Hard Times is a novel written by Charles Dickens.
The story is set in a fictitious place called Coketown. It begins with the life of warm-hearted and amiable Sissy Jupe, a
circus child who is deserted by her sick father. He is adopted into the family of the retired hardware merchant Thomas Gradgrind who has two children, Tom and Louisa. Sadly, the household is devoid of love, so the children grew up deprived of affection and caring. The effect is devastating on Tom and Luisa.
Tom becomes a thief, and is saved only through Sissy and the circus folk. Louisa is
driven to a miserable marriage with rich and big-headed Josiah Bounderby, then almost to an affair with a man about town, James Harthouse.
Within the novel, there is also the honest worker in Bounderby's mill, Stephen Blackpool, who is burdened with a drunken wife but loved by Rachel, the factory help. Shunned and ostracized by his fellow workmen, Stephen is driven out of the
community, and in his absence, he was suspected of the crime committed by Tom Gradgrind. He is only exonerated after death.
There are other characters in the minor role worth a mention, including the fact-crammed Bitzer, ideal product of M'Choakumchild's school; the snobbish housekeeper of Bounderby, Mrs Sparsit; the
trade union organizer Slackbridge; and the kind members of Sleary's circus troupe.
Dicken's
Hard Times is a state-of-the-nation novel that deals with a sensitive issue of trade unions, and also the conflict between the capitalistic mill owners and the undervalued workers during the post-Industrial Revolution Victorian era.
The story is well-contained, fast-moving and straight to what the title implies, hard times. It highlights the effect of social and economic pressures on people as individuals, and eventually, the community.
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