Free Essays on Hard Times

Hard Times There are many issue’s concerning the story Hard Times, but I want to discuss the topic of money, both new and old between the characters in the story. One other topic of discussion would be the role play of the common women in this period of time. I would also like to discuss the irony in this topic, a sort of poetic justice. The tone of the story has a great deal on the whole story. The stories are all based upon the factories and the life style of the people who ran them. On the topic of new money, we have the character Mr. Bounderby in mind. He is the perfect example of the new aged money maker in this story. Mr. Bounderby makes his money off of the factories; the same way most of the people who lived in the town of Coke had made their money. One could also consider Mr. Bounderby to be apart of the high class. He is a very wealthy man compared to most of the people from Coke Town. Mr. Bounderby was also a very well known and respected person in his community. Yet, don’t let his money fool you, because Mr. Bounderby came from the so called, â€Å"gutter†. He was not from a very wealthy family when growing up as a child, but as he got older and wiser; Mr. Bounderby became a hard working citizen and made his money. On the other side of new money is old money. A perfect example of the old money maker would be Mr. Harthouse. Mr. Harthouse works for Mr. Tom Gradgrind who is a retired grosser. Mr. Harthouse would be considered to be apart of the middle class money maker. He is not the real boss of his job and he makes enough money to be well off. Mr. Harthouse is not a huge role player in the community or wealthy and he does not have a part in Parliament or the city counsel, he is only a middle class person. Mr. Gradgrind who is obviously apart of the higher class also has a daughter named Louisa. Louisa was a very beautiful and charming woman in the eyes of Mr. Bounderby and he also decided to marry... Free Essays on Hard Times Free Essays on Hard Times Hard Times There are many issue’s concerning the story Hard Times, but I want to discuss the topic of money, both new and old between the characters in the story. One other topic of discussion would be the role play of the common women in this period of time. I would also like to discuss the irony in this topic, a sort of poetic justice. The tone of the story has a great deal on the whole story. The stories are all based upon the factories and the life style of the people who ran them. On the topic of new money, we have the character Mr. Bounderby in mind. He is the perfect example of the new aged money maker in this story. Mr. Bounderby makes his money off of the factories; the same way most of the people who lived in the town of Coke had made their money. One could also consider Mr. Bounderby to be apart of the high class. He is a very wealthy man compared to most of the people from Coke Town. Mr. Bounderby was also a very well known and respected person in his community. Yet, don’t let his money fool you, because Mr. Bounderby came from the so called, â€Å"gutter†. He was not from a very wealthy family when growing up as a child, but as he got older and wiser; Mr. Bounderby became a hard working citizen and made his money. On the other side of new money is old money. A perfect example of the old money maker would be Mr. Harthouse. Mr. Harthouse works for Mr. Tom Gradgrind who is a retired grosser. Mr. Harthouse would be considered to be apart of the middle class money maker. He is not the real boss of his job and he makes enough money to be well off. Mr. Harthouse is not a huge role player in the community or wealthy and he does not have a part in Parliament or the city counsel, he is only a middle class person. Mr. Gradgrind who is obviously apart of the higher class also has a daughter named Louisa. Louisa was a very beautiful and charming woman in the eyes of Mr. Bounderby and he also decided to marry... Free Essays on Hard Times Hard Times† and Utilitarianism Coketown, as described in ‘Hard Times’ is a construct of a typical industrial town, many of which were sited around the newly founded factories. It may be a fictional location of the industrial age, but it serves Dickens’ purpose of presenting Utilitarianism at work. Many of the details of Coketown are based on truths about industrial towns, but Dickens slightly exaggerates them to focus the readers’ attention on the points he would like to criticize. It was believed that higher industrial output would increase the wealth of the country and therefore be desirable. Because of this Coketown exists solely for its industrial output and provides no comfort for its working class citizens. Everything inside it is extremely practical; no precious resources are wasted beautifying it, as they do not lead to an increase in industrial output. Dickens’ contempt for Utilitarianism is conveyed through the opening description of the town. The colors of the town are black and red – red brick covered in ash from the factories. Even on the surface, Dickens associates Coketown with â€Å"the painted face of a savage† – the implication is that like a â€Å"savage†, industrialization is cruel, barbaric and uncultured. On a deeper