Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
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First published in 1854, Hard Times is a profoundly moving, articulate and searing indictment of the life-reducing effects of the industrial revolution, and certain aspects of enlightenment thinking. Set in the fictional midlands mill-town of Coketown, the narrative centers on the industrialist, Mr Thomas Gradgrind, whose belief in scientific utilitarianism skews his world view and is a motive force, carrying the narrative towards farce and tragedy.Gradgrind's no-nonsense abhorrence of show more 'fancy' extends to his implementing an ambitious education scheme that aims to exclude all 'nonsense' and keep the minds of young people focused squarely on facts.
The book is ultimately an argument in favor of fancy and radical thinking, and a damning critique of industrial capitalism and its exploitation and repression of the workers whose lives were spent (literally) in sustaining the system.
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CurrerBell The Professor and Hard Times don't have all that much in common — and even less so do CB and CD have that much in common — but there's an interesting conversational exchange in The Professor, in the last chapter but one, that reminds me of the "reason vs. sensibility" theme in Hard Times.
11
by KayCliff
Member Reviews
This novel is peculiarly short for Dickens, sandwiched sequentially between the bulky Bleak House and longer Little Dorrit. It doesn't make for faster pacing. The introduction to my edition bemoans how slow it is through the first two thirds, blaming that for its dull reception upon publication. Perhaps Dickens knew he had a less popular work on his hands and decided to cut his losses with a shorter work. Or perhaps he sensed how much dark was being reflected as his marriage was in the throes of collapse and he needed a quicker escape from it.
The social message targets here are primarily education and the industrial age, paired nicely since Dickens paints them both as tarnished by unrelenting repetition and regimen, drained of colour. show more He doesn't draw a direct line between them, but it isn't hard to imagine Gradgrind's system as the perfect factory for churning out mindless drones and aspiring businessmen as grist for the more literal version. The tone feels more didactic than his other novels to this point, filled with portents and warnings. Dickens dispenses with any budding romance in the wings, and the typically happy fates he dispenses to his characters are drawn thin and pale. Mr. Sleary stands as the lone representative of Dickens' lighter novels, but his presence is minimal. His slurred speech feels symbolic, as if Dickens holds him retained behind a frosted glass. There's some maturity in this novel, a staying of sentimentality that could be read as a more serious literary effort. It can also be read, ironically, as Dickens allowing some of the Gradgrind school in himself, at the cost of his more joyful indulgences. show less
The social message targets here are primarily education and the industrial age, paired nicely since Dickens paints them both as tarnished by unrelenting repetition and regimen, drained of colour. show more He doesn't draw a direct line between them, but it isn't hard to imagine Gradgrind's system as the perfect factory for churning out mindless drones and aspiring businessmen as grist for the more literal version. The tone feels more didactic than his other novels to this point, filled with portents and warnings. Dickens dispenses with any budding romance in the wings, and the typically happy fates he dispenses to his characters are drawn thin and pale. Mr. Sleary stands as the lone representative of Dickens' lighter novels, but his presence is minimal. His slurred speech feels symbolic, as if Dickens holds him retained behind a frosted glass. There's some maturity in this novel, a staying of sentimentality that could be read as a more serious literary effort. It can also be read, ironically, as Dickens allowing some of the Gradgrind school in himself, at the cost of his more joyful indulgences. show less
Where are the graces of my soul? Where are the sentiments of my heart? What have you done, oh, Father, What have you done with the garden that should have bloomed once, in this great wilderness here?
My friend Levi Stahl once noted how reading Henry James utilized the higher gears of his brain. I have always relished that sentiment, though I fear Henry James is above my pay grade. It is a different kettle with Dickens, my maudlin thoughts drift to Cassavetes on Capra, a reworking of my already repurposed grace. Get behind me, social realism.
