Thinking Activity - Hard Times

 Hard Times : Charles Dickens 

This blog is in response to the thinking Activity of Hard Times assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, the Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to present a various Themes of Novel. 

Introduction of writer:- 

Charles Dickens:- 

"There is a wisdom of the head, and there is a wisdom of the heart."

              - Charles Dickens  

Charles John Huffam Dickens 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. 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 widely read today. Here are some of his Notable works.

His Notable works:- 

• A Tale of Two Cities
• Bleak House 
• Oliver Twist
• The Pickwick Papers
• Hard Times
• Our Mutual friends

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 dehumanising 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 realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives. Here are some important characters of Novel:-

• Thomas Gradgrind (Tom)
• Louisa Gradgrind 
• Josiah Bounderby
• Cecelia Jupe (Sissy)
• Mrs. Sparsit 
• Stephen Blackpool
• Rachael
• James Harthouse
• Mr. Sleary
• Bitzer
•  Jane Gradgrind
• Mrs. Gradgrind 

Themes of Hard Times:- 

Here are some important themes of Novel Hard Times,

• Utilitarianism 
• The mechanization of Human being
• The opposition Between fact and Fancy 
• The importance of Femininity  

Utilitarianism:- 

In the Novel Hard Times, Charles Dickens connives a theme of Utilitarianism, along with education and industrialization. Utilitarianism is the belief that something is morally right if it helps a majority of people. It's a principal involving nothing but facts and leaves no room for creativity or imagination. 

What is Utilitarianism:-

It is a 19th century ethical theory most  attributed to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its Utility. Utility is "Happiness or pleasure against pain or suffering" which are existed in nature that goodness is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. The interest of one man should be sacrificed for the benefits of the others.

Dickens provides symbolic examples of this utilitarianism in Hard Times by using Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, who has a hard belief in utilitarianism. Thomas Gradgrind is so into his philosophy of rationality and facts that he has forced this belief into his children's and as well as his young students. Mr. Josiah Bounderby, Thomas Gradgrind 's best friend, also studies utilitarianism, but he was more interested in power and money than in facts. Dickens uses Cecelia Jupe, daughter of a circus clown, who is the complete opposite of Thomas Gradgrind to provide great contrast of a utilitarian belief.

Dickens uses Thomas Gradgrind to demonstrate exactly how a basic philosophy of rationality self interest. Thomas Gradgrind had faith that human nature can be restrained, calculated, and ruled completely by facts. Certainly, his schooling attempts to turn young children into tiny machines. Dickens's main goal in Hard Times was to exemplify the risks of letting humans become nothing but machines, signifying that the lack of kindness and imagination in life would be intolerable. 

Mr. Gradgrind's two oldest children, Tom and Louisa, are examples of how a utilitarian method can fail horribly. Tom and Louisa were never given the opportunity to think for themselves, experience an adventurous life, or even use their imaginations. True, they are intelligent human beings but do not have the capability to understand street smart.  Dickens uses irony as a comical device but also to show how infective the Utilitarian Method of teaching is. 

Josiah Bounderby is another prime example of f Utilitarianism. He is one of the wealthiest people in Coketown; owning a bank and a factory, but is not really a likable person. His utilitarian philosophy is similar to Gradgrind in the sense that factuality is the single most important virtue that one could possess. 

Mr. Bounderby maintained throughout the story his utilitarian views, which basically started that nothing else is important besides profit. Being a owner of both a factory and a bank, Bounderby employes many workers, yet seems to offer them no respect at all. He refers to the factory workers as "Hands", becouse that is all they are to him. Bounderby often states that workers are all looking for "Venison, turtle soup, and a golden spoon," while all they really wants is decent working condition and fair wages for their work.

In this Novel Dickens shows how Thomas Gradgrind uses a Utilitarian mindset to force facts in the minds of young children.  "Stick to facts" Thomas Gradgrind says.  

The Mechanization of Human Beings:-  

Hard Times suggests that 19th century England's overzealous adoption of industrialization threatens to turn human being into machines by thwarting the development of their emotions and imaginations. This suggestion comes forth largely through the actions of Gradgrind and his follower, Bounderby: as the former educates the young children of his family and his school in the ways of fact, the latter treats the workers in his factory as emotionless objects that are easily exploited for his own self - interest . 

In chapter 5 of the first book, the narrator draws a parallel between the Gradgrind children - both lead monotonous, uniform existence, untouched by pleasure. Consequently, their fantasies and feelings are dulled, and they become almost mechanical themselves. The Mechanizing effects of industrialization are compounded by Mr. Gradgrind's philosophy of rational self interest. Mr. Gradgrind believes that human nature can be measured, quantified and governed entirely by rational rules.  

Thus , we can say that Utilitarianism is the main theme of the Novel Hard Times  Dickens disparages Utilitarianism in that the pursuit of happiness is s possible only to those who are wealthy enough to further their trait, poor people are not only crushed by the miserable and vicious circumstances of their life but also by their inability to get rid of poverty. 

Most of the story revolved around Utilitarianism and the study of cold hard Facts, but when the character flaws begen to surface as a result of this philosophy, Dickens is quick to emphasize them.  

One actually sees the main character of the Novel and firm supporter of Utilitarianism, Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, experience the faults of his practice and being to stray from it. Now, after watching his life fall apart , maybe he wishes he were in the circus.

"Do the wise things and the kind things too, and make the best of us and not the worst." 

               - Charles Dickens, Hard Times 

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