Reuss 1

Jackie Reuss
Dr. Riley
British Literature 2
April 16, 2015
Charles Dickens Hard Times (2015 film)
Charles Dickens Hard Times is a 2015 American drama inspired by Charles Dickens
1854 novel, also titled Hard Times. Dickens themes have been adapted to suit a contemporary
audience in a contemporary setting. Set in 2015 Milton, Pennsylvania, Dickens themes of the
mechanization and desensitization of human beings is transformed from Dickens world of fact
and refocused by turning Grandgrind into a ridiculously overprotective parent, resulting in
Louisas complete lack of social skills. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film turns Dickens
opposition between fact and fancy into a question of control: how much can a parent control their
children before they hinder their ability to become functioning individuals in society? Through
Gradgrinds strict value of education and his oversheltering of his children, Tom and Louisa both
come to extremely different fates.
Plot:
Gradgrind is the principal of Milton High School and the owner of American Home
Foods (Formerly, Chef Boyardee). He raises his kids to value education and views the arts as a
waste of time. He forces his children to fill their elective requirements for high school with
additional core courses, such as math, English Language arts, and sciences. Furthermore, his
philosophy as a parent is that the world is an ugly place and that it is his job to shelter his
children from this evil as much as possible. He prevents them from working while going to high
school because they need to focus on school and Tom and Louisa lead very sheltered lives. Even

Reuss 2
in high school, they are not permitted to use social media because their father is concerned that it
will expose them to the ugly things in the world. Gradgrind gets the paper in order to get his
news, and despite being well off, he refuses to pay for cable television because he doesnt want
his kids brains rotting out of their heads.
In a crazy turn of events, a classmate of Louisa and Toms, Sissy Jupe, is left without a
place to live when her father is arrested for dealing drugs through a drive-thru window where he
works. To keep Sissy from going into foster care, Gradgrind takes her in with the understanding
that she will move on upon high school graduation and make a life for herself. She is not
allowed to associate with any of her old friends because they would be a bad influence on his
own children and she is told to leave that life behind. She is expected to abide by the same rules
that Louisa and Tom abide by and to live life just as sheltered as Louisa and Tom do. Sissy finds
this a very boring existence and, while she is impressed with the Gradgrinds extensive home,
she often finds herself bored. She does not meet Gradgrinds expectations in school and, upon
discovering that she has been spending her study halls in the art room, Gradgrind decides that
she should attend night school when those resources are not available to her.
As Tom grows up, he becomes increasingly delinquent, chasing adrenaline and putting
himself in dangerous situations. He is constantly trying to find ways to express himself but in a
desperate effort to be more like his peers, he begins gorging himself on women, finding comfort
in sex with any willing female classmate. Meanwhile, Louisa struggles trying to decide what she
wants to do with her life. She considers all the things she has learned in school but does not
know what she could possibly go to college for. While she is very good at school, she has never
been interested, let alone passionate, about anything that she has learned. All she knows is what
she has learned in her core classes and what she has been exposed to firsthand, within the

Reuss 3
Gradgrind home and on the few errands that she runs with her mother on Saturdays. She knows
she is expected to go to college, but the prospect is horrifying and confusing. When she is still
indecisive her senior year, her father forces her to apply to Bucknell University, his Alma Mater,
for nursing. Louisa, having taken anatomy in high school, hesitates, knowing that actual blood
makes her squeamish. It bothers her that her father doesnt know this about her, but she
nevertheless believes that since she was good at school in high school, she can do anything she
wants to and be successful, so she agrees. Tom enrolls in Pennsylvania College of Technology as
a Business Management major, also at the suggestion of his father, who demands he have certain
skills if he will pass American Home Foods on to him later in life. Sissy gets her high school
diploma and before she moves out of the Gradgrind house, she uses money she had had saved up
before Gradgrind had taken her in to buy paintings for their house. Mrs. Gradgrind loves the
paintings and when she falls ill, Mr. Gradgrind asks Sissy to come care for Mrs. Gradgrind until
she is well again in exchange for a small stipend and a room.
Enter Stephen Blackpool. Blackpool works for Gradgrinds American Home Foods.
Blackpool asks Gradgrind for a promotion, arguing that he cannot afford to truly live on the
wages he is currently making. He pleads for at least a raise so that he can afford to take Rachel
out for dinner, but he is denied by Gradgrind. He leaves disappointed and determined that he
will find a way to convince him.
Harthouse is a boy who Louisa meets by chance in college. He has just dropped out of
Penn State University to become a freelance graphic designer. After a series of encounters in
which Louisa is very socially awkward, he exposes her to the tempting world of art and
expression that she has never before encountered. He likes music which makes a political
statement. He educates Louisa on politics and why people have such struggles with morality.

