Talk:T F 28 (382)

Michaela Godfrey

February 28th: Dickens Meets Boom Boom

On Tuesday, February 28th, we the students of British Literature Since Eighteen Hundred met Dr. Foss down in the depths of combs. All (hopefully) had come prepared for class, having read Hard Times by Charles Dickens. As we took our seats, Dr. Foss announced that, in order to “celebrate” the reading of a novel, we could rejoice—a multiple choice reward quiz was in order! After we went over the correct answers, hearing the occasional grumble at an incorrectly answered question, we talked broadly about this particular work by Dickens. Dr. Foss warned us to “beware of spoiler alerts” within the intro and the supplementary materials that are part of our edition of Hard Times. He also went on to say that this novel was not as long, funny, or character filled as his other works. As a side note, Dr. Foss threw out there that Dickens had celebrated his 200th birthday about a month ago. For those of you just dying to know specifics,--and I know so many of you are--Dickens, according to a good ol' fashioned Google search, was born February 7th, 1812. He went on to become, in the eyes of many, the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. So let's give a happy unbirthday to Charles! After we covered the basics about the novel, we went a bit deeper and mapped out some of the major issues addressed in Hard Times. True to its title, this novel was designed to make readers think about the hard times faced by those living in England. As a class, we talked about this work in relation to the condition of England. Problems at the forefront of society at that time, such as the industrial landscape and conditions, Utilitarianism, and education, are brought up throughout the entire novel. The characters and the situations in which they find themselves really bring the above issues into light for the reader. Narrowing the focus of our discussion, Dr. Foss wrote a list of characters on the board. The list included Gradgrind, Bounderby, Mr. Sleary, Blackpool, and Harthouse. Together, we discussed a common thread shared by each of these individuals: all of them seemed to have a philosophy by which each lived. Especially in the cases of Gradgrind and Mr. Sleary, their mantras are essentially put forth upon coming across them in the novel. For the rest of the characters listed, it was fairly easy to determine a philosophy of life that would be applicable to each. Eventually, it came time for our “exciting second BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM” activity. For this exercise, the class divided into five small groups, and each group was then assigned one of the major male characters (reminder: Gradgrind, Bounderby, Mr. Sleaery, Blackpool, Harthouse). Our missions? Working in our small groups, we were to analyze each character, determine a life philosophy that could be applied, and then, explain traits that support the application of the philosophy. After one character had been assigned to each group, Dr. Foss let loose a resounding BOOM, and the small groups began their discussions. My group started out with Harthouse as our character and we talked about the pieces of his personality that melded together to create his rather “I do what I want” philosophy. First and foremost, he was very unlike any of the other male characters in Hard Times. He was very relaxed and laid back, to the point that he was bored with most everything. One could also argue, we decided, that he was a rather snake-like character in that he was very manipulative. This side of his character is seen when he is attempting to seduce Louisa. Though she is married and unavailable, he still attempted to pursue her merely out of curiosity and boredom. In addition to his “I do what I want” attitude, we found a passage on page 120 that really brought his philosophy toward life into focus. When Louisa questioned him about his outlook on things, he referenced an Italian motto: “What will be, will be,” and declares that “it's the only truth going!”  So after combing through the pieces of the novel pertaining to Harthouse, the best philosophy to apply to his character is that Italian motto—what will be, will be. Another BOOM resonated through the classroom. We scrambled to write down our last thoughts on our sheet of paper, and then we passed our character information sheet onto the next group. The second character we came across was Mr. Sleary. This rather eccentric man with a lisp was the head of the circus in Coketown. As he was in charge of this form of entertainment, he held a position of power within the lower class. Though he had a very definitive philosophy of “people must be amused,” we felt that he also seemed to be attached to a couple other philosophies of life. In his farewell to Sissy on page 41, our group felt that he also seriously advocated the idea of never forgetting your roots, and always work to make the best of your experiences. Yet another boom rang through the room, and each group again passed their current sheet on. On this third shift, we received the character of Gradgrind. Just as the two previous groups had concluded, Gradgrind lived by the philosophy “stick to the facts.” He came across as a rather disconnected man. A realist and a utilitarian, Gradgrind's life, as well as the lives of those in his circle, had no room for emotion. He is simply a man who accepts facts, never fancy. A great example of Gradgrind's inability to appreciate emotion as an appeal can be found on page eighty-seven. In this excerpt, Gradgrind decided to pull Sissy out of school and keep her at home to work, as she is not performing well academically. Though she is very upset and crying, Gradgrind proceeded to use “facts” to demonstrate to her the logic and rationale behind the decision. As we all boomed our way onto the fourth character, the character information sheet for Bounderby made its way into our circle. Based on the responses from the other class members who had already contributed to the sheet, it was blatantly clear that this character was not liked by many people in our classroom.. “Creepy,” was used in more that one instance in his description. Bounderby was overall seen as an older man who believed in pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. His philosophy was that you can do anything, if you really want it--”Be a self-made man.” Realistically, there was not much a chance for anyone in the lower class to become a wealthy individual. For the self-centered capitalist, status was very important. His wealth and role as a captain of industry gained him societal standing, but his marriage to the young, attractive Louisa and having a formerly wealthy woman acting as a servant in his home gave him even more status. The final boom signaled the very last exchange of sheets, and my group ended on Stephen Blackpool's character. For him, his philosophy seemed to be “Never sacrifice your morals.” Though he was an incredibly poor man, a general consensus came about that he was by far the most moral character in the entire novel. Blackpool was a hard-working, loyal individual. He recognized and accepted social boundaries. Even though he lives a harsh, weary life, he consistently puts others before himself and works to be led by high moral standards. No matter the situation, he tried to make the best of it. One of the best examples that supports Blackpool's philosophy of “never sacrifice your morals” is his marriage. Though he would love nothing more than to get a divorce and marry Rachael, he is unable to do so, yet stays faithful to his wife. To wrap up class, we shifted back into large group and shared our findings on the characters. We also briefly touched on the role, or lack there of, that females played in this work. The goal behind the Boom activity was to help us understand the types of problems faced by society at that time. Also, we talked about the fact that Dickens wanted his audience to be able to see the flaws of society through the characters. Ultimately, Dr. Foss wanted us, as readers, to be able to identify the condition of England questions posed by Dickens. The characters, the roles each played, and the situations in which they found themselves were carefully manipulated by Charles Dickens to bring social issues to light for many living in England.