“In Hard Times exactly the same spiritual failings underlie the problems of industrial society, a mechanistic education system and the inability of men and women to achieve fulfilling relationships.’ Discuss
Lisa Robertshaw Interdisciplinary Human Studies
"In Hard Times exactly the same spiritual failings underlie the problems of industrial society, a mechanistic education system and the inability of men and women to achieve fulfilling relationships.' Discuss
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), spent his childhood in the rural town of Kent where he was very happy. However, his family met financial problems and his father was sent to debtor's prison. Young Charles (aged 12), was withdrawn from school and sent to work in a blackening factory for three years. This traumatic experience had a profound effect, and provided him with insight of working class conditions, for when he later became a novelist
Dickens started to write Hard Times in 1854, by which time cities had been increasing in size, due predominantly, to growth in the textile, iron and railway industry. Previously working country folk had lived almost along side their employers and had struck up a relationship with them albeit an unequal one. However, in the large sprawling cities there became a large, psychological, as well as physical gap between 'masters' and 'men'.
Dickens believed that part of the problem of industrialised cities, was due to the way children were educated. They were only taught factual information and not encouraged to think and evaluate. Gradgrind's school children learn nothing but Facts, and he quells the first signs of creativity. This imagination or 'Fancy' is represented in Hard Times by the circus from where Sissy Jupe originates. The circus is cleverly juxtaposed with the school, which represents the rationalised society. Sissy had lived with horses for most of her life, however because she was unable to describe a horse in scientific terms, Gradgrind ridiculed her. He was unable to understand how she could simply know about a horse without being able to describe it as a "Graminivorous Quadruped."
Bitzer (who was an ex-student of Mr M'Choakemchild's school) was observed to be
"..a young man of the steadiest principle..on his father's death..this excellent young economist had asserted the right of settlement for her (his mother), with such steadfast adherence to the principle of the case, she had been shut up in the work house ever since." (Pg. 153 )
This shows how the education system had expelled any emotional attachment he had to his mother as Bitzer was quite happy to send his own mother to the workhouse as he saw this as a fact and could imagine no other alternative.
Class division, also underpins the crux of Hard Times; it is illustrated very well when Louisa (the daughter of a wealthy schoolmaster, Mr Gradgrind)
"She knew of them (working class) in crowds passing to and fro their nests...but she knew from her reading infinitely more of the ways of toiling insects than these toiling men and women"
page 209
This passage demonstrates how efficient her factual education has been in ridding her of any sensibility toward her fellow citydwellers, and also how the ruling classes believed the proletariat to be almost inhuman ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Class division, also underpins the crux of Hard Times; it is illustrated very well when Louisa (the daughter of a wealthy schoolmaster, Mr Gradgrind)
"She knew of them (working class) in crowds passing to and fro their nests...but she knew from her reading infinitely more of the ways of toiling insects than these toiling men and women"
page 209
This passage demonstrates how efficient her factual education has been in ridding her of any sensibility toward her fellow citydwellers, and also how the ruling classes believed the proletariat to be almost inhuman and thought of them as a collective rather than individuals, with emotions, ambitions and human desires.
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Utilatarians felt the need to explain what was going on around them and tried rationalise society in an attempt to improve and develop it into a "New World". There were few reforms brought in by Liberal reformists such as reducing the working day to 10 hours for women and children. However, the men were not given such consideration and there were no limits to the amount of time they had to work. This meant, of cause there was very little time for any form of socialising or relaxation, which hindered men and women from forming normal healthy relationships. On Sundays, in Coketown,
"boys who were at large - a rare sight there - rowed a crazy boat, which made a spumous track upon the water as it jogged along, while every dip of an oar stirred up vile smells."
This passage illustrates that even when people had the opportunity to enjoy themselves they were still enveloped in pollution and oppression, which the working classes felt they could never get away from.
The female characters in Hard Times seem to be included in order to 'spiritually regenerate' the male characters who would otherwise be morally lost as seen in the relationship between Stephen Blackpool and Rachel.
Stephen is in an unhappy marriage to an alcoholic wife, who he is tempted to poison in order that he can be with Rachel. However, he is unable to carry this out due to Rachel's influence on him.
"Thou changest me from bad to good. Thou mak'st me humbly wishfo' to be more like thee, and fearfo' to lose thee when this life is ower, and a' the muddle cleared awa'. Thou'rt an Angel; it may be, thou hast saved my soul alive!"
Stephen seeks advice from Bounderby but his dreams are thwarted instantly, as he discovers only the very rich are able to obtain a divorce, and their love remains unrequited. This is an example of the moral and financial pressures which where imposed upon the relationships between men and women. Stephen and Rachel's situation echoes Dickens' own unhappy marriage, and it is speculated that he was having an affair with a young actress while writing Hard Times. (Slater pg. 135)
Victorian society was very moralistic, however there seems to be no moral questions asked, when women were prostituted into a loveless marriage, for money or other favours.
Louisa shows her contempt for Bounderby ( her future husband), when he demands a kiss from her as he leaves.
