Hard Times by Charles Dickens

As the 2 past posts, this is based on a summary prepared by fellow students in a 19th century British novel class.

Like Gaskell's North and South, Dickens' novel is also an industrial/social novel which takes place during England's industrial revolution. It is also a moral tale, didactically revealing the downfalls of being overly dependent on the rational to the detriment of the enjoyable. Hence, the two main concepts of the novel are the opposing poles of fact and fancy.

Characters:
Fact:
Mr. Gradgrind: a school principal, a utilitarian. He raises his children to follow the philosophy of fact.  He adopts one of the students in his school, Sissy, when her circus performer father deserts her.
Mr. Bounderby: one of Mr. Gradgrind's friends, also a utilitarian, claims to be a safe-made man.
Louisa Gradgrind: Mr. Gradgrind's eldest child. She marries Mr. Bounderby based on rational evidence. She falls prey to a seducer.
Tom Gradgrind: Mr. Gradgrind's second child. He works with Mr. Bounderby to escape his father's influence. He does not have the necessary tools to manage his life.

Fancy:
Sissy Jupe: Represents the balance between fact and fancy.
Stephen Blackpool: the embodiment of the working class.

Themes:
Utilitarian education: be efficient to achieve the greatest amount of happiness for the most people. Children are therefore raised to be machines that will please their future industrialist employers.
Economic laissez-faire: capitalism without limits
Social mobility and humanism.

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