`Hard Times` byCharles Dickens

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9 December 2006

Criticism of Industrial England in Hard Times by Charles Dickens

In Hard Times Charles Dickens criticizes several aspects of life among the lower classes working in factories in England during the nineteenth century . This will examine three of the subject Dickens condemns in Hard Times : Grandgrindism , the divorce laws in England at the time and bad education for children

Hard Times is set in Coketown , England "It was a town of red brick , or of brick that

would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it . It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys , out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever . It had a black canal in it , and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye (Dickens , 28 . Coketown is typical of the industrialized factory towns that grew under the concept of "Grandridnism " a term Dickens coined from a composite of popular philosophies of the day : utilitarianism , cutthroat capitalism , and self-interest among members of the upper classes

Dickens uses his character Stephen Blackpool to censure both the unions and the laws in England . Blackpool refuses to join the union that has formed in Coketown , consequently he is blackballed by the union and unable to find work even though he is an excellent worker . Here Dickens seems to be replacing one taskmaster , the company owners with another the union , both of whom are more interested in their own interests than that of the workers . Blackpool 's troubles are increased because of his marriage . His wife "went bad " and "took to drinking , left off working sold the furniture , pawned the clothes , and played old Gooseberry (Dickens , 95 . Unfortunately Blackpool is unable to get a divorce . To do so he would "have to go to Doctors ' Common with a suit , and you 'd have to go to a court of Common Law with a suit , and you 'd have to go to the House of Lords with a suit , and you 'd have to get an Act of Parliament to enable you to marry again , and it would cost you (if it was a case of very plain sailing , I suppose from a thousand to fifteen hundred pound (Dickens , 99 . Each of these tasks was beyond the means of Blackpool the combination of them was staggering . Clearly only the rich can get a divorce . When Blackpool expresses dismay at the legal requirements 'Tis just a muddle a 'toogether , an ' the sooner I am dead , the better (Dickens , 99 , he is chastised "Pooh , pooh ! Don 't you talk nonsense , my good fellow " said Mr . Bounderby "about things you don 't understand and don 't you call the institutions of your country a muddle , or you 'll get yourself into a real muddle one of these fine Here Dickens is criticizing not only the divorce laws , but any laws that unfairly discriminate against the lower classes so much that they would...