ECOCRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ’HARD TIMES ’ BY CHARLES DICKENS. INTRODUCTION: Charles Dickens was one of the most important social commentators who used fiction effectively to criticize economic‚ social‚ and moral abuses in the Victorian era. He showed compassion towards the vulnerable and disadvantaged segments of English society‚ and contributed to several important social reforms. Dickens was successful in exposing the ills of the industrial society including class division‚
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with the struggle of upper class members of society and their struggle to learn the value of imagination. The other involves a working class man who is trapped by those in that upper class who trap him in a dreary existence. Thomas Gradgrind‚ the father of Louisa‚ Tom‚ and June not only stresses facts in the classroom in which he teaches‚ but also at home to his family. Thomas has brought up his children to know nothing but facts. Everything is black and white‚right or wrong-- nothing in between
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book. From the very beginning Mr. Gradgrind establishes that he is a man devoted to facts‚ self-interest and not much else‚ although he is also eventually conveyed as a loving father. "Now‚ what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else‚ and root out everything else" (Dickens). Dickens used these characters and opened the book this way to show the mentality of most people in England. Mr. Gradgrind may be compared to Sissy Jupe‚
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against the industrial domination of nature is very similar to the thematic battle of "Fancy" vs. "Fact" in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times. This conflict is portrayed in Mr. Gradgrind’s method of forcing his educational ideals on his students. Mr. Gradgrind represents the Utilitarian principle of "maximum efficiency". He believes that "hard facts" and statistics are the only things of value. His system of education has no room for poetry or expression. He thinks that creativity and "Fancy" are a waste
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His sympathy with the poor stemmed from his upbringing and his father’s failure to stay out of debt. Hard Times is Dickens’ shortest novel and is considered by many to be a satire. The story revolves around the stubborn disciplinarian Mr Thomas Gradgrind. Through the writing of this character‚ Dickens examines the utilitarian philosophy of the time and exposes some of the hypocrisy of those in positions of power. Satire is a literary technique whereby the flaws of an individual are exposed through
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money. The novel which is set up in fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown‚‚ assesses industrialization and the effect it had on people The ill effects of Victorian Utilitarianism are seen in the novel‚ through two of its characters‚ Thomas Gradgrind and Josiah Bounderby. the sleary circus in Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times is full of life‚ color‚ and character which is in sharp contrast to the bleak and gray industrial setting of Coketown‚ the modernist mentality represented by Bounderby
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in life and human emotions are still relevant “for these times”. The rise in capitalist ideals brought forth an age where the factory owners took undue advantage of their semi-skilled workers and kept much of the working class oppressed. The Gradgrind system instated everyone to be part of the same monotony that represented Coketown - where fancy had no place in a world full of facts. Here‚ Sleary’s Circus is introduced as a contrast between the two worlds and re-establishes faith in the imagination
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right across moral considerations and which we normally take for granted in Dickens. Then‚ too‚ the novel is curiously skeletal. There are four separate plots‚ or at least four separate centres of interest: the re-education through suffering of Mr. Gradgrind‚ the exposure of Bounderby‚ the life and death of Stephen Blackpool‚ and the story of Sissy Jupe. There are present‚ in other words‚ all the potentialities of an expansive‚ discursive novel in the full Dickens manner. But they are not and could
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starts the book by describing Mr. Gradgrind as an "eminently practical father" who uses his own exceptional system of nothing but "Fact‚ fact‚ fact" to raise and educate the children of his school (Dickens‚ 16‚20). The teacher’s name itselfMr. McChoakumchildis a means to ridicule the strict focus on reason and logic as the solitary basis of thought and development. Initially‚ Mr. Gradgrind is very proud of the progress made by children such as Bitzer‚ Louisa‚ and Tom‚ and he is likewise dissatisfied
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Hard times Essay The Novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens was‚ by far‚ the most enjoyable piece of historical reading that I have done in high school. There were so many themes and ironies under the words that you had to search for‚ making it an incredibly enjoyable read. Although it may seem impossible‚ this novel is both romantic and realist. First of all‚ the novel is automatically romantic‚ because it is a novel‚ which was a product of the romantics in the first place. Through this novel‚ we
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