One of the main statements Dickens is trying to make throughout this novel is the obsession and repetitiveness of facts. The word fact is repeated so much that it feels like its being shoved into the children’s heads. "We hope to have, before long, a board of fact, composed of commissioners of fact, who will force the people to be a people of fact and nothing but fact." This firstly shows that it is not just Gradgrind that is obsessed with facts, it is the whole school; implying the whole education system is like this. Also they wish for the facts to be 'forced' upon all people as they are doing in the school. Dickens put Gradgrind across as forceful, having high standards, obsessed and full of facts and wishing every one of his pupils to be as smart as he is. Mr M'Choakumchild is portrayed very similarly to Gradgrind, this gives the impression that all teachers of this time were like this.
A character who is a representation for Dickens views is Gradgrind. He is used as a representation because he is made to be everything Dickens is against where education is concerned. ‘Forming the minds of reasoning animals’, Gradgrind is referring to the children as animals for testing out his way of education, he does not see them as human he sees them as animals that he needs to train to be just like him. However there are characters in the novel that challenge his way of teaching and try to be individual but Gradgrind sees this as wrong and tries to stop them and get them back in line. actuality industry at the time. Dickens describes the rooms as ‘plain, bare monotonous vault of a school-room’. The word ‘vault’ suggests the school-room takes the image of a jail cell; bare, isolated, barred windows. Therefore this also suggests the pupils attending the schooactuality industry at the time. Dickens describes the rooms as ‘plain, bare monotonous vault of a school-room’. The word ‘vault’ suggests the school-room takes the image of a jail cell; bare, isolated, barred windows. Therefore this also suggests the pupils attending the school represent prisoners- influenced by the oppressive rules and watchful eye of Gradgrind. Their order is even arranged like prisoners, in a regular pattern, rows spaced evenly, closely monitored and not allowed to move.One character who shows a contrast to the Victorian education system is Sissy Jupe. She is polite and full of life, she curtsy’s to address to Gradgrind and this shows how cheerful and polite she is. You can tell sissy loves and respects her father a lot from when she says ‘it’s father calls me Sissy sir’. Gradgrind tries to intimidate Sissy and because she is such a shy character Gradgrind easily embarrasses her with his intimidation ‘she would have blushed deeper, is she could have blushed deeper...’ This shows the healthy colour in her face which represents how full of life she is and the fact she could have blushed deeper and deeper shows that she has so many different ideas and wonderful individuality that they just want to burst out of her as she is being made to keep them locked inside her.
A contrasting character to Sissy is Bitzer who is dull, pale and drained of any life or individuality. "the boy who was so light-eyed and light-haired that he looked as though, if he were cut, he would bleed white." The fact her could have ‘bled white’ shows a contrast that he still has the individuality but it is made white, colourless like his personality that is filled with repetition of facts. This description of Bitzer contrasts enormously with Sissy’s "the girl was so dark-eyed and dark-haired she seemed to receive a deeper more lustrous colour from the sun." Bitzer is seen as a lifeless zombie and represents the Victorian education system in the novel which contrasts with sissy representing freedom and individuality. Bitzer is seen to have become a slave to Gradgrind’s facts and the education system.
One of the ways Dickens represents the way facts have become heavenly and a way of life is by his use of biblical language. “facts forbid” Gradgrind says this instead of heaven forbid, this shows that facts have become his god and he worships them and is obsessed. This is a clever technique to use because it highlights how obsessed some of the people in the Victorian period had become with just getting the facts and not being creative or fun.
Further more in a world of hard facts and figures, Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek mythology, is a symbol of fancy and wonder. In Hard Times, Pegasus is associated with the circus people, who embody values that are quite different from those of Gradgrind and Bounderby. Sleary's circus people live at an Inn called the Pegasus's Arms. The Inn has a picture of Pegasus on its sign-board, and inside there is a portrait of one of the circus horses, which is described as "another Pegasus." This Pegasus has "real gauze let in for his wings, golden stars stuck on all over him, and his ethereal harness made of red silk." The circus horses, in conjunction with the skill and daring of their riders, create a sense of wonder in the audience, allowing them to escape the drudgery of the "hard facts" world served up to them by people like Gradgrind and Bounderby. Seen in this light, the existence of the circus horses is a direct reproach to Gradgrind, who in Book I, chapter 2 asks the children in class to define a horse. Bitzer gives a factual definition: "Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four-eye teeth, and twelve incisive." This pleases Gradgrind, but it comes nowhere near to suggesting the capacities of the horse as symbolized by Pegasus.
The book hard times is split up into two sections ‘reaping’ and ‘sowing’. These two titles have a significance to the story because at the beginning of the novel Gradgrind is force feeding the students facts and little did he know this would come back to haunt him later on in the novel. He is sowing the seeds which is a metaphor for him force feeding children facts and reaping the crops is a metaphor for when Bitzer ironically turns his back on Gradgrind.
Lastly, it is clear that one of Dickens’ aims in writing this novel is to comment on his thoughts about the monotonous education system at the time. It was written in an attempt to challenge the view of this society at a time when practicality and facts were of greater importance and value than feelings and persons.
Names- Dickens also uses characters from the novels names to represent his anger at the point he was trying to get across such as ‘Mr. M’Choakumchild’ chokes his pupils with facts and Thomas Gradgrind grinds down the children. He shows his hatred for Victorian schools clearly in 'Hard Times' and especially in his description of Gradgrind.