level, this image links to the color symbolism that runs through the novel. Dickens associated richness of color to the preservation of life and individuality; neither black, nor white are considered as colors, and hence, Coketown rejects the idea of individuality and identity. It is robbed of it by the Utilitarianism that is manifested in industrialization. The lack of identity is further emphasized by all public inscriptions in the town being written in â€Å"black and white†. The â€Å"inscriptions† – the voice of the town are devoid of any identity. Everything in the town – a river, a canal is of dark color, firstly, because of pollution, secondly, at symbolic level, because ... Free Essays on Hard Times The novel â€Å"Hard Times† written by Charles Dickens is a reflection of the changing ideas established during his time. Dickens’ characters essentially are personifications of changing ideas in psychology and political thought. Each one of his characters represents a different principle and its relationship to the general public. Both Stephen Blackpool and Thomas Gradgrind, Jr. for the most part characterize ideas of significant philosophers around the time of Dickens. Stephen Blackpool represents the abused worker, suffering under capitalism as expressed by Karl Marx. Blackpool symbolizes the oppressed working class of the 19th century in Dickens’ novel Hard Times. He is exposed as a sincere, hard-working weaver employed by the factory proprietor and proclaimed â€Å"self-made man† Josiah Bounderby. Through the course of the plot, Blackpool is found to have suffered many trials in life together with a matrimony to a drunk and the ill-fated love of a woman he cannot wed. He is even unwanted and disliked by his own class because of his denial to join an union with his fellow factory workers due to his belief that the trade union rebel is a fake prophet. In the end he defends the employees against thoughtless words spoken by Bounderby about them, and ends up losing his occupation for that. Blackpool is Marx’s representation of the fraud of the employee by capitalism. Blackpool is the first wounded of the labor cause. He leads from his beginning a miserable life. â€Å"Stephen looked older, but he had had a hard life. It is said that very life has its roses and thorns; there seemed however, to have been a misadventure of mistake in Stephen’s case, where by somebody else had become possessed of his roses, and he had become possessed of the same somebody else’s thorns in addition to his own.† (Hard Times, pg. 60). Stephen has not known any magnificence in his life. His job is all he has, but that is not his obsession. He ... Free Essays on Hard Times Hard Times There are many issue’s concerning the story Hard Times, but I want to discuss the topic of money, both new and old between the characters in the story. One other topic of discussion would be the role play of the common women in this period of time. I would also like to discuss the irony in this topic, a sort of poetic justice. The tone of the story has a great deal on the whole story. The stories are all based upon the factories and the life style of the people who ran them. On the topic of new money, we have the character Mr. Bounderby in mind. He is the perfect example of the new aged money maker in this story. Mr. Bounderby makes his money off of the factories; the same way most of the people who lived in the town of Coke had made their money. One could also consider Mr. Bounderby to be apart of the high class. He is a very wealthy man compared to most of the people from Coke Town. Mr. Bounderby was also a very well known and respected person in his community. Yet, don’t let his money fool you, because Mr. Bounderby came from the so called, â€Å"gutter†. He was not from a very wealthy family when growing up as a child, but as he got older and wiser; Mr. Bounderby became a hard working citizen and made his money. On the other side of new money is old money. A perfect example of the old money maker would be Mr. Harthouse. Mr. Harthouse works for Mr. Tom Gradgrind who is a retired grosser. Mr. Harthouse would be considered to be apart of the middle class money maker. He is not the real boss of his job and he makes enough money to be well off. Mr. Harthouse is not a huge role player in the community or wealthy and he does not have a part in Parliament or the city counsel, he is only a middle class person. Mr. Gradgrind who is obviously apart of the higher class also has a daughter named Louisa. Louisa was a very beautiful and charming woman in the eyes of Mr. Bounderby and he also decided to marry... Free Essays on Hard Times Hard Times There are many issue’s concerning the story Hard Times, but I want to discuss the topic of money, both new and old between the characters in the story. One other topic of discussion would be the role play of the common women in this period of time. I would also like to discuss the irony in this topic, a sort of poetic justice. The tone of the story has a great deal on the whole story. The stories are all based upon the factories and the life style of the people who ran them. On the topic of new money, we have the character Mr. Bounderby in mind. He is the perfect example