Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Hard Times (1854)

1. You may notice that Hard Times is dedicated or inscribed to Thomas Carlyle, the author of the essay "Signs of the Times" and the longer work, Past and Present . In the latter, Carlyle complains that communal ties once part of the feudal economy of the Middle Ages have given way to unregulated entrepreneurship (a laissez-faire , liberal economy) and "Every man for himself." Carlyle mourns the passing of old courtly Chivalry, a military code of bravery and courtesy governing the behavior of knights and longs for it to be revived in "a noble Chivalry of Work … far nobler than any Chivalry of Fighting was."
Consider the behavior of
a. Josiah Bounderby to Mrs. Sparsit, Louisa Gradgrind, Sissy Jupe, Stephen Blackpool.
b. Thomas Gradgrind Sr. to Sissy Jupe.
c. James Harthouse to Louisa.
To what extent is each man noble in his behavior if by "noble" we mean concerned with the wellbeing of others rather than himself, and with the wellbeing of the broader community rather than with his own immediate family?

2. Make yourself a chart of the following class designations and as you work your way through the novel and encounter new characters, write their names in the right class category. To help you with this, I've provided an illustration from Austen's Persuasion wherever possible:
--aristocracy (e.g. Sir Walter Elliot)
--gentility (including landed gentry e.g. The Musgroves)
--professional and upper middle class (e.g. Admiral Croft or Capt. Wentworth)
--industrial, mercantile, entrepreneurial
--lower middle-class, office workers (e.g. Mr. Shepherd, Sir Walter's agent)
--working class (e.g. Mrs. Smith's nurse).
Sometimes you may encounter a character whose social mobility makes their class status volatile. Circle this name and signal the direction of the mobility.

3. Hard Times is dense with lively imagery: for instance, images from the Bible; images of fire and light; images of battle; and images of buildings or architectural structures. Pick out one such cluster of images and noting each occasion it recurs in the novel, consider the role it plays in conveying the novel's chief concerns.

4. Incidents involving the Circus seem frequently to unsettle the many oppositions contained in Hard Times , such as work/entertainment, laughter/tears, disguise/revelation, individualism/community. What do you think this suggests about the chief structuring opposition of the novel: fact/fancy?

5. Women in this novel often seem to be paired or juxtaposed: Rachel with Mrs. Blackpool; Sissy Jupe with Louisa Gradgrind; Louisa Bounderby with Mrs. Sparsit; and so on. What are some of the effects of these pairings?

6. By the conclusion of Persuasion we had witnessed the pairing of at least three women with male partners each of whom seemed implicitly to match the moral worth of his female mate. These matches give us some indication of the moral and personal values Jane Austen encourages women to cultivate.
At the end of Hard Times Dickens offers a concluding narrative for each of his characters. What do these conclusions suggest about his views on
1. womanly and manly conduct, and
2. class relations?