In this novel there is a lot of lying and deceit, they use this only to benefit them selves and not others. The people of this time are selfish especially the men who treat women as lower class citizens.
Hard Times is an example of Dickens's concern for social issues, but also his feelings in regard to the soul of the nation and how it was being affected by the industrial age. In the social theory of Utilitarianism, Dickens, who had a deep Christian faith, felt that a purely pragmatic view of human relations robbed humanity of its soul and overlooked the subtleties in the human condition.
In Charles Dickens' Hard Times, there is a thorough, if somewhat melodramatic, representation of Victorian life. This is shown in the novel; “Mr Bounderby being a bachelor, an elderly lady presided over his establishment.” This was very respectable in Victorian life.
Dickens is known for his excessive number of characters in his novels, and, though there are less in this work then is generally seen, each is well developed and understood to their place in the novel. Dickens has a tendency to portray his characters as representative of the different forces within society and this is certainly true in the case of Stephen Blackpool, Josiah Bounderby and Thomas Gradgrind Junior.
Josiah Bounderby is a man who wants and what he wants he strives to get. His housekeeper Mrs. Sparsit is in a high position as quoted “ Mrs. Sparsit had not only seen different days, but was highly connected”. Her work for Bounderby boosts her role.
Charles Dickens believed in children’s rights in his time that they should be able to have an imagination. Although women where treat badly there was no comparison to the way children where treat. Children could be beaten, abused even killed and no one could care, as they had no birth certificate.
Louisa grows up to be a very disturbed child and is forced into marriage with a man twice her age that she doesn’t care for. She marries Mr. Bounderby who is the owner of the bank and by doing this she can boost her brother Thomas’ position in the bank. Louisa has an affair with a manipulative man called Harthouse. Harthouse is just wants casual sex from Louisa and comes across to her as very genuine. Louisa thinks she is the one for him and they are building a relationship but this is not what Harthouse wants. She gets caught kissing Harthouse by Mrs. Sparsit who rushes back to tell Mr Bounderby what she has seen. Louisa tells her father about this affair and blames him for making her marry Bounderby. When Sissy sends a message to Harthouse to stay away from Louisa he just dismisses Louisa like she yesterday’s news and says he was planning on moving on anyway. Harthouse then tries to seduce Sissys and she just leaves. This is an example of how children where pushed into situations that they just weren’t capable of handling.
As you can see Charles Dickens was correct and thankfully we have writers like this to change things for the better. His idea of education is a lot better as we now have a mixed balance of fact and fantasy in our education. The children learning by fact doesn’t develop the mind properly and this leads them in the wrong direction. Children can no longer be abused or beaten and men and women have equal rights. From this novel Dickens has created a new lifestyle and this was his plan which was a success.
