Hard Time

            The Hard Time
                        -Charles Dickens

Hard Times was written by esteemed English Victorian-era author Charles Dickens. The work was first published in the weekly periodical known as Household Words from April to August of 1854 and then published in book format that same year. Hard Times is considered a dystopian satire of the Victorian genre. The importance of one's imagination and the dangers of industrialization are two main themes and takeaways of the novel. Dickens reportedly used his novel to offer commentary on the horrors he'd witnessed in the factories of England and the issues with growing industrialization and its effects on people. He was known to use his novels to help shed light on various social conditions and problems.

       Hard Times is Dickens’s most political novel. Set in the industrial north of England, in Coketown, he examines the lives of working people, who are taught by the capitalists Gradgrind and Bounderby to think only of the facts of life and not to indulge in imagination. Gradgrind’s own children have been so educated and as a result are dysfunctional and disconnected from their feelings. Only the travelling circus company of Sleary seems to offer any hope of humanity in Coketown. Hard Times is a deeply moving story written in anger to strike a blow for the victims of the dehumanising processes of industry.

Characters in Hard Times. :-

The characters in Hard Times Dickens represent people from various socioeconomic backgrounds and positions within society. Family dynamics, romantic relationships, and work relationships interconnect the different characters.

The main characters, with relevant brief descriptions for each, are as follows:

• Thomas Gradgrind: strict, fact-driven superintendent of the community school 
• Mr. Josiah Bounderby: wealthy, boastful, loud, respected factory and bank owner; friend of Gradgrind
• Louisa Gradgrind/Bounderby: daughter of Thomas and wife of Mr. Bounderby; idealistic and imaginative
• Tom Gradgrind: son of Thomas, who was the apprentice of Bounderby at the bank; a known gambler and drunkard whose imagination was suppressed by his father
• Sissy (Cecelia) Jupe: a student at Gradgrind's school; abandoned by her father who worked at the circus; ends up living with the Gradgrinds
• Stephen Blackpool: worker in Bounderby's mill; married to an alcoholic woman, but in love with Rachael
• Rachael: kind and honest worker at Bounderby's factory
• James Harthouse: a crafty man with hopes of joining Parliament; seduced Louisa.
• Mrs. Sparsit: housekeeper for Bounderby

Review on Hindi play based on the novel "Hard Time" written by Charles Dickens.

The book Hard Time is devided into three parts. Like.,

      1). Sueing
      2). Rearing
      3). Garnering

Part :- 1 Sueing
 

The Movie is opens with the conversation of student and teacher at the school. The teacher teaches about the fact. 

 First line of the novel.,

"Now, what I want is, Fact.Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts".

Here in the first line we can get the idea that the novel's focus is only upon the fact. And we can see that at the end of the story Mr. Gradgrind ruined the future or we can say life of their both of the children's,Louisa and Tom.

 

   At the starting,teacher (Thomas Gradgrind) is teaching about fact to their students but Cecelia(Sissy) Jupe,comes from circus. She has a doubt about this topic and they have starts conversation on this topic,and then after Tom and Louisa comes at the stage and they are taking with each other. Louisa talks that when she looks fire,she imagines that life is too short ,but her father is against the imagination. He things that only logic and fact is important in life not other emotions ,love and other thing.

    Louisa is very educated and her mind is also emaginative but she follows her father's thought of mind. One day,after the arguments of Cicily and Thomas Gradgrind and Mr. Chokamchand,(a school teacher) they go to the circus of Cicily's father but,her father Cicily's father leaves her and walks away from Cicily. Cicily cries for this,that her father leaves her and go far away from her father wants to that,his daughter get best education but Cicily doesn't get education,because she interested on her father's work that's why, Cicily's father leaves her and go far away from her,and then after Mr. Gradgrind offers her to stay at his home but he demands if she wants to come at his house then she has to break all the relations with circus and it's workers,Cicily accepts this demand and leaves everything and stay at the house of Mr. Gradgrind.

