Hard Times: Struggle Of Fact Vs Imagination And Struggle Between Two C :: essays research papers

Hard Times Struggle of Fact vs Imagination and Struggle Between ii ClassesCharles Dickens novel, Hard Times, is a story of two struggles--thestruggle of fact versus imagination and the struggle between two classes. Ittakes place in Coketown, and industrial-age English city. The novel is splitinto two sections. One deals with the struggle of upper class members ofsociety and their struggle to learn the value of imagination. The otherinvolves a working class man who is confine by those in that upper class whotrap him in a dreary existence.Thomas Gradgrind, the father of Louisa, Tom, and June not only stressesfacts in the classroom in which he teaches, but also at home to his family.Thomas has brought up his children to know nothing but facts. Everything isblack and white,right or wrong-- nothing in between. He discourages suchfanciful motions as going to the circus or having flowered carpet. Everyoneknows, one cannot have flowered carpet. One would trample all over them andthey wou ld balance up dying.In Hard Times, two classes are relevant in Coketown. The upper class,which were few in numbers, are dominant over the middle class, which is biggerin numbers. Stephen Blackpool represents the working class. He is a warm-hearted man trapped in thes run down society. He feels he deserves thismediocre lifestyle. Blackpool was originally employed to a lower place Bounderby, but isfired for standing up for his beliefs. This type of behavior was totallyunacceptable during the period of time as it involved imagination andindependance. Bounderby portrayed himself as a self-made man,when in fact, hehad eveything handed to him with a silver spoon. His mother gave him the verybest of everything, including a wonderful education. This demonstrates that theupper and middle classes were not just two different classes, but two different