Hard Times by Charles Dickens Essay

Hard Times by Charles Dickens juxtaposes fact with fancy and also describes the effects of industrialization on the contemporary human being. An important statement comes from Mr. Gradgrind about the importance of facts He says; 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. You can only form the mind of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This novel sets in the Victorian period and a fabricated town of Coketown. Mr. Gradgrind opens the novel who comes to teach at a school in Coketown. He is overpowered by his philosophy of facts. He cross-examines his pupils against his notions of facts and calculations. Imaginative Sissy is among those students. He raises his own children according to his own philosophy. Another person, Josiah Bounderby, is introduced as a friend of Gradgrind who is completely devoid of emotions. He is an industrialist who earns all his capital through industry. He is contrasted with the workers of the mills. James Harthouse, who is a wealthy and young Londoner, comes to become a disciple of Gridgrand and has interest in politics. He takes interest in Louisa, daughter of Gradgrind. He declares his love for Louisa and she promises her to meet him. But she goes to her father and explains her that his upbringing has made her to marry against her will. Sissy, who loves Louisa too much, goes to Harthouse and asks her to leave Coketown forever. Later on Gradgrind and Louisa discovers that Tom, son of Gradgrind has looted a bank. They plan to help him escape with circus performers with the help of Sissy but they are stopped by Bitzer who attended Gradgrind school and is a thorough rational. But they are helped by circus manager and Tom finally sneaks out of England. At the end Louisa become a part of Sissy’s family and learns about sympathetic feeling and emotions. Overall, this is an interesting that provides a deep insight into the emotional and psychological aspects of a human being. This book helped me to look at life from a human perspective and not a mechanical or materialistic perspective.