Hard Times
(Charles Dickens)

The one thing needful

The source of this phrase is the story in the New Testament where Martha complains to Jesus that Mary is neglecting her duties while Martha does all the work serving the guests. Jesus’ loving reply to Martha is to release her worries about material needs, for Mary, he tells her, has chosen the “one thing … needful”—the spiritual. As the title of Dickens’s first chapter, this is obviously meant to be tongue in cheek. The orientation of Coketown’s leading citizens is anything but spiritual as they do their best to choke the seeds of imagination and wonder with facts, facts, facts.

The inadequacy of worldly wisdom

Despite the success it brings to those willing to sell their souls to its concepts, the worldly wisdom of Coketown’s fact men creates a gaping void in the lives of those who, for one reason of another, buy into its philosophy. It allows for no imagination, no wonder, no self-expression or amusement, and little in the way of enjoyment. Its mode is calculation; it’s focus, so-called hard facts; it’s motivation, self-interest. It is a clear recipe for unhappiness.

The power of love

This is perhaps the most prominent theme of the book. It stands in stark juxtaposition to the cold materialism of the fact-minded men who govern Coketown. It is not the recipe for worldly success, but it has an undeniable power of its own—a power that can supersede the amorality and self-interest that often accompany the worldly mindset. Its power rests in its essential residence in the human soul as a key ingredient for happiness. What the fact-men missed was that love is a human need that will eventually assert itself, just as the flames burst forth in the night from Coketown’s chimneys.

As you sow, so shall you reap

This is another fundamental principle of Christianity that is immediately evident in the titles of the first two of the novel’s three main books: Sowing and Reaping. The point is that it is not only our actions that produce inevitable results but our thinking. The thoughts we adopt inform our lives by shaping how we approach our own minds and emotions, which in turn affects our relationships and decisions. Here, Dickens does not sugarcoat things but creates a story in which each character’s ultimate fate is the logical outcome, both materially and spiritually, of the character’s choices and history.

Sifting the wheat from the chaff

This principle is also called “garnering,” and it is the title and main subject of the third of Hard Times’ books. It is a continuation of the sowing and reaping analogy, and it refers to the New Testament parable of the wheat and the tares, in which both the bad and good crops have grown up side by side and are now being separated, the one to be stored, the other to be destroyed. Dickens’s take on this is not to be purely understood in terms of the characters’ lives, but of how their thoughts and beliefs ultimately affected their lives: in the end, the good in their thinking survived, while the selfish and untrue was destroyed.

The humble shall be exalted, and the proud shall be brought low

Similar to the previous concept, the main idea here is that those who (especially falsely) exalt themselves will fall by the weight of their own actions, while those who follow a humble, truthful path will gain accordingly, either in happiness, stability, or some other benefit. Again, Dickens does not try to oversimplify what that means in practice. Those who choose good do not necessarily achieve great wealth and live happily ever after, but they do gain an inner comfort, peace, and understanding that they may not have possessed before. On the other hand, those who choose selfishly lose more consistently and thoroughly. Their misdeeds are discovered, and their actions are repaid in full, either through sickness, death, loss, or banishment. In some cases, the results are more complex. The innocent suffer through the mistakes or misdeeds of others, but even if their own lives pay in ways that seem unfair, they gain through spiritual growth.

The importance of moral structure and true innocence

Closely tied to the idea of love is the importance of moral structure. It eventually becomes clear that Mr. Gradgrind naturally assumed a moral structure, though he did not teach it directly. He also had a deep affection for his children, and in his case, his insistence on facts was based on his desire to provide for his children and teach them a sound way of living. What he took for granted, though, did not come through sufficiently in his teaching and thus resulted in such emotional and moral monstrosities as Bitzer and young Tom Gradgrind, Mr. Gradgrind’s own son. Mr. Harthouse was another example of this lack of moral structure, and the destructiveness and inadequacy of his philosophy was clearly demonstrated in its awful effect on Louisa and on Harthouse’s inability to resist the loving and truthful demands of Sissy Jupe, a true innocent.

The importance of wonder and imagination

Another element in the human makeup that was ignored by the philosophy of facts was the need for wonder, imagination, and amusement. The symbol of this was the traveling horseback-riding show, which excited the children’s curiosity early on but which was forbidden by their father. The analogy of sparks flying, in both the hearth and the chimneys, was another way of portraying the smoldering fire of imagination that lay buried in a soul such as Louisa’s. Mr. Sleary, the horseback riders’ ringleader, thoroughly understood this human love of enjoyment and wonder. He knew that it was not a frivolous side issue but a deep need in the human psyche that also demanded fulfillment and release.

The precariousness of lies

Another of the major themes in Hard Times is the idea that inadequate philosophies and lies, to sustain themselves, need to be built upon more lies and half-truths. Mr. Bounderby was the worst case of this. His entire life and success were built on outright lies that he trumpeted to the rest of Coketown on a regular basis. His lies were all-encompassing: they included both his own history and his concepts of others. Tom Gradgrind and Mrs. Sparsit were close runners-up in the lying game. Tom had to cover his tracks in order to steal, and Mrs. Sparsit spent most of her energy either keeping up her aristocratic sense of self or tearing down anyone who got in the way. Mr. Harthouse was slightly more complex. The fundamental inadequacy of his beliefs and lifestyle became evident when finally confronted by true innocence, but he was so thoroughly steeped in them that if he ever possessed any natural innocence or moral sense, it now no longer existed.

The power of mercy and forgiveness

The power of mercy and forgiveness is one of the most profound themes in Hard Times. You might view it as the power of love amplified. Mercy and forgiveness imply that there is some obstacle to the normal (or human) expression of love. To be merciful and to forgive despite trying circumstances is to rise above the merely human to the Divine. The two outstanding examples of this are Old Stephen and Rachael, who despite their hard lives retain a gentleness, kindness, and forbearance that exceed ordinary expectations. Stephen even managed to forgive from the depths of an excruciating pain that ultimately resulted in his death, and for this he received heavenly peace and glory. Of all the residents of Coketown, Rachael was the only one who took pity on Stephen’s wretched wife, a hopeless, insane alcoholic. On a lesser, more human scale was the forgiveness of Mr. Gradgrind and his daughter Louisa of young Tom Gradgrind, who had grown so far from normal human love and truthfulness that the only approach left was forgiveness. But it was a forgiveness that stemmed from genuine love—and therein lay its power to ultimately change his mind.