'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens

"My satire is against those who see figures and averages, and nothing else," proclaimed Charles Dickens in explaining the theme of this classic novel. Published in 1854, the story concerns one Thomas Gradgrind, a "fanatic of the demonstrable fact," who raises his children, Tom and Louisa, in a stifling and arid atmosphere of grim practicality.

MY THOUGHTS: 

 I'm cruising toward the finish line of my reading of all Dickens' major works. I expected to find Hard Times a slog. The title itself certainly doesn't sell it to me, and stories set during the Industrial Revolution written by honest-to-goodness Victorians tend to be grim. Still, when I got I started, I was surprised to find myself quite enjoying it. 

The setting is 'Coketown' - a typical northern England borough rife with capitalistic greed, exploited factory owners and black smoke. Two middle-aged chaps carry a lot of clout, and the novel is basically about what a hash they make of everything they touch.

Thomas Gradgrind is a leader in the education sector who insists on having nothing but facts, figures and statistics taught to the students. Anything remotely fanciful or imaginative is instantly squelched, and beginning a sentence with, 'I wonder' is a huge faux pas. 

This passage highlights his extreme fanaticism:

'You must discard the word Fancy altogether. You are not to have, in any object of use or ornament, what would be a contradiction of fact. You don't walk upon flowers in fact; you cannot be allowed to walk upon flowers in carpets. You don't find that foreign birds and butterflies come and perch upon your crockery; you cannot be permitted to paint foreign birds and butterflies upon your crockery. You never meet with quadrupeds going up and down walls. You must not have quadrupeds represented upon walls. You must use for all these purposes, combinations and modifications (in primary colours) or mathematical figures which are susceptible of proof and demonstration.'

Gradgrind's own children are guinea pigs of his militant system. During the story, his daughter, Louisa, comes to realise she's emotionally stunted and cynical - accepting a marriage proposal from hell because she's had no practice allowing herself to imagine a higher destiny. And his son, Tom, becomes a self-centered and manipulative jerk after years of being fed this pragmatic, 'look out for number one' type of curriculum. Dickens makes it clear that Louisa and Tom's regrettable destinies are a direct result of how their characters have been shaped by their well-intentioned, yet culpable father. 

Gradgrind's best buddy, Josiah Bounderby, is a big vulgar capitalist who owns a factory and a bank. He oozes hard luck stories about his childhood which become his excuse to show no mercy to the downtrodden people he exploits. And he takes great pride in his housekeeper, the hilarious and calculating Mrs Sparsit, for the opposite reason. She was supposedly born into great nobility, yet has now come down enough in the eyes of the world to work for him. 

The story's fall guy is poor Stephen Blackpool, the loom weaver. He's a kindly, hardworking, peace-loving guy, but since Stephen was created by his author to stand for an entire class of people, the poor guy can't win a trick. If it isn't horrendous blows of fate causing roadblocks for him, it's unscrupulous miscreants. The most unenviable people ever are fictional characters created to be scapegoats for a sorry multitude. For any readers who get their hearts totally invested in Stephen's plight, this may be a terrible book. I think the trick is to stand back and remind ourselves that he's a symbol rather than a person, although that's easy to say a century or two later. 

I couldn't help reflecting all through that some of my own ancestors were poor downtrodden menials like Stephen and his love interest, Rachael. I'm sure many of my fellow South Australians have similar backgrounds. Our ancestors grabbed the opportunity to escape from the horrific grind by fleeing to the opposite side of the world. If nothing else, this novel provides some perspective to make us thankful for the 21st century. 

As for authors like Dickens who used their writing talent to stand up for those with no voice of their own, well done. They undoubtedly helped change the course of history with their heartfelt works of fiction. 

Every Dickens novel seems to have an exemplary young female character. This one's is Sissy Jupe, the daughter of a poor, despondent circus clown. She can't wrap her head around her school curriculum, preferring to cheer her father up by reading him stories of fantasy and imagination. Even though Sissy remains highly respectful of authority figures all through, she's a good example of how we must draw upon courage and individuality to follow our own North Stars, especially when those in power try to fill our heads with propaganda which is contrary to the way we tick. 

This isn't a romance, unless we count the doomed attraction between Stephen and Rachael. However, I found 'The Sound of Music' kept springing to mind. Sissy Jupe quietly does for the younger Gradgrind kids what Sister Maria did for the Von Trapp children by broadening their outlooks with beauty and fun. And in their hour of need, a few desperate asylum seekers flee to the circus for protection, just as the Von Trapps did to the convent. It's an apt analogy, because the circus, in Hard Times, really does represent a sort of sacred jollity in the face of severe oppression, so both refuges serve a similar function. (Circuses have fallen out of favour since Dickens wrote this, but's that's another story.)

By denying Louisa a chance to exercise her imagination, Gradgrind inadvertently 'robbed her of her refuge from what is sordid and bad in the real world around her.' I couldn't agree more, narrator! I can't imagine living like that.

I'm glad I didn't have too hard a time with Hard Times. It's sad to think Dickens saw a need to write a novel to promote having fun, but that's the rough side of the Victorian era we love to romanticize 

Mr Sleary, the lisping circus proprietor, deserves the final word. 

'People mutht be amuthed. They can't alwayth be learning, nor yet they can't alwayth be working, they an't made for it.'  

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