Concetti Chiave
- Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth and faced early hardships when his father was imprisoned for debts, compelling him to work in a factory.
- Despite these challenges, Dickens continued his education, becoming a reporter and journalist, which paved the way for his career as a novelist.
- His early works, like "Sketches by Boz" and "The Pickwick Papers," were published as serials, making literature accessible to the common people.
- Dickens is renowned for his social portraits, vividly depicting the lives of the poor in London, as seen in novels like "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield."
- "Hard Times" explores themes of materialism and industrialization through its protagonist, Thomas Gradgrind, blending realism with symbolic elements and a style rich in humor and irony.
Childhood and Early Experiences
He was born in Portsmouth in 1812. when his father was imprisoned for debts, Charles was compelled to work in a factory.
This sad experience market his life and his future as novelist.
Thanks to an economic improvement, Dickens continued his studies and became a reporter and a journalist.
He started his career as novelist, by publishing some serials, as for as example “Sketches by Boz” and “The Pickwick Papers” about the adventure of some funny me.
Thanks to these serial publications, Dickens helped common people to be interested in literary production.
Social Portraits and Denunciation
Dickens can be considered a photographer of his time, because he used to take notes about what he saw also in the poor quarters of London. His interest, as we can notice in his most important social novels, “Oliver Twist”, “Hard Times”, “David Copperfield”, is for the humble, poor people, their difficult life conditions.
He didn’t want to give any solutions to these problems, but it was just a denunciation.
Hard Times
Plot of Hard Times
The main character Thomas Gradgrind is a materialistic and pragmatic man, who lives in Coketown with his 2 children.
This town is the symbol of the typical industrial squalid Reston, that is in contrast with the fantastic and joyful world of the Circus. When Thomas understands that his 2 children are not like he wanted, he realises his life was all a manses.
The novel combines both realistic and symbolical elements, while the style is rich in humour and irony.
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