of the new aged money maker in this story. Mr. Bounderby makes his money off of the factories; the same way most of the people who lived in the town of Coke had made their money. One could also consider Mr. Bounderby to be apart of the high class. He is a very wealthy man compared to most of the people from Coke Town. Mr. Bounderby was also a very well known and respected person in his community. Yet, don’t let his money fool you, because Mr. Bounderby came from the so called, â€Å"gutter†. He was not from a very wealthy family when growing up as a child, but as he got older and wiser; Mr. Bounderby became a hard working citizen and made his money. On the other side of new money is old money. A perfect example of the old money maker would be Mr. Harthouse. Mr. Harthouse works for Mr. Tom Gradgrind who is a retired grosser. Mr. Harthouse would be considered to be apart of the middle class money maker. He is not the real boss of his job and he makes enough money to be well off. Mr. Harthouse is not a huge role player in the community or wealthy and he does not have a part in Parliament or the city counsel, he is only a middle class person. Mr. Gradgrind who is obviously apart of the higher class also has a daughter named Louisa. Louisa was a very beautiful and charming woman in the eyes of Mr. Bounderby and he also decided to marry... Free Essays on Hard Times jcarrin kw1302 â€Å"Hard Times† and Utilitarianism Coketown, as described in ‘Hard Times’ is a construct of a typical industrial town, many of which were sited around the newly founded factories. It may be a fictional location of the industrial age, but it serves Dickens’ purpose of presenting Utilitarianism at work. Many of the details of Coketown are based on truths about industrial towns, but Dickens slightly exaggerates them to focus the readers’ attention on the points he would like to criticize. It was believed that higher industrial output would increase the wealth of the country and therefore be desirable. Because of this Coketown exists solely for its industrial output and provides no comfort for its working class citizens. Everything inside it is extremely practical; no precious resources are wasted beautifying it, as they do not lead to an increase in industrial output. Dickens’ contempt for Utilitarianism is conveyed through the opening description of the town. The colors of the town are black and red – red brick covered in ash from the factories. Even on the surface, Dickens associates Coketown with â€Å"the painted face of a savage† – the implication is that like a â€Å"savage†, industrialization is cruel, barbaric and uncultured. On a deeper level, this image links to the color symbolism that runs through the novel. Dickens associated richness of color to the preservation of life and individuality; neither black, nor white are considered as colors, and hence, Coketown rejects the idea of individuality and identity. It is robbed of it by the Utilitarianism that is manifested in industrialization. The lack of identity is further emphasized by all public inscriptions in the town being written in â€Å"black and white†. The â€Å"inscriptions† – the voice of the town are devoid of any identity. Everything in the town – a river,... Free Essays on Hard Times Hard Times, by Charles Dickens, was a representation of his time. Times were hard for children and adults alike. People who questioned what they were taught, often went through struggles and â€Å"hard times.† Eventually, the people who were looked down were the ones who really helped those in need. Throughout the book, there are many ironic instances. Thomas Gradgrind was a man built on the idea that facts and statistics were the only truth in life and all that was needed to have a healthy and productive life. The only truth to him was his very own vision of the truth. Simple put, Thomas Gradgrind strived for perfection. He strived to be perfect, which is what his philosophy was based on, and he strived to make his children perfect and not to wonder. He raised his children never to wonder, never to doubt facts and to never entertain any vice or fancy. As soon as Gradgrind’s children were old enough to absorb, he was feeding giving more lessons than they could hold. His children were brought up only knowing one way to live and that was the idea that if it is not fact, then it is false. He was emotionaless as were his children because they were brought up only knowing what they were taught by him. Eventually, as Gradgrind’s children became older, what they were taught began to turn sour in their minds. Tom, Grandgrindà ¢â‚¬â„¢s son, ! began to despise his father and all he was taught and thus began to rebel. He took to smoking and gambling, which eventually led to his downfall. Tom had grown up to become a sycophantic, self-absorbed parasite. He had turned out the exact opposite as hoped. Thomas Gradgrind had raised his children never to wonder, but wondering intrigued them. Gradrgind had observed his children peeking into a circus tent because they were curious as to what was inside. The children were scolded for being curious, but seeds were planted into their minds of how there was more to life than what they had been taught. Futher...