Hard Times is an interesting collection of set pieces collected in a smelting town with a set of characters which honestly can be seen in Turgenev. The novel doesn't afford an arc much as a series of show more consequences. It is here where the other (evil) Scott Walker from Wisconsin finds his nocturnal emission: organized labor chokes the life out of people. It couldn't be inhaling coal dust or toiling every day bereft of Vitamin C, no, it is collective bargaining and an improper educational system. I should note that the Governor isn't a character in this novel. Only his peculiar sentiment.
Siblings are raised in a Spartan pedagogic environment, one which worships facts and retention as opposed to creativity. The daughter then marries a self made Scott Pruitt, while the wayward son fancies gambling and living above his station. There is no mention of an ostrich jacket. There is an honest worker. He can't abide by the union and, before Bob's your uncle, he is fingered for a robbery. Life can only aspire to transcend self-interest. It remains but an aspiration. show less
My friend Levi Stahl once noted how reading Henry James utilized the higher gears of his brain. I have always relished that sentiment, though I fear Henry James is above my pay grade. It is a different kettle with Dickens, my maudlin thoughts drift to Cassavetes on Capra, a reworking of my already repurposed grace. Get behind me, social realism.
Hard Times is an interesting collection of set pieces collected in a smelting town with a set of characters which honestly can be seen in Turgenev. The novel doesn't afford an arc much as a series of show more consequences. It is here where the other (evil) Scott Walker from Wisconsin finds his nocturnal emission: organized labor chokes the life out of people. It couldn't be inhaling coal dust or toiling every day bereft of Vitamin C, no, it is collective bargaining and an improper educational system. I should note that the Governor isn't a character in this novel. Only his peculiar sentiment.
Siblings are raised in a Spartan pedagogic environment, one which worships facts and retention as opposed to creativity. The daughter then marries a self made Scott Pruitt, while the wayward son fancies gambling and living above his station. There is no mention of an ostrich jacket. There is an honest worker. He can't abide by the union and, before Bob's your uncle, he is fingered for a robbery. Life can only aspire to transcend self-interest. It remains but an aspiration. show less
From Hardy's Victorian England of gentle walks amongst the furze on the heath to Dicken's Victorian England of dark, polluted skies above smoky industrial northern towns. Ah, Dickens loves a bit of dreariness!
Hard Times is a right hook in the face of class snobbery and prejudice. It opens with a couple of pompous middle-aged men delighting in pontificating on the merits of facts in the total absence of feelings, fancies or fun. Their lives are governed by arrogant decisions and judgments made on their skewed version of facts, with their assessments of people's characters clouded entirely by their class prejudice around the honesty and capability of those less fortunate than themselves. Ruling their families and homes with a cold and show more efficient lack of sentimentality, Dickens ultimately teaches these old fools a harsh lesson in what's actually important in life (although sadly one is too far gone with his own sense of self-worth and importance to ever change).
Although quite bleak in places, and in true Victorian style faintly ridiculous at times (pass me the smelling salts - again), I loved the ultimate message of this book. Dickens is very clever at engineering an exposition of the truth that real wealth lies in goodness and happiness, and rounds off the novel nicely with the very people who were most looked down on at the beginning of the book being the characters who ultimately are proven to have the truest riches.
This is only my second Dickens novel, and I didn't love it just as much as Great Expectations, but once I got into the swing of it I still enjoyed it.
4 stars - some particularly unlikeable characters, but a great jaunt all the same. show less
Hard Times is a right hook in the face of class snobbery and prejudice. It opens with a couple of pompous middle-aged men delighting in pontificating on the merits of facts in the total absence of feelings, fancies or fun. Their lives are governed by arrogant decisions and judgments made on their skewed version of facts, with their assessments of people's characters clouded entirely by their class prejudice around the honesty and capability of those less fortunate than themselves. Ruling their families and homes with a cold and show more efficient lack of sentimentality, Dickens ultimately teaches these old fools a harsh lesson in what's actually important in life (although sadly one is too far gone with his own sense of self-worth and importance to ever change).
