I. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. 1. The impact on the society. 2. The great changes as after-effects of the Revolution.
II. Hard Times an industrial noval. 1. Coketown an odinary town of that time: a. great economic changes in the town; b. Josiah Bounderby the embodiment of a powerful bourgeois 2. Political changes: a.
the necessity of reforms; b. trade unions; c. relationships between classes. 3. Ideological and moral changes: a. utilitarian attitude; b. morrally corrupted upper class; c. imagination in peoples lives; d.
family relationships. III. Hard Times is an analysis of Industrialism. Love versus reality The Industrial Revolution started in the 19th century and became a turning point in world history. The Industrial Revolution had a great impact on society. It gave the impulse to the great and impetuous progress and changed the way people worked, travelled, acquired food, and organized their living space. It led to a profound change in European society in the 19th century.
A key power source of the Industrial Revolution was steam power. Technological innovations gave rise to the factory system and the traditional agrarian economy was replaced by one dominated by machinery and manufacturing. It marked the price in human terms was high and the result was a fundamental change in the structure and values of society. It gave the birth to a new system of relationships capitalism. Capitalism brought a new value system, where individual worth and self-esteem are measured in monetary terms. It was a time of aggressive economic individualism. The author compares time in Coketown with machinery.
The Essay on The Industrial Revolution
There are many similarities between the industrial revolution and the technological revolution that is still progressing as I write this paper. These similarities range from rapid growth to that it is improving ways of life, or is it? The technological revolution would have not even begun if the industrial revolution didnt occur. Because after the industrial revolution, people thought that they ...
He emphasizes that time was measured by means of how much material wrought up or how much fuel consumed and how much money made . Bk. II, Ch. 11 In Hard Times Charles Dickens revealed the extraordinary historical changes brought by the industrial revolution. In one of his novel Dickens stated with “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” The Industrial Revolution can be viewed as the triumph of the bourgeoisie; but a lot of people (workers) were under the social and economic pressures.
The events took place in the fictitious industrial town of Coketown. Charles Dickens chose a fictitious name for the town with the purpose to show that the way of life like in Coketown could be found in any industrial city of that time. The powerful thing in Coketown was facts. There were nothing else exept facts. They were everywhere in the material aspect as well as in the immaterial. Bk.
I, Ch. 5. It seems that everything in the town has practical value, as well as people who inhabit it. From the very beginning the reader meet Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby, ordinary inhabitants. Dickens discribes them as practical men, men of facts Bk.
I, Ch. 5 Josiah Bounder is the embodiment of the aggressive money-making and power-seeking person. He was portrayed by Dickens as a greedy and individualistic, self-serving capitalist . Such persons were a driving force of the Industrial Revolution. Bounderby became a manifestation of Gradgrinds and Choakumchilds philosophy of “fact”. He represents all that is wrong with industrial society. The author shows Josiah Bounder as a man who has wisdom of the Head; but he has no idea about wisdom of the Heart.” Bk.
III, Ch. 1 It seems that people like Bounderby do not have heart and act only with their selfish motives. He aspires to greater wealth and power appears to do so with and must forfeit the ability to love or be compassionate. Dickens showed that managers, such as Bounderby, unjustly live in the lap of luxury at the expense of the workers. The author emphasized that working people lived in the hardest working part of Coketown. The part was like ugly citadel.
The Essay on Long Hours Sweatshops People Working
The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, " are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?" this article goes on to ...
The people who made a lot of beautiful things for the rich lived in the part Nature was as strongly bricked out as killing airs and gases were bricked in. Bk. II, Ch.10 Working people and their children had no chance to see the beauty of the world: they lived in an ugly place and worked at factories in bad conditions. Factory work meant long hours, backbreaking jobs, unsafe conditions, and low pay. In Hard Times the reader can see a common picture of hard-working labourers, who toil long hours for little pays. Though it is known from the history that the Industrial Revolution resulted in an improved standard of living for most of the working poor; but the process was slow. The idea of the book is that a campaign for reform of working conditions should be presented.
The new working conditions led to political changes. Working people organized first trade unions. Stephen Blackpool spoke to his fellow-sufferers and fellow-workmen and called them to unite as one power. He said that it was the very time to do it. Working people should unite and struggle against those who treated them bad. Bk.
