Hard Times
By: Charles Dickens
The Main Characters
Louisa, Mr. Gradgrind's daughter, is lost in life with her fathers only wanting her to know the cold hard facts. She later marries just to please her father, but later deeply regrets that decision.
Thomas Gradgrind, Jr., Mr. Gradgrind oldest son, he is embarrassed by his up bringing to much and becomes a very critical person. He works at Josiah Bounderby's bank. Tom also has a terrible gambling problem.
Josiah Bounderby, the man Louisa is married, very boastful and proud of his so called self made up bringing. He is the owner of a bank.
Stephen Blackpool is one of the many workers in the cities factories. He hates his personal life and wants to leave it behind and move to the country with the woman of his dreams, Rachael.
James Harthouse comes to town because he wants to become involved in politics and he thinks Mr. Gradgrind can help him get involved and wanted to seduce Louisa.
Setting
"Coketown England" Google.com, March 31, 2013
"Coketown England" Google.com, March 31, 2013
Novel Summary
Response
One of the biggest roles in the novel was played by Louisa. She played a big role because at the end of the novel she finally found what she longed for in life. Do to the way she was raised she never showed any emotion or felt much feel until she met James Hearthouse, who falls for Louisa and tries to seduce her. After never feeling any emotion in her life Louisa grows faint and confused with what she is feeling for James and finally her father loosens up and accepts people using emotions and feeling love.
The main reoccurring symbol in this novel was emotion and how they play such a big role into human life. This symbol came up many times in the book. For example one of the first times was when Mr. Gradgrind cam home and found his children sneaking a peak at the circus. Seeing this Mr. Gridgrand became very angry because he did not want his children using their imagination because it was not in his philosophical beliefs. Another time this came up was when Louisa found out that she was to be married to Josiah, whom she didn't want to marry, but because of her upbringing she figured it would please her father and she had never known what love felt like.
I personally would not go around recommending this novel to people because I feel the novel is way to long for the point it has to make. Also I am a fan of more modern writing styles, that aren't as detailed and complexly written. Also this novel was complex in the way it was written, three different books made it harder to follow because the sections tended to jump around a lot.
References
"Coketown England" Google.com, March 31, 2013
"Coketown England" Google.com, March 31, 2013
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960. Print