   After some of the days, father (Mr.  Gradgrind) meets his friend Mr. Bounderby , a very rich man. Mr. Gradgrind wants her daughter Louisa to marry him, he thinks that if she marries him then she leaves a happy life because Mr.Bounderby is a very well known and wealthy man. When he tells this news to Louisa,she accepts the proposal and marries him because she thinks that if she marries him then her brother(Tom) can get a Job and is in a good position and her father's thoughts are also follows. In this marriage Cicily tries to stop her to do this marriage because Mr. Bounderby is very aged ,and through this marriage she is going to ruined her future,that's why Cicily doesn't want that Louisa marry to Mr. Bounderby,but Cicily can not stop him to do marriage with Mr. Bounderby. 

    

Part :- 2.  Rearing

   This part starts with a conversation between Mr.Aadamsmith and Louisa Bounderby on the marriage of Louisa and Mr.Bounderby. Mr.Adamsmith has a query about the marriage of Louisa and Mr.Bounderby and when he tries to find the reason behind that , Louisa tells reasons why she is doing this marriage. And then after,there is a union on Mr.Bounderby's factory and the workers of that factory are doing this union,but Mr.Bounderby doesn't know anything about this union and he wants to know that's why he wants that Mr.Steaphan Blackpool (honorable worker of his factory) becomes a leader of this union and know everything and then give all the information to Mr.Bounderby but Steaphan says no,because he doesn't wants to cheat with workers. Because of this reason, Mr.Bounderby fires him from his job but Louisa is unhappy for this ,and that's why she wants to help Steaphan and she helps him to give some money. Here in this point, we can see Charles Dickens taking the side of working class people rather than Industrialists.

    After some days, Mr.Bounderby's house has been stolen by Tom (Louisa's Brother) , but he has a doubt on Steaphan. And then after Mrs.Gradgrind dies. Because Louisa helps Steaphan ,Mrs.Sparsit wants to lose the faith of Louisa for Mr.Bounderby and that's why she follows her everywhere. When she gets some news about Louisa ,she tells Mr.Bounderby. That's why Mr.Bounderby goes to the house of Louisa's father to complain about his daughter,but he tells him that Louisa is here in my house and she comes here at night because she is not well. But Mr.Bounderby doesn't understand the situation of his wife and even gives the timeline to his wife that if she will not come back in time then she can never enter his house. 

   She never goes back to Mr.Bounderby's house and she stays at his father's house. She is so tensed for her life , her brother's life and for all the situations which are going to happen in their life. 

Part :- 3 Garnering

  During this time, Cicily takes care of Louisa.  Mr.Gradgrind feels his mistake or guilt because his thoughts ruined his children's life. Louisa tells everything about her life that she is not happy with him and she doesn't want to live with him. After some time,Jane (sister of Louisa) comes and tells Louisa that when she sees the fire ,she feels that life is so beautiful. Then after she realised the importance of love and imagination in life. Without love and imagination life is like ,body without soul, flower without smell. Here Mr.Bounderby fires Mr.Sparsit from her job. 

     When Cocily, Mr.Gradgrind and Louisa know about the thief that Tom Gradgrind has stolen from Me.Bounderby's house,Cicily hides Tom and sends him to her father's sircus. And then she gives this news to Louisa and Mr.Gradgrind then they go there in the sircus to send to another country. 

     At that time,Bitzer(a student of Mr.Gradgrind) comes and tells them that he tells everything to Mr.Bounderby and he arrests Tom. He is doing this because he learns from his teacher (Mr.Gradgrind) that logic and reason is important in everything so that he wants to arrest Tom. But this is a part of Cicily's plan and then they succeed to hide Tom and handle the situation.

        At the last ,when Cicily hides Tom, this thing is too wrong in this novel because if Tom gets the punishment or arrested by police then only he realizes his mistake and he feels guilt for what he had done otherwise he never gets the idea that what he had done was for his personal lust. At the end of the novel,when Bitzer comes and he arrests Tom, in this scene we judge the character of Botzer as a bad character because he is doing wrong or we can say that he doesn't support our protagonist's plan and he takes a stand against our protagonist.

      At the end, we can get the idea from the novel that feelings ,love , emotions, and imagination play a very big role in our life. Without these things we can not live life happily. So, not only logic and facts are important in life but love and other things are also very important in our life.

Word Count :- 1650

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