth and poverty.  Capitalists had the power to work in the industry.  A lot of problems in education, a lot of problems in marriage, a lot of problems in relationships and also a lot of problems about the workman and his owner are found in the novel.

Words:-1527

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