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1、Hard TimesRevisionCharles Dickens1812-1870Serialization Weekly in Household Words to include the light of Fancy which is inherent in the human breast. a mere two penny journal, was to be found on every table and in every room, in the palace and the cottage. Percy Fitzgerald.Household Words Whilst Ha
2、rd Times was the weekly serial, the magazine contained articles on divorce, industrialisation, the circus, education political economy etc. The effect was to blur the difference between the fiction of Hard Times and the journalistic pieces. Also when Hard Times was all fact- Stephen and the trade un
3、ion section, Dickens put in articles on the circus.School The teachers at the school are Mr and Mrs MChoakumchild not Mr Gradgrind; he is a business man visiting the school to which he is apparently the patron. The children at the school are all numbered based on a famous school in Manchester. We me
4、et Sissy and Bitzer here.Context Set in 1854 at the height of the Industrial Revolution Urbanisation Poverty, poor sanitary conditions, disease e.g. cholera, typhoid, smallpox, long working hours, dangerous working conditions- One newborn child in six died, and half the children which survived died
5、of whooping cough or diphtheria in Manchester in 1840. ContextSociety had changed from where the home was a site of production by woman (food, clothes etc). In the nineteenth century it became a site of consumption alone. Working class women were forced to work outside the home to support their fami
6、lies which created terrible pressures on mothers. Context Dedicated to Thomas Carlyle, author of The French Revolution Carlyle thought industrialisation was dehumanising the working classes. Like Dickens, he was anti-industrial because he disapproved of its effect in social levelling.Utilitarianism
7、Jeremy Bentham (ethical hedonist) greatest good for the greatest number Felicific calculus-algorithm for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to cause. Gradgrind is the voice of this political philosophy Carlyle called them steam engine intellects. Dickens ta
8、rget is the utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill, Political Economy (1849)-Most influential economics book of the Victorian PeriodDickens Attack on Utilitarianism Dickens attacks the use of statistics and enquiries to determine policy. Dickens attack is surprising in that we are invited to also condem
9、n the kind of thinking and the methods of enquiry and legislation which in fact promoted a large measure of social and industrial reform. Raymond Williams (Cambridge University)Dickens attack So his attack on industrialisation and utilitarianism is not simply about reform, its about individual perso
10、ns against the system. Williams. His philosophy is put into the mouth of Sleary, People cant alwath be a learning or a working. They must be amused.ThemesIndustrialisation vs. natureUtilitarianism and the working of ParliamentFact vs fancyEducationThe self made man WomenFamiliesMoney and CommerceDic
11、kens philosophy He uses Sissy Jupe to show his philosophy in action. The schoolroom contrast of Sissy Jupe and Bitzer is a contrast between the education, practical but often inarticulate, which is gained by living and doing, and the education , highly articulated, which is gained by systemization a
12、nd abstractionThe instinctive, unintellectual, unorganised life is the ground here of genuine feeling, and of all good relationships. Williams.Dickens Style Earlier works exaggerated larger than life characters who do not change they just are. After Martin Chuzzlewit we see characters who are change
13、d by circumstance the plot does not simply move them along it makes some of them into different people. Mini-Saga Write the plot of Hard Times in no more than 50 words.The Mill and the Bank Mr Bounderby Mrs Pegler Mrs Sparsit Lady ScadgersGradgrind FamilyMr and Mrs GradgrindLouisaMalthusJaneAdam Smi
14、thTomSlearys Horse-Riding Signior Jupe Sissy EWB Childers Master KidderminsterThe Factory Stephen Blackpool a hand Rachael a hand Slackbridge-the political agitator and trade unionistAssessment Objectives terminology and accurate writing understanding of text and genre form, structure, language othe
15、r readers opinions context in which texts are written and understood.Disraeli Later, in 1854, Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister (1874-1880), characterised the state of relations between Britains rich and poor in his novel Sybil:Two nations: between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who a
16、re as ignorant of each others habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in.different planets.Women Maxine Berg-Professor of History, University of WarwickWomen counted in the high productivity industries, making up over half of the workers in the textile industry. Although most women worked in domestic service, women could earn higher wages in factories and be more independent.John Ruskin Whilst a conservative like Carlyle, Ruskin, too, was against industrialisation and voiced the
