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rhganci 's review for:
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
Dickens is the conscience of the 19th century, with all its rife changes, but this book perhaps better than any other illustrates how angry and troubled he was at the changes he saw happening. In its pages we have: a schoolmaster named M'Choakumchild; a near-adulterous affair; the death of a man by Stephen Blackpool by falling down a mineshaft. These are not lighthearted images or allegorical figures--they're stark representations of what was going on in England in 1854, in Dickens' view, and the picture is quite unflattering.
The two main plots figure in the portrayal of the two main classes, bourgeoise and proletariat, and its component members. Aside from Stephen Blackpool and Rachael, most of the characters come across as arrogant, evil, deluded, passive-aggressive, etc., by turns--there few characters that enjoy a positive representation throughout the novel. It makes for a rather cynical novel, full of authorial intrusion, moralizing, and sarcasm. Hope comes from death, unless Dickens' heartfelt pleas, voiced variously throughout the chapters, are answered with severe economic and labor reform. Pain--emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual--is a constant, with the most pointed example being the pure and chaste love that Stephen and Rachael enjoy amidst the barriers of poverty and alcoholism, which negate any sort of happy ending for the two of them. That Mrs. Blackpool does not make an appearance after her salvation at the hands of Rachael is simultaneously appropriate and troubling, as it underscores the "hard fact" that not resolutions occur from death, which is an increased likelihood when you live, and more specifically, work, in a place like Coketown.
It's my favorite of Dickens' novels, because I get it--I get what he's saying, I feel what he's feeling, and when I laugh, I know that it's a black laughter that suggests an all-too-accurate picture of what was going on in '54. I love Stephen's final speech, and the way that Dickens uses every aspect of his character, speech, and name to present to us a martyr of the proletariat. I love that Sissy Jupe lays one on the jaw of the aristocrat, who is left to feel one burning iota of shame inherent to his lifestyle. I love it all, and how Dickens makes it real for me to think about 150+ years later. Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens--thanks for the letters.
The two main plots figure in the portrayal of the two main classes, bourgeoise and proletariat, and its component members. Aside from Stephen Blackpool and Rachael, most of the characters come across as arrogant, evil, deluded, passive-aggressive, etc., by turns--there few characters that enjoy a positive representation throughout the novel. It makes for a rather cynical novel, full of authorial intrusion, moralizing, and sarcasm. Hope comes from death, unless Dickens' heartfelt pleas, voiced variously throughout the chapters, are answered with severe economic and labor reform. Pain--emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual--is a constant, with the most pointed example being the pure and chaste love that Stephen and Rachael enjoy amidst the barriers of poverty and alcoholism, which negate any sort of happy ending for the two of them. That Mrs. Blackpool does not make an appearance after her salvation at the hands of Rachael is simultaneously appropriate and troubling, as it underscores the "hard fact" that not resolutions occur from death, which is an increased likelihood when you live, and more specifically, work, in a place like Coketown.
It's my favorite of Dickens' novels, because I get it--I get what he's saying, I feel what he's feeling, and when I laugh, I know that it's a black laughter that suggests an all-too-accurate picture of what was going on in '54. I love Stephen's final speech, and the way that Dickens uses every aspect of his character, speech, and name to present to us a martyr of the proletariat. I love that Sissy Jupe lays one on the jaw of the aristocrat, who is left to feel one burning iota of shame inherent to his lifestyle. I love it all, and how Dickens makes it real for me to think about 150+ years later. Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens--thanks for the letters.