"she stood on the same spot rubbing the cheek he had kissed, with her handkerchief, until it was burning red.. "You'll rub a hole in your face" her brother sulkily remonstrated.."You may cut the piece out with your penknife, if you like, Tom. I wouldn't cry!"
However despite her hatred of Bounderby, she sacrifes herself to his offer of marriage in order to gain advantages for her brother and to please her father who is his friend.
Dickens felt that the way in which the rationalised education structure, emotionally stunted people, was a component in the unsuccessful relationships between Victorian men and women.
Due to Louisa's repressive education and upbringing, she is unable to see an alternative to marrying Mr Bounderby as she has not been allowed ideas of her own, and would therefore be no hope in ever marrying anyone else, for love. She laments to her father,
"What other proposal can have been made to me? Whom have I seen? Where have I been? What are my heart's experiences?"
Louisa attempts to discuss, with her father, her obvious worries regarding Mr Bounderby's sexual expectations within the marriage. She sat silently looking out of the window at Coke town, and stated
"There seems to be nothing there but languid and monotonous smoke. Yet when the night comes, Fire bursts out, father!"
"Of course I know that, Louisa. I do not see the application of the remark." To do him justice he did not, at all. (pg. 132)
Her cryptic statement shows Louisa's inability to vent her anxieties and feelings regarding sex, and her father's inability to comprehend her plight, leads them to a total communication breakdown. This is a profound illustration of how Dickens feels how sexual repression is one of Victorian societies most concealed and underlying problems.
Her own mother and father have an extremely unequal relationship with respect to power. Mrs Gradgrind is described as a thin and feeble woman both mentally and physically, who whenever she had ideas of her own, they were dashed by her husbands factual philosophy. She was not able to join in the dialogue between Bounderby and her husband while they were discussing her daughter, and merely sat quietly. (Pg. 23)
This shows how difficult it was for men and women to communicate on an equal level and therefore goes some way to explain why Victorian relationships where so unfulfilling for both sexes.
Cities had gradually increased to such a size that it became a great concern to the ruling classes. Labour disputes, at this time where becoming a reality due to Marxist theories becoming more and more popular, not least with Dickens himself. During the period between 1853-57, Dickens despaired of the Government's inability to oversee the Crimean War, it is demonstrated by his description of Parliament as ".the national cinderheap" where Mr Gradgrind and other MP's. " throw dust in a great many noisy little fights among themselves" (Slater)
Despite Governments inability's, there is a lack of enthusiasm for a revolution, and Dickens is frustrated by the lethargy of the working class.
G.B. Shaw describes Coketown's inmates as being" as content as a rat is with its hole". (Page, 'Dickens portrait of England',1912)
The mechanistic education system had proved so powerfully successful, that it had filtered down from the educated to the proletariat, and ejected any 'fancy' they might have had in gaining a better life. They believed, or wanted to believe that their lives weren't so miserable. In a letter from Dicken's to Charles Fechter he states,
"When I did Hard Times I called the scene Coketown. Everybody knew what was meant, but every cotton-spinning town said it was the other cotton-spinning town..." (Page,pg28)
The subtle way in which women influence men is demonstrated by Stephen Blackpool's refusal to join the union, because he promised Rachel he would not make trouble, but he is seen to be ill advised.
It is through Stephen Blackpool's experiences of being 'sent to Coventry' by his colleagues and losing his job, that we can see how Dickens tries to influence the reader. He and Marx believe that joining a Union, in order to fight together for their cause, is the only way out of their subordinate position.
In conclusion Hard Times is not Dickens's most subtle novel. Most of its moral themes are very explicitly articulated through extremely sharp characterisation and the narrator's frequent interjection of his own opinions and experiences. Dickens was extremely concerned with the miserable lives of the poor and working classes in the England of his day, and Hard Times engages these social problems directly. What emerges from the book is a very simple contrast between Mr Gradgrind's philosophy of Fact, which includes pervasive rationalism and the idea that people should only act according to their best interest, and the simple loving honesty of Sissy Jupe, who contradicts Gradgrind's insistence on Fact by frequently indulging in romantic, imaginative Fancy. The philosophy of fact is shown to be at the heart of the problems of the poor; the smoke stacks, factory machines, and clouds of black smog are all associated with Fact, while Fancy is held up to be the route to charity and love between men and women.
In reality this contrast is oversimplified; clearly a commitment to factual accuracy does not lead directly to selfishness, and a commitment to imagination does not equal a commitment to social equality. However, these contrasting ideas serve as a kind of shorthand for Dickens to enlighten his readers to the states of mind that enable certain kinds of action. Cold rationalism divorced from sentiment and feeling can lead to insensitivity from human suffering, and imagination can enhance ones sense of sympathy
Bibliography
Dexter, W (ed) The Letters of Charles Dickens
Bloomsbury None such (1938)
Page.N,(ed) Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend: a selection of critical essays. MacMillan Press Ltd (1979)
Schlicke P ed Charles Dickens- Hard Times
Oxford University Press (1989)
Schlicke P ed Oxford Readers Companion to Dickens
Oxford University Press (2000)
Schwartzbach F.S. Dickens and the City
The Athlone Press (1979)
Slater, M. Dickens and Women
The Chaucer Press (1983)