Although quite bleak in places, and in true Victorian style faintly ridiculous at times (pass me the smelling salts - again), I loved the ultimate message of this book. Dickens is very clever at engineering an exposition of the truth that real wealth lies in goodness and happiness, and rounds off the novel nicely with the very people who were most looked down on at the beginning of the book being the characters who ultimately are proven to have the truest riches.
This is only my second Dickens novel, and I didn't love it just as much as Great Expectations, but once I got into the swing of it I still enjoyed it.
4 stars - some particularly unlikeable characters, but a great jaunt all the same. show less
At this point I've read eight of Dickens' major novels and for me, this one falls in the middle. I love some of the characters and their stories. The mill worker Stephen Blackpool lives an incredibly tragic life, but never lets go of his morals no matter how dire the circumstances. On the other end of the spectrum is the spoiled Tom Gradgrind and his sister Louisa who has grown detached from life after being married off to an older man. The self-proclaimed successful businessman Josiah Bounderby is the perfect picture of callous selfishness. I love the way Thomas Gradgrind grows as a character, though it takes a hard turn of events to make him see the error of his ways. This is one of Dickens' shorter novels and he packs a lot of story show more into it. I know he didn't portray the industrial town completely accurately, but he shines when it comes to portraying the brokenness of humanity and the lengths we'll go to in our moments of desperation. show less
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Title: Hard Times
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 368
Format: Digital Edition
Synopsis:
Louisa and her younger brother Tom have been raised by their father to think only of “facts”. If it can't be quantified and tabulated on a report, then in the School of Mr Gradgrind, it simply doesn't exist. A circus girl, Cecilia, comes to their school and her father abandons her. Cecilia is taken on by Mr show more and Mrs Gradgrind, first as a student and then a servingmaid.
Louisa has turned all of her stunted feelings towards helping her brother, who has been employed by a friend of his father, a Josiah Bounderby. Bounderby is a self-made man who dragged himself up from the gutters after his mother abandoned him and has become one of the most successful businessmen in the town. He also is the kind of man who is always telling everyone how he dragged himself up by his bootstraps. He has watched Louisa grow up and likes the idea of a wife who is only concerned with facts. He proposes marriage and her father asks her. She realizes it will help her brother and so says “why not”.
We also meet a working man by the name of Stephen Blackpool. He married unwisely years ago and his wife has destroyed their life with her drinking. She now wanders the countryside prostituting herself out for money for more drink. Stephen asks Bounderby, who owns the company that he works for, if there is any way he could get a divorce, since he has heard of such things happening for rich folk. Bounderby replies in his usual bombastic tone and tells the man to get out of his sight. The men of the company are trying to unionize and Blackpool doesn't agree with it. As such, he is kicked out of the social sphere and ostracized. Between that and the antipathy of his employer, he is forced to leave the town and seek work elsewhere. Right before he leaves though, he is accosted by Tom Gradgrind who asks him to hang around the bank where Tom works each evening, just in case Tom wants to send some messages. No messages are sent and Blackpool leaves the town.
Tom has been living beyond his means and gambling away what he has earned, as once he was released from his father's school of thought he went in the exact opposite direction. He comes into contact with James Harthouse, a rich younger son who is “trying out” being a businessman. James meets Louisa and begins trying to seduce her, just for a lark and because he hates Bounderby. He also leads on Tom in his extravagant lifestyle. This leads Tom to robbing the bank he works for and that Bounderby runs. He implicates Stephen Blackpool who isn't around to clear his name.
Eventually Harthouse asks Louisa to have an affair with him and meet him. She agrees but only to get rid of him, as her husband Bounderby pretty much leaves her to her own devices, and runs off to her father for protection. Mr Gradgrind is stunned by the news and by Louisa's revelation that she wants love as much as “facts”. On top of this news Stephen Blackpool is found dying in a pit and he reveals that Tom Gradgrind asked him to visit the bank before Stephen left town. Tom hoofs it with Cecilia's help and takes cover at the circus she used to work for. Mr Gradgrind and Louisa meet Cecilia there and plan to smuggle Tom to the Continent (Africa) or South America so he can escape justice. He is found out but the circus people help out the Gradgrinds because they took Cecilia in. Tom escapes, Louisa lives with her father and mother until her death, Bounderby is revealed as a fraud when his mother comes forth and shows she is the sweetest and most loving woman alive and only Cecilia lives happily ever after.
