HARD TIMES

The dominance of work in the lives of the workers

Sissy's childlike feelings about her father

The bottle represents unfailing hope and love for the father

The triumph of imagination

Symbol of wealth

It is rigid and organized place

Pollution

Physical

Psycological

Economic class structure

Pure reason cannot provide sufficient guidance in the world of human behavior and emotions

Imagination is represented by the story of Sissy

The rejection of imagination in her childhood lead her to an unbalanced adulthood

The emphasis on reason in his childhood deprives him of the pleasure of childhood

She lives a balanced childhood and grows up accordingly

Family loves goes beyond the forces of facts and the fantasies of the imagination

Family bonds are as real as any fact presented

Forbidding environment

The factory buildings are indistinguishable from one another

The countryside serves as a place where the pollution of the city spills over

Are associated metaphorically to Mr. Bounderby

Charles Dickens, 1854

Mr. Gradgrind outlines his pedagogy: nothing but facts

The Gradgrinds take in Sissy Jupe after her father leaves

Stephen Blackpool learns he can't divorce his wife

Tom Gradgrind goes to work at the bank

Louisa Gradgrind marries Mr. Bounderby

James Harthouse arrives and decides to seduce Louisa

Mr. Bounderby fires Stephen for refusing to be an informant

Mr. Bounderby accuses Stephen of robbing the bank

Mrs. Gradgrind dies

Mrs. Sparsit plots and spies on Louisa

Louisa has a crisis when Harthouse professes his love

Mr. Bounderby and Louisa's marriage ends

Stephen is rescued from a coal pit and dies soon after

Sissy helps Tom escape after he is revealed as the robber

Louisa and Sissy settle into relatively contented lives

Wife of Mr. Bounderby

Employer of Stephan Blackpool

Father of Louisa Gradgrind and Tom Gradgrind

Sibling of Louisa Gradgrind

Friend of Louisa Gradgrind

Enemy of Louisa Gradgrind