Jessica Daubenspeck

Thursday, March 1 class period started with a reward quiz on the second part of Hard Times. Number four had a very clever joke answer, but number five had no correct answer, so everyone got a free point.

We started with a large group discussion after the quiz. The discussion centered on themes in the text and how they relate to the Condition of England question. Dickens was writing in large part because of the difficult times in the “Hungry 40s”, though things are looking up when he writes Hard Times in the 1850s. Stephen Blackpool and Rachael stand for the poor and working class. Dickens is sympathetic to them, though only the ones in England. The economy is getting better, but, philosophically, worker’s rights are still an issue, though a less pressing one. Dickens was especially inspired by the Preston strike, which he went to write about. The solemn, non-violent conduct of the strikers impressed him. Stephen Blackpool may have been representative of a more conservative point of view, since he disagrees with the union. His ultimate fate may have been commentary on the need for unions, since he dies after refusing to join, though not directly because of it. This is also endorising the need to work together for the good of everyone.

There was also the question of reform. Mr. Gradgrind, who is in charge of the school, is eventually reformed for the better. Dickens felt the people in charge needed to change, to re-examine what they were doing. People in charge at the time were mostly interested in profit. Mr. Gradgrind is more interested in facts than money, but he still causes serious damage to his son and daughter, providing the parallel. His lack of empathy is also in keeping with the leaders of the time, who generally had very little of it for the working class and poor. Next, we moved to small groups to discuss the text as a product of the Age of Doubt, when science and religion were clashing. My group noted that Hard Times seems very pro-religion because of Gradgrind and his failures as a father and husband. Religion might have made him softer, more empathetic. In the end, he is said to be serving faith, hope, etc, which gives very religious connotations. We also discussed that it might be about the need for humanity, not necessarily religion. Cole brought up the idea of the circus as the church. Sissy is everything Gradgrind and his family is not: empathetic and humanized. Gradgrind’s school is very much a product of reason, though it goes back to the need for reform. The school is a good idea, but it needs to do it better. At the same time, the school is like the church. Children go to the school to be filled with facts, people go to church to be filled with faith. Something else we touched on was Harthouse as Satan. He was tempting Louisa, and it can be debated as to whether he really cared about her, or needed something to do.

After briefly discussing our discussions in a large group, we moved back into small groups to talk about the Woman Question. Dickens intends us to admire Louisa, Sissy, and Rachael. Was he touching on the importance of women or a conservative Angel of the Hearth trope? Of the three women, two of them are fit the Angel stereotype. Is Dickens saying we need a feminine touch to anchor us to family in a dog eat dog capitalist world? The women seem to get better endings than the men, though only the good ones. Mrs. Gradgrind wasn’t a good mother, and Mrs. Sparsit was nosy and mean. The first dies, and the other lives in misery with a woman she hates. Louisa does get married off to a horrible man, but she ends up getting out of it. We noted that Rachael isn’t well fleshed out, and only seems to be there to represent the ideal selflessness of women. We wondered if the novel is a realistic story in a patriarchal society or just benevolent sexism. In the last few minutes, we discussed the way Mr. Gradgrind raised Louisa. His educational system is very masculine, and he seemed to program Louisa to be male, since perhaps Tom is not up to snuff. In the end, he still marries her off, since she is a woman.