Girl Number 20, Essay from Hard Times, Dickens, C.

The 19th century witnessed the beginning of queen Victoria’s reign, the industrial revolution, realism as literary movement and realistic novels among other. When we refer to realistic novels, we are not talking about novels being a “reality” but instead we refer to the creation of fictional stories and characters that are very much like real life people and situations. In other words, authors wrote their novels to critize social unfairness, poverty, struggles, health issues and so forth, as a way to reflect the “truth” just as it was, and it all was possible because their stories and characters were believable. Charles Dickens was one of the most influential writers of the time, his novel “Hard Times”, as the rest of his works, is vivid examples of what realistic novels would be like. He portrays his judgement towards society in a very comprehensible and even entertaining way, providing the reader an idea of the time and era he was living in. Furthermore, he lets readers identify with the situation and characters of the story, reflecting through the narrator his social perspectives of the time. Regarding the novel Hard Times, there are several issues and characters we could point out, such as progress, social limitations, poverty, development, educational patterns of the time, Mr. Bounderby, Mr.Gradgrind, Louisa, Tom, Cecilia Jupe (Sissy), Mr. Harthouse, Stephen Blackpool among others. However, the one we identified the most with, was “Girl Number 20” or Cecilia Jupe (Sissy). Through out the whole story, Dickens shows her as an innocent, unprotected an abandoned child, but at the same time she becomes one of the most important and influential characters of the story. In addition, the author redefines, in a way, the role women had at the time, by giving Sissy the power to be herself and the power to do whatever she thought was right. In order to present Cecilia Jupe as the heroine of the story, we will have to consider her background, being it, the

References: Dickens, C. (1854). Hard Times. London, England: Editorial Matter.