Hard Times by Charles Dickens | Brief Plot Summary

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Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe explains the plot summary of Charles Dickens's novel Hard Times.

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Charles Dickens's novel Hard Times centers on a cast of characters making their way in a newly industrialized England.

Resolutely rational schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind attempts to raise his son Tom and daughter Louisa in this perilous environment and takes abandoned Sissy Jupe under his wing.

Thomas's emphasis on fact and reason come into conflict with the realities of human interaction. This includes his daughter's unhappiness with her coerced marriage as well as his son's descent into crime as a result of his dissatisfaction with his station.

The characters deal with thwarted love, the desire for divorce, lack of means, and a new move toward unionization among repressed industrial workers.

Industrial Coketown epitomizes the new reality of the Victorian era. While the advent of technological innovation had sped up the pace of progress, grinding poverty still remained and urban life was difficult for many.

Famous British author Charles Dickens’s Hard Times was first published in 1854. The poverty Dickens faced as a child inspired Hard Times and helped readers connect to his writing, which earned him great, lasting popularity. Dickens's signature cocktail of topical material and human foibles brings the growing pains of western civilization to life.

The novel Hard Times contains many enduring themes, including industrialization, as humanity gets lost as business owners ignore poor working conditions; reason and imagination, as people must balance practical work and study with the wonders of the imagination; and love, as the bonds of love—in romance or family—transcend logic and make life worthwhile. Important symbols include the circus, the bottle of nine oils, and the loom.

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