My Thoughts:
This was one of Dicken's shorter books and as such his characters and situations weren't quite as fleshed out as I'm used to but I still found this eminently enjoyable. The only downside was Stephen Blackpool when he talked. Dickens used some sort of “working man slang” that made it almost impossible to figure out what he was actually saying. That is the only bad thing I can say about this book.
It is very obvious that Dickens is writing a “message” book here, what with the over the top “Just the fact's, ma'am” school by Mr Gradgrind and how it ruins Louisa's life. In many ways it reminded me of those Uncle Arthur Bedtime Stories, which are Christian morality stories at their most stark. By the by, Arthur Maxwell was a 7th Day Adventist. Fun fact for the day. Anyway. Thankfully, Dickens makes it clear where he falls on the “Just the Facts” debates but it never felt like he was preaching to me like a pigheaded Social Justice Warrior. That is because Dickens had class, talent, skill and he was willing to create something, not just tear something else down.
This is my 3rd time reading this and I really debated about giving it 5 stars. In many ways it deserves 5stars, as not only have I now read it 3 times but I already plan on re-reading it again in the future when I read all of Dicken's stuff again. Not only has it stood the test of time, it has stood the test of Bookstooge. Dickens can rest easy, as there will be no grave desecration and “Unholy” water in his future. However, the dialect of Blackpool was a real stumbling block to me and I skipped almost all of his dying speech. So that is why I really like this book but can't give it 5stars.
★★★★½ show less
Title: Hard Times
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 368
Format: Digital Edition
Synopsis:
Louisa and her younger brother Tom have been raised by their father to think only of “facts”. If it can't be quantified and tabulated on a report, then in the School of Mr Gradgrind, it simply doesn't exist. A circus girl, Cecilia, comes to their school and her father abandons her. Cecilia is taken on by Mr show more and Mrs Gradgrind, first as a student and then a servingmaid.
Louisa has turned all of her stunted feelings towards helping her brother, who has been employed by a friend of his father, a Josiah Bounderby. Bounderby is a self-made man who dragged himself up from the gutters after his mother abandoned him and has become one of the most successful businessmen in the town. He also is the kind of man who is always telling everyone how he dragged himself up by his bootstraps. He has watched Louisa grow up and likes the idea of a wife who is only concerned with facts. He proposes marriage and her father asks her. She realizes it will help her brother and so says “why not”.
We also meet a working man by the name of Stephen Blackpool. He married unwisely years ago and his wife has destroyed their life with her drinking. She now wanders the countryside prostituting herself out for money for more drink. Stephen asks Bounderby, who owns the company that he works for, if there is any way he could get a divorce, since he has heard of such things happening for rich folk. Bounderby replies in his usual bombastic tone and tells the man to get out of his sight. The men of the company are trying to unionize and Blackpool doesn't agree with it. As such, he is kicked out of the social sphere and ostracized. Between that and the antipathy of his employer, he is forced to leave the town and seek work elsewhere. Right before he leaves though, he is accosted by Tom Gradgrind who asks him to hang around the bank where Tom works each evening, just in case Tom wants to send some messages. No messages are sent and Blackpool leaves the town.
Tom has been living beyond his means and gambling away what he has earned, as once he was released from his father's school of thought he went in the exact opposite direction. He comes into contact with James Harthouse, a rich younger son who is “trying out” being a businessman. James meets Louisa and begins trying to seduce her, just for a lark and because he hates Bounderby. He also leads on Tom in his extravagant lifestyle. This leads Tom to robbing the bank he works for and that Bounderby runs. He implicates Stephen Blackpool who isn't around to clear his name.
