Showing results for title "Hard Times", by author "Charles Dickens" in Literary History & Criticism

"Hard Times" by Charles Dickens is a powerful social commentary on the harsh realities of industrialization in 19th-century England. This podcast explores the struggles of factory workers, the stark class divisions, and the dehumanizing effects of utilitarianism. Join us as we dive into the lives of memorable characters like Thomas Gradgrind and Louisa Bounderby, reflecting on themes of education, empathy, and moral responsibility in a mechanized society.

Hard Times, the shortest of Dickens's full-length novels, is set in the fictitious Victorian-England city of Coketown, where facts are the rule and all fancy is to be stamped out. The plot centers around the men and women of the town, some of whom are beaten down by the city's utilitarian ideals and some of whom manage to rise above it. The novel was written in 1854 and was a scathing attack on then-current ideas of utilitarianism, which Dickens viewed as a selfish and at times oppressive philosophy. Perhaps the novel's best features are its clever, ironic narration and the larger-than-life ...