olde_fashioned

Title: Hard Times
Written by: Charles Dickens
Genre: British Literature, Fiction, Classics

Who was the hero of this book? As Thackeray’s Vanity Fair is called the Novel without a Hero, I likewise tried to decide who Charles Dickens intended as the protagonist of this book. Just when I finally decided on Lousia, she met Mr. Harthouse, and then I was a bit flummoxed. Cecilia Jupe, anyone? Only her part was so small...

WARNING! Spoilers follow!

Postitive Elements:

~ I really liked the character of Sissy Jupe. She was sweet, loyal, and steadfast, and loved selflessly. Even when others treated her abominably, she bore it like a saint! (but don’t worry, her aunt wasn’t in the way, and didn’t die. Lol. Please excuse E3 reference!) Even though she was “less learned” than say, Lousia, her naivete and sweetness contrasted strongly with Lousia’s bitterness.

~ Stephen Blackpool. Need I say any more? The man was a model citizen. And I suspect a distant cousin of Mr. Rochester’s. ;-P lol. I liked him and Rachael a lot, and I thought their relationship was touching. I felt sorry for him when he had to leave Coketown (not that I blame him) when he was abandoned by his class. People can be so cruel.

~ The life of the factory workers and the whole industrial town theme is quite interesting to me, *coughNorth&Southcough* so I enjoyed the different portrayal and picture of such a life.

Negative Elements:

~ Josiah Bounderby is DISGUSTING!!! I can just picture a short, fat, bald, greasy and slimey creep in a cheap suit. *gag* Sorry, but he really repulsed me. Every pompous speech was an odious method of torture for me. (okay, so I’m exaggerating a little…) But he was such a lying windbag that I wanted to punch him in the nose every other page. I think Lousia got dropped on the head as a baby in order to even consider marrying such a dolt.

~ Mrs. Sparsit is a puzzle. I couldn’t really figure her out. Did she, or did she not, like Mr. Bounderby? If she did, then why did she call him a noodle? If she didn’t then why put up with him for so long? I really don’t get it. I did get a laugh out of her Corinthian features and beaked nose, though. ;-P

~ Mr. Gradgrind. Really, can anyone consider him anything but horrible? Granted he seems to care for his children AFTER he’s ruined them emotionally, but I really think his selfish poundings of “Fact, fact, fact!” did a world of harm. (“Gee,” one who has actually read the book for themselves might say. “What a genius olde_fashioned is -- she managed to figure that out!” *snort*) I wonder if Dickens didn’t believe that “knowledge was power”? Or rather that there can be too much of a good thing.

Conclusion:

You know, this was the first Dickens I’d ever read, and I admittedly had a bit of difficulty getting used to his style. Not to disparage him any, it took me longer to get used to Jane Austen since Sense & Sensibility was my first exposure to her novels, and the same with G.A. Henty. Dickens certainly has his own “flavour” and as I heard someone else express it so quaintly, he was clearly getting paid by the word. ;-P But several times, when he was more serious, I was downright impressed by the eloquent beauty of his phrases, especially when describing an object. I’d like to know if there are any novels of his that have less of the comedic attempts and more of the serious and realistic. (anyone?)

I suspect that different people could get different “messages” out of this book. I was thinking of what exactly Dickens was trying to convey, and my humble opinion he was trying to illustrate the dangers of depriving human beings of creativity, imagination, love, and affection. All work and no play, if you will. Also, from what little I know about Dickens’ childhood, working in a blacking factory and all that, I couldn’t help but wonder if the underlying theme of “Fact, fact, fact!” was intended to mirror his own experiences. I caught one actual references to blacking bottles, and there were countless mentionings of the importance of a happy and carefree childhood with proper amounts of imagination. I don’t know. I probably tend to read too much into an author’s actual life being inserted into their works, but I can’t help it sometimes. After all, they *do* do it often. But was Dickens doing it?

To be brutally honest, this book is not in my top 10. (*hides* sorry Katherine dear!) But, I will most certainly say that I liked it enough to persevere and I will be reading more Dickens in the future. We own both A Tale of Two Cities and Bleak House (hehehe -- good excuse to rent the mini-series!!!!) and I’d like to read those eventually. So, I guess you could say I’m a Dickens fan now. :-D