I, Ch. 4 Most of all working people thought about struggle against their oppressors, crumble into dust the oppressors that too long have battened upon the plunder of our families, upon the God-created glorious rights of Humanity. Bk. I, Ch. 4 The cold-hearted businessman like Bounderby know all of the bricks in Coketown, but little about the concerns of individual people. He avoids fraternization and social contact with the lower class people such as Stephen Blackpool. Blackpool is a representative of working class, so called the Hands. But in spite of his poverty he is equipped with perfect morals, always abiding by his promises, and he is always thoughtful and considerate of others.
New political and economic relationships influenced the ideology of the generation. Most of people represented the utilitarian attitude. It was a selfish philosophy and it was expressed, in Bitzer’s response, in the plot untying, to Gradgrind’s appeal for compassion; in the education of the children at the time. The philosophy to create contempt between the millowners and workers (the best example is Josiah Bounderby); in terms of education, it creates teachers whose imaginations had been neglected, due to an emphasis on facts. From the very beginning of the book Mr. Gradgrind said that the only important thing for him is Facts. Mr.
The Essay on Sherlock Holmes Doyle People Time
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, he had no idea that his creation would become on of the most read and talked about fiction characters ever. Doyle himself did not even think that the Sherlock Holmes stories were good literature, but as he found out, people were not interested in the quality of his writing but rather being entertained by the world's most famous detective. Holmes ...
Gradgrind was sure that children should be taught nothing but Facts. Mr. Gradgrind compared facts with roots that are the main part of any plant. He was strongly sure that only Facts would be of service to children. Bk. I, Ch.
1 Alongside with the great changes in conditions there was a change in moral aspects. The wealthy in this novel is portrayed as being morally corrupt. According to Dickens, prosperity runs parallel to morality at that time. The author showed the moral monster Mr. Bounderby and the cynical aristocrat James Harthouse as an example. On the opposite spectrum, Stephen Blackpool and Sissy (Cecilia Jupe) were portrayed as people of perfect morals, always thoughtful and considerate of others. In Hard Times Dickens emphasized the importance of imagination in life.
He showed that the world around was based mainly on material values. But such attitude corrupts humans soul. The sense of people’s life is not only in collecting of material facts and statistical analysis. Most of all it should be said that the desire to possess more wealth led a lot of young people to commit a crime, as Tom Gradgrind did. Dickens depicts the Circus who has so little for Plain Fact. Sissy Jupe, a working-class circus performer, embodies imagination and hope, though it was suppressed by the Gradgrind school. In his work Dickens wants to emphasize that although capitalism and free markets dictate that there will always be winners and losers, a compassionate and truly human society should strive to benefit all classes of its citizens. The Industrial Revolution marked the break of a middle class.
It changed the structure of society redistributed the roles of gender in families (the first model of the traditional family); though the role of a father in the family dominated. Family relationships are examined on Thomas Gradgrinds family. He enforced an artless existence upon his own children, Louisa and Tom. It was a time of mismatch when parents wanted their children to marry more wealthy and prosperous men of a new social status. Thomas Gradgrind made Louisa marry Josiah Bounderby who is three decades her elder. At the end of the story he became aware of the nonsense of his own schemes. But his children were unhappy.
The Essay on Should Parents Spend More Time with Their Children
In China, both of the parents have their jobs. With the development of economy, people tend to pursue high quality living conditions. Most of the parents try their best to offer their children comfortable circumstances, but they seldom have time to stay with their children. In my point of view, no matter how busy they are, they should make the best use of their time to stay with their children. ...
Louisa only really loves her brother and considers herself unhappy. At the end of the story Louisa came to conclusion that Sissy was very happy. Sissy was able to love and to give her love to others. Children knew it and love Sissy faithfully. Louisa understood that Sissy was able to beautify their (childrens) lives of machinery and reality…. Bk.
III, Ch. 37 The Industrial Revolution brought many changes. To view the revolution as a whole, it is evident that the positive aspects completely out-weigh the negative aspects. In Hard Times one can find more analysis of Industrialism, rather than experience of it. It is a thorough-going and creative examination of the dominant philosophy of industrialism and a great judgement of social attitudes.
Bibliography:
Archibald C., Coolidge.
Charles Dickens as Serial Novelist. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1967. Charles, Dickens. Hard Times. Wordsworth: Printing Press, 1854. Dinny, Thorold.
Introduction to Hard Times. Wordsworth: Printing Press. 1995. John F., Wilson. British Business History: 1720-1994. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1995. Raymond, Williams.
The Industrial Novels:Hard Times. Dickens Studies Annual, vol. 5, AMS Press, Inc., 1979. Robert, E. Lougy. Dickens’s Hard Times: The Romance as Radical Literature. Dickens Studies Annual, vol. 2, AMS Press, Inc., 1979..
