Charles Dickens Hard Times For These Times - 1074 Words

Fancy is a noun. It means â€Å"the power of the mind to imagine things.† Do not think about it; do not think about thinking about it. Just memorize it. Can you? There is only one right path that society has pinned you on. Like a toy car on a wooden train track, you are expected to complete the course without straying from it. If you do, you are considered broken. Yet, what exactly is the point of mindlessly walking the same path as everyone else, only to constantly find yourself memorizing empty facts over and over again? In Hard Times for these Times, Charles Dickens embodies the consequences of an absolutely factual world: blindness, imbalance, and nonfulfillment. Through the convoluted stories of the opposite worlds, Sissy’s journey to becoming a jewel of balance, Louisa’s tragic fight for fulfillment, and the harmonious character Sleary, Dickens defines the urgency for the proportional combination of fact and fancy. Gradgrind’s education system is structured to plucking imagination and emotions out of the lives of children, resulting in dangerous, machine-like human beings. He closed-mindedly abides to rules and facts; dreams and abstractness is a crime. For example, Bounderby, Gradgrind’s subordinate, insists that his workers expect â€Å"to be fed on turtle soup and vension, with a golden spoon† (72), while on the other hand, the workers believe that they are unfairly treated like dumb objects. Both Bounderby and the workers think their opinion is the fact, but it shrivelsShow MoreRelatedCharles Dickens Hard Times1494 Words   |  6 Pages May 1, 2015 Mr. Johnson Literature Dickens Calls for Desperate Measures in Hard Times â€Å"I want to change the world.† How many times is that line heard from small children, aspiring to be someone who achieves their maximum potential? If a child is asked how they might go about doing so they might respond with an answer that involves a superhero or princess who helps people for the greater good. As one grows and adapts to their surrounding society, the art of seeing the big picture includingRead MoreCharles Dickens Hard Times Essay1746 Words   |  7 PagesClass systems sadly are an institutional part of society since biblical times and are still prominent in all cultures today. In British society, class systems are still as prevalent as they were in the 19th century, there are seven social classes, ranging from the elite at the top to the extreme poor at the bottom. Typically, in English society social class was always defined by occupation, wealth, and education with an addition of social and cultural classes. Social classes is a prevalent aspectRead MoreCharles Dickens Hard Times Essay1717 Words   |  7 Pagesbecame a common occurrence as society developed and moved forward towards the twentieth century. This holds true in the novel Hard Times, written by Charles Dickens in the Nineteenth century, examines the British class system through examples of social relationships and the labor force. (4) Class systems throughout British society are visible in each book of Hard Times. In book one: Sowing, the first distinctions of class discrepancy are evident in the relationship between the schoolmasters andRead MoreCharles Dickens Hard Times971 Words   |  4 PagesIn Hard Times, Dickens presents life philosophies of three men that directly contradict each other. James Harthouse sees one’s actions in life as meaningless since life is so short. Mr. Gradgrind emphasizes the importance of fact and discourages fantasy since life is exactly as it was designed to be. Mr. Slearly exhibits that â€Å"all work and no play† will make very dull people out of all of us. He also proclaims that one should never look back on one’s life and regret past actions. Dickens is certainlyRead MoreHard Times By Charles Dickens1502 Words   |  7 Pagesnovel, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, concentrates on the Gradgrind family; of Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, his daughter Louisa, and son Tho mas Jr. A major theme of friendship is portrayed in the books through the character of Mr. Gradgrind as he struggles with the idea of friendship between other characters. According to the Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle, it explains a detailed account of friendship and what it is to be a friend to others. In comparing the character Mr. Gradgrind in Hard Times, to theRead MoreHard Times and Charles Dickens1845 Words   |  8 PagesThe novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens is a fictitious glimpse into the lives of various classes of English people that live in a town named Coketown during the Industrial Revolution. The general culture of Coketown is one of utilitarianism. The school there is run by a man ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature . This man, known as Thomas Gradgrind, is responsible for the extermination of anything fanciful and integration of everything pertinent and factual into the young, pliableRead MoreIndustrialization in Hard Times by Charles Dick ens1626 Words   |  7 PagesThe 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 themeRead More Charles Dickens Hard Times Essay1102 Words   |  5 PagesCharles Dickens Hard Times There are a huge variety of characters in Hard Times, ranging from the good to the unnaturally cruel. The novel is full of extremity in its characterisation; cruel, bitter and selfish characters such as Mrs. Sparsit contrast dramatically with characters such as Stephen Blackpool and Rachael, who are benevolent and altruistic. Among the cruellest and most villainous characters in the novel is James Harthouse, who is completely ammoral, and therefore renderedRead MoreAnalysis: Hard Times by Charles Dickens1807 Words   |  7 PagesHard Times as a Social Commentary with Parallels in the Modern Era The novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens is clearly an incitement of the economic and social burden associated with economic and social disparity. The work is set in a small fictional mill town, Coketown, where the challenges of the newly emerging industrial revolution were fundamentally being set at the footsteps of the poor, who had little if any opportunity for upward mobility. During this period the alternatives for those withRead MoreEssay on Charles Dickens Hard Times2066 Words   |  9 PagesCharles Dickens Hard Times The book Hard Times was written in 1854. It was written in weekly instalments in a magazine called Household Words. This is like a normal soap but was weekly. The magazine was owned by Charles Dickens as he was a journalist. The book was written at the time of the Industrial Revolution. This was when factories were being built near major towns and cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. The Industrial Revolution was a time when there were big