Eventually Harthouse asks Louisa to have an affair with him and meet him. She agrees but only to get rid of him, as her husband Bounderby pretty much leaves her to her own devices, and runs off to her father for protection. Mr Gradgrind is stunned by the news and by Louisa's revelation that she wants love as much as “facts”. On top of this news Stephen Blackpool is found dying in a pit and he reveals that Tom Gradgrind asked him to visit the bank before Stephen left town. Tom hoofs it with Cecilia's help and takes cover at the circus she used to work for. Mr Gradgrind and Louisa meet Cecilia there and plan to smuggle Tom to the Continent (Africa) or South America so he can escape justice. He is found out but the circus people help out the Gradgrinds because they took Cecilia in. Tom escapes, Louisa lives with her father and mother until her death, Bounderby is revealed as a fraud when his mother comes forth and shows she is the sweetest and most loving woman alive and only Cecilia lives happily ever after.
My Thoughts:
This was one of Dicken's shorter books and as such his characters and situations weren't quite as fleshed out as I'm used to but I still found this eminently enjoyable. The only downside was Stephen Blackpool when he talked. Dickens used some sort of “working man slang” that made it almost impossible to figure out what he was actually saying. That is the only bad thing I can say about this book.
It is very obvious that Dickens is writing a “message” book here, what with the over the top “Just the fact's, ma'am” school by Mr Gradgrind and how it ruins Louisa's life. In many ways it reminded me of those Uncle Arthur Bedtime Stories, which are Christian morality stories at their most stark. By the by, Arthur Maxwell was a 7th Day Adventist. Fun fact for the day. Anyway. Thankfully, Dickens makes it clear where he falls on the “Just the Facts” debates but it never felt like he was preaching to me like a pigheaded Social Justice Warrior. That is because Dickens had class, talent, skill and he was willing to create something, not just tear something else down.
This is my 3rd time reading this and I really debated about giving it 5 stars. In many ways it deserves 5stars, as not only have I now read it 3 times but I already plan on re-reading it again in the future when I read all of Dicken's stuff again. Not only has it stood the test of time, it has stood the test of Bookstooge. Dickens can rest easy, as there will be no grave desecration and “Unholy” water in his future. However, the dialect of Blackpool was a real stumbling block to me and I skipped almost all of his dying speech. So that is why I really like this book but can't give it 5stars.
★★★★½ show less
This book has all the qualities that make Charles Dickens' books so good, including humor, loathable villains, strong plotting and a satisfying twist towards the end. The reason it wasn’t a 5 star book for me had to do with the dialogue, written in dialect, of a main character, as well as one important side character. Both of these characters are the primary dispensers of philosophy and truth in the story, so whether or not the reader can understand them is pretty important. At times I felt like I was codebreaking, and not always in a fun way. So for me, it wasn’t a perfect read. However, I can tell it would’ve been way more enjoyable in audiobook form, because all of the hard work of deciphering dialect would have been done for show more me, courtesy of the audiobook narrator. Overall, it was a really solid story that I’ll definitely re-read in the future! If you’re thinking of reading it, definitely check out the audiobook version of Hard Times! show less
I was expecting something a little more grand. Hard Times was fine. It had its share of excitement, mystery, treachery, love, humor, and a bit of commentary on the impact of the Industrial Revolution on our humanity, but I thought it made exaggerated caricatures out of people like Thomas Gradgrind and his insistence on “facts” and out of Josiah Bounderby and his heartless treatment of his workers. The result is that the central theme, about the potential for utilitarian thinking to close off our hearts to the plight of individuals, felt under examined
For my tastes, the book didn’t spend enough time on the Coketown Hands, particularly Stephen Blackpool and his friend Rachel, who I found to be some of the most human and relatable show more characters next Louisa Bounderby (née Gradgrind). It is through scenes with these characters, particularly Blackpool, that we got some of the best writing.
