Reading Report of Hard Times
Book Information
The book Hard Times
I
read was
published
by
Foreign
Language Teaching and
Research and pressed in 1994, its author is famous English novelist Charles Dickens,
what鈥檚 more, this book contains 480 pages.
Story and My Reflection
The
novel
was
set
in
Coketown,
a
northern
industrial
city.
Thomas
Gradgrind
ruled his family and his school according to Utilitarianism, the philosophy of the time,
which had as its aim the greatest possible happiness for the greatest possible number
of people. However, the form of Utilitarianism which Dickens attacked in the novel
wa
s
plain
materialism
that
denies
all
other
values
than
material
ones,
or
鈥淔acts鈥?nbsp;
as
they were called.
Thomas Gradgrind had two children Louisa and Tom. They were caught by their
father when they tried
to see Sleary鈥檚 Circus, where the clown Jupe works. Jupe ha
d a
daughter Sissy, and when Jupe left the circus and his daughter, Gradgrind invited her
to come and live with his family.
Josiah Bounderby was the rich owner of the Coketown factories. He was a proud
self-made man; but once and again his house was observed by a strange old woman.
Stephen Blackpool wa
s
one of Bounderby鈥檚 workers. Blackpool ha
d
a troubled life.
He had an alcoholic wife, who had left him, but he cannot be divorced from her. He
was in love with Rachel, a factory girl. When a strike broke out and Blackpool was
not willing to join the trade union his mates would not have anything to do with him.
He was fired, and he had to leave town.
Tom Gradgrind started
to work in Bounderby鈥檚 bank, and Bounderby propose
d to
Louisa.
Though
she
was
30
years
younger
than
him,
she
accepted
.
Bounderby鈥檚
housekeeper
Mrs.
Sparsit
wa
s
jealous.
Louisa鈥檚
marriage
was
unhappy,
and
James
Harthouse, a politician, attempted to seduce her.
Bounderby鈥檚
bank
was
robbed
by
Tom.
However,
it
was
Steven
Blackpool
who
was suspected, and Bitzer, a clerk in the bank gave evidence against him. Mrs. Sparsit