Scarica HARD TIMES by Charles Dickens e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! HARD TIMES Dickens in his novel describes a typical factory town characterised by urbanization, overcrowding, pollution and poverty and emphasizes the ugliness and unhealthy conditions brought about by progress and industrialisation. By the end of January 1854, Dickens paid a visit to Preston (Lancashire) where a strike of the workers in the cotton mills was in progress. Affected by this visit, he started writing Hard Times. Serialization The novel was serialized in Household Words to help revive the dropping sales of his journal. The story doubled the circulation of the magazine and had a great success. In the novel he meant to attack the working class exploitation. It created a new kind of fiction, devoted to the class struggle in the new industrial areas north of London. Dickens wanted to give voice to men, women and children whose lives were being transformed by the Industrial Revolution. Carlyle’s influence Novel is influenced by philosopher Thomas Carlyle’s rational and humanitarian spirit. He underlined the negative aspects of industrialization and claimed for more attention to workers’ real conditions. Coketown In reality Hard Times is not a realistic account of Preston strike, but it captures the atmosphere of an imaginary industrial city called Coketown. It is a moral “fable” as, through the story of a few typical characters, a whole historical background is revealed. Coketown: urban stage on which forces of good and evil fight for the conquest of English civilization. The story takes place in the industrial north, in one of the mill towns of Lancashire and highlights the effects of the Industrial Revolution on man and the environment. Themes Main themes: exploitation of the working class by the middle class of industrialists, damaging consequences of the factual knowledge supported by Utilitarianism, at the expense of feeling and imagination, which Dickens believed to be characteristic of industrialization. Main characters - Thomas Gradgrind, educator and a schoolmaster who believes only in facts and statistics - Josiah Bounderby, selfish rich banker and manufacturer, who marries Louisa, Mr Gradgrind’s daughter - Stephen Blackpool, poor worker with a lot of troubles, struggles to survive and fulfill his love Plot Novel is an attack on Utilitarianism, which was the basic Victorian philosophy. Story is set in an imaginary industrial town named Coketown (=the town of coal). Louisa and her brother Tom, repressed their imagination and feelings according to Utilitarian ideas. Stephen Blackpool is unfairly accused of robbery, he resigns to the fact that it is “all a muddle” and finally dies. In the end Thomas Gradgrind renounces his factual approach to life, changes and learns the value of humanity. Bounderby is found to be a dishonest man and a liar. COMMENTARY – THE SETTING IN HARD TIMES: COKETOWN
