Facts and fancy

Dickens depicts a terrifying system of education where facts, facts, and nothing but
facts are pounded into the schoolchildren all day, and where memorization of
information is valued over art, imagination, or anything creative. This results in some
very warped human beings. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind believes completely in this system,
and as a superintendent of schools and a father, he makes sure that all the children at
the schools he is responsible for and especially his own children are brought up
knowing nothing but data and "-ologies".

As a result, things go very badly for his children, Tom Gradgrind and Louisa

Gradgrind. Since they, as children, were always treated as if they had minds and not
hearts, their adulthoods are warped, as they have no way to access their feelings or
connect with others. Tom is a sulky good-for-nothing and gets involved in a crime in an
effort to pay off gambling debts. Louisa is unhappy when she follows her mind, not her
heart, and marries Mr. Bounderby, her father's friend. As a result of her unhappy
marriage, she is later swept off her feet by a young gentleman, Mr. James "Jem"
Harthouse, who comes to stay with them and who seems to understand and love her.
Louisa nearly comes to ruin by running off with Harthouse.

Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe was encouraged when she was little to dream and imagine and
loved her father dearly, and therefore she is in touch with her heart and feelings, and
has empathy and emotional strength the other children lack. Sissy, adopted by the
Gradgrinds when her father abandons her, ultimately is the savior of the family in the
end.
Industrialization and it’s evils

Hand in hand with the glorification of data and numbers and facts in the schoolhouse is
the treatment of the workers in the factories of Coketown as nothing more than
machines, which produce so much per day and are not thought of as having feelings or
families or dreams. Dickens depicts this situation as a result of the industrialization of
England; now that towns like Coketown are focused on producing more and more, more
dirty factories are built, more smoke pollutes the air and water, and the factory owners
only see their workers as part of the machines that bring them profit. In fact, the workers
are only called "Hands", an indication of how objectified they are by the owners.
Similarly, Mr. Gradgrind's children were brought up to be "minds". None of them are
people or "hearts".

As the book progresses, it portrays how industrialism creates conditions in which

owners treat workers as machines and workers respond by unionizing to resist and fight
back against the owners. In the meantime, those in Parliament (like Mr. Gradgrind, who
winds up elected to office) work for the benefit of the country but not its people. In short,
industrialization creates an environment in which people cease to treat either others or
themselves as people. Even the unions, the groups of factory workers who fight against
the injustices of the factory owners, are not shown in a good light. Stephen Blackpool,
a poor worker at Bounderby's factory, is rejected by his fellow workers for his refusal to
join the union because of a promise made to the sweet, good woman he
loves, Rachael. His factory union then treats him as an outcast.

The remedy to industrialism and its evils in the novel is found in Sissy Jupe, the little
girl who was brought up among circus performers and fairy tales. Letting loose the
imagination of children lets loose their hearts as well, and, as Sissy does, they can
combat and undo what a Gradgrind education produces.

Feminity
Women in English society were confined to the domestic sphere, where they were left at home all
day to oversee more domestic duties, while the men went off to work in factories and shops
(Hughes). The Victorian ideal of femininity consisted of qualities such as emotion, passivity,
submission, dependence, selflessness, and purity (Hughes). “It is a well-known fact that women
were seen as inferior to men in most areas of the life in Victorian England. They were 
Through her father’s teaching of only facts, he removed the ideal of femininity, this, however,
leaves her unprepared and unable to fulfill the idealized roles society has set out for her. Thus,
Louisa really struggles in the domestic sphere she has been placed in. Dickens reveals this in the
novel when Louisa’s father tries to convince her that it would be rational for her to marry
Bounderby, Louisa looks out of the window at the factory chimneys and observes: “There seems
to be nothing there but languid and monotonous smoke. Yet when the night comes, Fire bursts
out” (Dickens 74). This analogy describes the character of Louisa, a “languid and monotonous”
exterior with emotions repressed inside. It also shows how Louisa can only state a fact about her
surroundings and is unable to convey the true feelings she has inside. However, she still tries to
be a model daughter, wife, and sister. For example, her decision to return to her father’s house
rather than elope with Harthouse demonstrates that while she may be unfeeling, she does not
lack virtue. Additionally, she still aims to fulfill the role of the angel in the house, as seen in the
earlier excerpt from Hard Times comparing Louisa to her home with Mr. Bounderby, which further
reveals how Louisa’s character has a “languid and monotonous”
In addition, the Victorian ideal of femininity, represented in the novel by Rachel and Sissy, creates
a standard expected of women by men and society. Overall, during the nineteenth century,
women were seen as lesser than men and were expected to conform to standards set by men
and society. Lastly, Victorian women were practicing the Jesuit value of men and women for and
with others through the many qualities and characteristics expected of them during the nineteenth
century. Further, in accordance with the Jesuit thought on inequality, people need to avoid and
help reform the social structures that dehumanize individuals and groups, devalue human life,
break up families, alienate races, escalate violence, discriminate

