Social Critique and Industrialization in Dickens' Hard Times

Plot: the novel Hard Times is set in an imaginary industrial town named Coketown, whose name is symbolical, since it's the union of Coal and Smoke in “coke”.

Mr. Gradgrind and His Philosophy

A very important character is Mr Thomas Gradgrind, whose name is also symbolical, it's the union of grade, which means evaluation, and grind, which means to crash, so this character destroys children's intelligence, since he is an educator who only believes in facts and statistics, who has founded a school where children are taught a method that consists in repressing their imagination and feelings according to his theories.

Luisa's Unhappy Marriage

Mr Gradgring brings up his two sons, Luisa and Tom, in the same way. He marries his daughter to Josiah Bounderby, a rich banker 30 years older than her, who consents only to help his brother, who is given a job in Bounderby's bank. Nevertheless the marriage turns out to be unhappy, and his brother robs his employer. At first he succeeds in throwing the suspicion of an honest workman, but then is discovered and forced to leave the country. In the end Mr Gradgrind understands the damage he has caused to his children and gives up his narrow-minded and materialistic philosophy.

The Industrial City of Coketown

Setting: the fictional city of Coketown stands for a real industrial mill town in Victorian England. In a passage Dickens describes it as a jungle, its factories are like mad elephants, and their smoke looks like serpents. All the buildings are covered with soot coming from the coal burnt in factories and moreover they all look the same. However people in Coketown seem to be proud of their city and pollution, since it is symbol of productivity.

Structure and Symbolism of the Novel

Structure: Hard Times is divided in three sections, each divided in different chapters. Book one, “Sowing”, shows the reader how Mr Gradgrind's and Mr Bounderby's children are brought up. Book two, “Reaping”, shows the effects of Gradgrind's education, that is to say Louisa's unhappy marriage, Tom's selfishness criminal ways and Stephen's rejection from Coketown. Book three, “Garnering”, is linked to the dominant symbol of instability, therefore the dominant symbol is not the solid ground where Mr Gradgrind's system used to stand.

Critique of the Educational Method

Characters: Mr Gradgrind's actions largely show the philosophy of Utilitarianism, as he educated his children and his students at school through facts, also Mr Bounderby's way of treating his employees show it, indeed he treats them as emotionless objects and exploits them for his own interest.

Mr Gradgrind believes that human nature can be measured and governed by reason, indeed his school tries to turn children into machines, who behave according to such rules.

Dickens' primary aim in Hard Times is to show the dangers of the teaching method called “object lesson”, originally conceived as a method arising from children's own experiences but later distorted.