Hard Times
(Charles Dickens)

On the surface, Hard Times is a story about certain key members of the Gradgrind family and those who become closely connected with them as their lives develop. The story is set in Coketown, a fictional industrial town in England, during the Industrial Age. The railroad was still relatively new, working conditions for the average person were deplorable, and pollution—both in terms of noise and grime—was extreme. So was the division between rich and poor, and the poor were viewed with little compassion or understanding.

Mr. Gradgrind, one of the wealthier residents of Coketown, has been closely watching and training his own and the rest of Coketown’s children to think of nothing but useful facts, facts, facts. Any sense of wonder, imagination, or emotion was to be speedily dealt with and discarded. Things like love, enjoyment, and generosity were simply not considered other than to point out their uselessness. Entertainment and imagination were similarly not allowed to be a part of life. Even normally simple descriptions of things such as horses had to have a factual, scientific bent, or they were considered unlearned and off the mark.

As the story unfolds, the results of this type of thinking become apparent. Those trained in the factual way of thinking have difficulty connecting with their own emotions, leading them to make poor life decisions that eventually result in unhappiness and, in some cases, disaster. Louisa, Mr. Gradgrind’s eldest daughter and favorite child, reluctantly marries Josiah Bounderby, an egotistical “self-made” man who is one of Coketown’s wealthiest and most successful citizens. He, too, is a believer in the “facts” philosophy and is a close friend of Mr. Gradgrind. He takes on Gradgrind’s eldest son, Tom, as an apprentice; but Tom’s utter lack of moral structure (morals were not facts) eventually turns him into a thief, liar, and fugitive. Louisa’s stability, too, is almost totally toppled by the advances of one of her father’s and husband’s business associates, Mr. James Harthouse, who falls in love with her and tries to convince her to break her marriage vows. She finds herself on shaky moral and emotional ground, and in desperation she flees to her father’s home, where she pleads for him to save her—but with what? His philosophy led her to this place … how can it possibly save her? Seeing his favorite child, the pride of his system, in this distressed condition, he begins to rethink his approach. Through his experience of this and a number of other events, he ultimately concludes that facts by themselves are not enough and that there is an indefinable quality, called love, that must inform life with a greater sense of humanity and charity.

The story is fleshed out by a number of subplots, including that of the abandoned circus rider’s daughter, Sissy Jupe, who is taken in and raised by the Gradgrind family; the colorful expressiveness of the horse riders’ ring leader, Mr. Sleary, and his group of entertainers; the stories of certain “Hands”—Coketown’s hardworking mill workers (in this case, at a weaving mill)—whose simplicity and benevolence contrast markedly with the coldness and amorality of most of the fact-driven group; the jaded, amoral attitudes of the refined out-of-towner, Mr. James Harthouse; the petty concerns and vindictiveness of Mr. Bounderby’s highborn housekeeper, Mrs. Sparsit; and the mysterious old woman, who appears periodically near Bounderby’s mansion and whose identity is only revealed later in the novel.

All these subplots play into the central concept that human beings need greater motives for their existence than pure self-interest and worldly success—that without a deeper sense of love and truth, and without the human ingredients of wonder and imagination, a life can easily lack meaning, joy, and purpose. It is an openly Christian interpretation as is clear from the titles of the different Books and from certain sections of the novel where the origin of Dickens’s philosophy becomes unmistakable. He regularly makes references to the Bible, but his references never overwhelm the story, and they are integrated in a way that, especially in the context of Victorian England, would seem natural and normal. Today, in a more multicultural time, they might stand out from the text. Alternatively, for those who are ignorant of the specifics of Christian thinking, their source might not be so obvious. It is a tribute, however, to the Christian religion as it was understood by Dickens, that the thoughts and values based on its teachings have such timeless, universal resonance that even the most religiously ignorant reader will draw much that is worthwhile from the book and will hopefully come away from it a richer, more humane person.