Unhappy marriage

There are many unhappy marriages in Hard Times and none of them are resolved
happily by the end. Mr. Gradgrind's marriage to his feeble, complaining wife is not
exactly a source of misery for either of them, but neither are they or their children
happy. The Gradgrind family is not a loving or affectionate one. The main unhappy
marriage showcased by the novel is between Louisa Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby.
Louisa marries him not out of love but out of a sense of duty to her brother, Tom, the
only person in the world she loves and who wheedles her into saying "yes" because he
works for Bounderby and wants to improve his chances at rising in the world.
 Bounderby's intentions regarding Louisa seem a bit creepy at first, but he turns out to
mean no harm to her (except that he deprives her of any marital affection). The only
solution to this bad marriage, once Louisa has escaped the hands of Jem Harthouse,
is for Louisa to live at home the rest of her days. She will never be happy with another
man or have the joy of children, though Dickens hints she will find joy in playing with
Sissy's future children.

Stephen Blackpool, too, is damned to unhappiness in this life as a result of his marriage.
The girl who seemed so sweet when he married her many years ago becomes, by a gradual
process, a depraved drunk who is the misery of his life. She periodically returns to
Coketown to haunt Stephen and is, as he sees it, the sole barrier to the happiness he might
have had in marrying Rachael. Mrs. Sparsit (an elderly lady who lives with Mr. Bounderby
for some time) was also unhappily married, which is how she came to be Mr. Bounderby's
companion before he marries Louisa.

utilitarianism

The theme of utilitarianism is presented in the novel through the characters of Mr. Thomas
Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby. Although both of them are practical, they suppose that
human happiness depends on the acquisition of money and material resources and not
human relations, compassion, and love. That is why Mr. Bounderby supports the education
that places stress upon facts and practicality, abandoning his mother. Mr. Gradgrind,
however, receives a rude shock when he sees his daughter becoming a victim of his
pragmatism and his son dying away from the home town after he becomes a criminal in the
bank robbery case.

Symbols

Smoke serpents
these smoke serpents also represent the moral blindness of factory owners like Bounderby.
Because he is so concerned with making as much profit as he possibly can, Bounderby
interprets the serpents of smoke as a positive sign that the factories are producing goods and
profit. Thus, he not only fails to see the smoke as a form of unhealthy pollution, but he also fails
to recognize his own abuse of the Hands in his factories.

Pegasus

pegasus represents a world of fantasy and beauty from which the young Gradgrind children are
excluded.
Fire
Her inner fire symbolizes the warmth created by her secret fancies in her otherwise lonely,
mechanized existence. Consequently, it is significant that Louisa often gazes into the fireplace
when she is alone, as if she sees things in the flames that others—like her rigid father and
brother—cannot see.

Staircase
This imaginary staircase represents Mrs.Sparsit’s belief that Louisa is going to elope with
Harthouse and consequently ruin her reputation forever.

Literary device
Anaphora

Anaphora is a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses,
phrases, or sentences.
Metaphore

A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two non-similar

things. As a literary device, metaphor creates implicit comparisons without the express
use of “like” or “as.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary device used to give an indication or hint of what

is to come later in the story.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech you use when you want to exaggerate
what you mean or emphasize a point. It comes from the Greek word to
mean “excess”.
Imagery
Imagery is descriptive language used to appeal to a reader’s senses: touch,
taste, smell, sound, and sight. By adding these details, it makes our writing more
interesting.