Reuss 4
He explains that the world wasn't always this way and that long ago, even though there was far
less technology, the world was once a somewhat better place to live. He also explains that while
there are ugly things in the world, we cant have the good without having the bad too and that
having the bad makes the good things better. She is overwhelmed but intrigued and decides that,
while being a nurse would make a difference in the world, she is disgusted at the work and would
like to make her mark on the world in other ways. She turns to rethinking her future, and to the
state of confusion that thinking of her future always seems to cause her.
The warehouse workers at American Home Foods are trying to form a union. Stephen
doesnt join the unionization efforts because he hopes that by siding with his employer, he will
get the raise he asked for and maybe even the promotion. Tom tells him that if he watches his
supervisor carefully for the week, he will learn what he needs to know to get the promotion he
has asked for. After trying to track his supervisor for several days, he gives up and decides that
his fate is to die alone. He leaves town, deciding that maybe starting over somewhere else is
what he needs. Shortly afterward, his supervisor goes missing. He is the main suspect because
according to video surveillance, he seems to have been stalking the man. The police continue the
investigation, naming him as the main suspect and starting a state-wide manhunt.
Several weeks later, and after several awe-inspiring dates, Harthouse finally declares his
love for Louisa and asks her to drop out of school and go with him to California, she agrees to
meet him later that night to make further plans to elope with him and live in the land of
Hollywood. Instead, Louisa stands him up and goes home to her fathers house, overwhelmed
with terror and confusion about what might await her in California. Thanks to her father, she has
never been outside of Milton, Pennsylvania. She doesnt know anything else but Milton and she
is both terrified and fascinated at the things that Harthouse has told her about California.

Reuss 5
Confused by her own ignorance when she has received such a strenuous, focused education, she
collapses to the floor in an anxiety attack because just as she knows nothing about the world
outside of Milton, she also knows nothing about how to make her own decisions and is
overwhelmed by the stress it causes her. Because her father had orchestrated every aspect of her
life growing up, she had never before experienced this level of stress and she has no idea how to
manage it. It makes her head and her stomach feel somehow strange, strange and heavy, as if she
is weighted like a prisoner to the small area of land that is Milton, Pennsylvania.
Gradgrind is in despair, still half believing that Louisa should continue her education in
nursing but realizing that had he not sheltered her so much; the idea of California would be less
mesmerizing to her and she wouldnt be so tempted and easily manipulated if she had better
social skills. Sissy decides to try to help Louisa because she has known stresses and has had to
make her own decisions since she was very young. Sissy visits Harthouse and convinces him to
leave town without waiting for Louisa. At first he resists, but Louisa shows him that he does not
have an option: if Gradgrind finds out the details about him, he could easily undermine his
portfolio and resume that he relies on to find his work. While Sissy knows that this is an empty
threat, it convinces Harthouse, and he leaves immediately for California.
Some days later, Stephen tries to return to Milton to clear his name, but he gets in a car
accident. Rachel and Louisa, upon hearing the news, rush to the hospital, hoping he will be
alright and pull through, hoping he will not die a wanted man and take the mystery with him.
The two arrive at the hospital, are barely able to see Stephen Stephen tries through his pain to
tell them something, but the two women can only manage quick goodbyes before he is whisked
off to emergency surgery and dies on the operating table.

Reuss 6
In the end, Louisa and Gradgrind realize that Tom is responsible for the mans
disappearance and while they dont know what became of the man, they know that they have to
get Tom out of town. They get Sissy to arrange a ride for Tom with an old friend of her fathers
despite Sissy having been told she should never associate with anyone from her old life. It seems
there is suddenly a need for her to do so, so she is obliged to assist them. Some time later, Sissy
ends up married into a large, loving family. Louisa never reconnects with Harthouse. With
Sissys help, she decides to take a year off of school to explore the arts and travel the world,
knowing that she has a home with Sissy when she returns.