Now, there you get some commentary, an unadorned and direct statement of the crux of the labor problem, if you can cut through Dickens’ tenacious commitment to using a phonetic approximation of a Lancashire(?) dialect*.
Blackpool comments on what is overlooked in the industrialist’s view of the workers when seen only as figures on a spreadsheet. It’s altogether too easy to overlook human fatigue, misery, and defeat, which are the problems of individuals. If you keep labor at a distance, hidden in aggregate statistics about labor force and productivity, and if you overlook the miseries of the individual by diluting the facts of their existence by folding them into the rising tide of average wages, average quality of life, and average hours per week you don’t really need to consider them as people with interests and needs that fall outside of a strictly utilitarian outlook on the world. It’s in these kinds of exchanges where you see the harm done by Gradgrind’s beloved facts and Bounderby’s factory data. There just aren’t enough of these kinds of personal interactions to lift the story as high as I had hoped.
* I won’t even get into Dickens’ presentation of Sleary’s speech impediment, which went on for entirely too long. show less
For my tastes, the book didn’t spend enough time on the Coketown Hands, particularly Stephen Blackpool and his friend Rachel, who I found to be some of the most human and relatable show more characters next Louisa Bounderby (née Gradgrind). It is through scenes with these characters, particularly Blackpool, that we got some of the best writing.
“I ha had’n my share in feeling o’t. ‘Deed we are in a muddle, sir. Look round town — so rich as ’tis — and see the numbers o’ people as has been broughten into bein heer, fur to weave, and to card, and to piece out a livin’, aw the same one way, somehows, twixt their cradles and their graves. Look how we live, an wheer we live, an in what numbers, an by what chances, an wi’ what sameness; and look how the mills awlus a goin, and how they never works us no nigher to ony dis’ant object — ceptin awlus, Death. Look how you considers of us, an writes of us, an talks of us, and goes up wi’ yor deputations to Secretaries o’ State ‘bout us, and how yo are awlus right, and how we are awlus wrong, and never had’n no reason in us sin ever we were born. Look how this ha growen and grown, sir, bigger a bigger, broader a broader, harder an harder, fro year to year, fro generation unto generation. Who can look on’t, sir, and fairly tell a man ’tis not a muddle?”
Now, there you get some commentary, an unadorned and direct statement of the crux of the labor problem, if you can cut through Dickens’ tenacious commitment to using a phonetic approximation of a Lancashire(?) dialect*.
Blackpool comments on what is overlooked in the industrialist’s view of the workers when seen only as figures on a spreadsheet. It’s altogether too easy to overlook human fatigue, misery, and defeat, which are the problems of individuals. If you keep labor at a distance, hidden in aggregate statistics about labor force and productivity, and if you overlook the miseries of the individual by diluting the facts of their existence by folding them into the rising tide of average wages, average quality of life, and average hours per week you don’t really need to consider them as people with interests and needs that fall outside of a strictly utilitarian outlook on the world. It’s in these kinds of exchanges where you see the harm done by Gradgrind’s beloved facts and Bounderby’s factory data. There just aren’t enough of these kinds of personal interactions to lift the story as high as I had hoped.
