1. Critics have called Hard Times an allegory. Would you agree with this statement? Prove your response by making direct reference to passages in the novel. 2. Characterize Mrs. Gradgrind; in what ways does she show that, being incapable of comprehending her husband’s philosophy, she has withdrawn from the world? […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays Dickens’ Philosophy and Style
Charles Dickens, required to write Hard Times in twenty sections to be published over a period of five months, filled the novel with his own philosophy and symbolism. Dickens expounds his philosophy in two ways: through straight third-person exposition and through the voices of his characters. His approach to reality […]
Read more Critical Essays Dickens’ Philosophy and StyleCritical Essays Significance of Setting in Hard Times
Settings can be classified as scenic, essential, and symbolic. Scenic is self-explanatory; it is there, but it does not influence the story. Essential means that the story could not have happened any other place or at any other time. A symbolic setting is one which plays an important role in […]
Read more Critical Essays Significance of Setting in Hard TimesCritical Essays Characterization in Hard Times
Introduction In Hard Times, Dickens placed villains, heroes, heroines, and bystanders who are representative of his times. Even though many of these characters have names which indicate their personalities or philosophies, they are not caricatures but people endowed with both good and bad human qualities. Shaped by both internal and […]
Read more Critical Essays Characterization in Hard TimesCharles Dickens Biography
The title of Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times is an apt description of his early life and youth. Born February 7, 1812, the boy was one of eight children. His formal education was scanty, but as a child Charles spent much of his time reading and listening to the stories […]
Read more Charles Dickens BiographySummary and Analysis Book Three: Chapters 8-9
Summary Chapters 8 and 9 conclude the final book of the novel; entitled “Philosophical” and “Final,” they complete Gradgrind’s realization of the complete destruction of his system of education and serve as Dickens’ prophecies of what is to come. When Bitzer stops Tom’s escape, Gradgrind asks Bitzer if he has […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapters 8-9Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapter 7
Summary When Gradgrind realizes that his son is a thief, he retires to his room for twenty-four hours, not coming out even to eat or drink. Upon deciding to help his son, he learns from Sissy that she has sent him to Sleary’s circus for refuge. The three journey separately […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapter 7Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapter 6
Summary In her grief over Stephen’s not returning, Rachael turns to Sissy for comfort and companionship. On a Sunday morning more than a week after Stephen’s disappearance, she and Sissy are walking in the fields near Coketown. They find Stephen’s hat and discover he had fallen into Old Hell Shaft, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapter 6Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapters 4-5
Summary The titles of these two chapters show the loss and the finding of many things: Bounderby’s loss of his “miserable childhood” and the town’s finding he has a mother; Louisa’s loss of a husband and a belief in Facts and the finding of a loving friend and an understanding […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapters 4-5Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapters 1-3
Summary Just as the biblical Ruth garnered in the fields of Boaz picking up the wheat dropped by the reapers, so do the characters garner or pick up what the grim reapers of experience have left behind. Thomas Gradgrind, after realizing the failure of his system, tries to help his […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book Three: Chapters 1-3