* I won’t even get into Dickens’ presentation of Sleary’s speech impediment, which went on for entirely too long. show less
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Whimsy, imagination, and sentiment have been banned in the Gradgrinds' upper-class household, but in Coketown, whose working class inhabitants fight for their very survival, the ban becomes a merciless creed. There, all that matters are the grinding wheels of production. Hard Times reflects a harsh world of grueling labor and pitiless relationships. But it is also a story of hope, of something show more elemental in the human spirit that rises above its bleak surroundings. show less
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Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before show more publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Belongs to Publisher Series
Imprint Society (1972)
Rowohlt Jahrhundert (10)
Penguin Audiobooks (PEN 56)
Project Gutenberg EBook (786, 9709)
Penguin Clothbound Classics (2011)
Collins Classics (42)
Penguin English Library, 2012 series (2012-07)
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insel taschenbuch (955)
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Has the adaptation
Is abridged in
Inspired
Has as a commentary on the text
Has as a student's study guide
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Hard Times
- Original title
- Hard Times for These Times; Hard times
- Alternate titles*
- Moeilijke tijden
- Original publication date
- 1854
- People/Characters
- Thomas Gradgrind; Josiah Bounderby; Louisa Gradgrind; Cecilia Jupe (Sissy); Tom Gradgrind, Junior; Stephen Blackpool (show all 7); Mrs Sparsit
- Important places
- Coketown, England, UK (Fictional); Preston, Lancashire, England, UK (Inspiration)
- Important events
- Industrial Revolution
- Related movies
- Hard Times (1977 | IMDb); Hard Times (1994 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- INSCRIBED TO THOMAS CARLYLE
- First words
- Now, what I want is, Facts.
'I am three parts mad, and the fourth delirious, with perpetual rushing at Hard Times,' wrote Dickens in a letter to his friend and later biographer John Forster on 14 July 1854. (Introduction) - Quotations
- She was a most wonderful woman for prowling about the house. How she got from story to story was a mystery beyond solution. A lady so decorous in herself, and so highly connected, was not to be suspected of dropping over the ... (show all)banisters or sliding down them, yet her extraordinary facility of locomotion suggested the wild idea. Another noticeable circumstance in Mrs. Sparsit was, that she was never hurried. She would shoot with consummate velocity from the roof to the hall, yet would be in full possession of her breath and dignity on the moment of her arrival there. Neither was she ever seen by human vision to go at a great pace.
There was a library in Coketown, to which general access was easy. Mr. Gradgrind greatly tormented his mind about what the people read in this library: a point whereon little rivers of tabular statements periodically flowed i... (show all)nto the howling ocean of tabular statements, which no diver ever got to any depth in and came up sane. It was a disheartening circumstance, but a melancholy fact, that even these readers persisted in wondering. They wondered about human nature, human passions, human hopes and fears, the struggles, triumphs and defeats, the cares and joys and sorrows, the lives and deaths of common men and women! They sometimes, after fifteen hours' work, sat down to read mere fables about men and women, more or less like themselves, and about children, more or less like their own. They took De Foe to their bosoms, instead of Euclid, and seemed to be on the whole more comforted by Goldsmith than by Cocker. Mr. Gradgrind was for ever working, in print and out of print, at this eccentric sum, and he never could make out how it yielded this unaccountable product
For the first time in her life Louisa had come into one of the dwellings of the Coketown Hands; for the first time in her life she was face to face with anything like individuality in connection with them. She knew of their e... (show all)xistence by hundreds and by thousands. She knew what results in work a given number of them would produce in a given space of time. She knew them in crowds passing to and from their nests, like ants or beetles. But she knew from her reading infinitely more of the ways of toiling insects than of these toiling men and women.
Something to be worked so much and paid so much, and there ended; something to be infallibly settled by laws of supply and demand; something that blundered against those laws, and floundered into difficulty; something that was a little pinched when wheat was dear, and over-ate itself when wheat was cheap; something that increased at such a rate of percentage, and yielded such another percentage of crime, and such another percentage of pauperism; something wholesale, of which vast fortunes were made; something that occasionally rose like a sea, and did some harm and waste (chiefly to itself), and fell again; this she knew the Coketown Hands to be. But, she had scarcely thought more of separating them into units, than of separating the sea itself into its component drops. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We shall sit with lighter bosoms on the hearth, to see the ashes of our fires turn gray and cold.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He wrote in a letter to a friend a few months after finishing that the idea for the novel had 'laid hold of me by the throat in a very violent manner'; and it is this well-focused fire, what Orwell called Dickens's 'generous anger' that gives Hard Times its immense power. (Introduction) - Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.83
- Canonical LCC
- PR4561
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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