Ready Reference Treatise: Hard Times

By Raja Sharma

“Hard Times by Charles Dickens was first published in 1854. It was the tenth novel written by this great English novelist.

The book presents a highly descriptive portrayal of English society and the social and economic hardships which the people had to face.

It happens to be the shortest of the novels written by Charles Dickens. There are several other aspects which make this novel different from his other novels. It is about quarter of the length of the other novels written by Dickens.

Ready Reference Treatise: Hard Times
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Book the First
Book the Second
Book the Third
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: May 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310940637

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Hard Times

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Hard Times

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

"Hard Times by Charles Dickens was first published in 1854. It was the tenth novel written by this great English novelist.

The book presents a highly descriptive portrayal of English society and the social and economic hardships which the people had to face.

It happens to be the shortest of the novels written by Charles Dickens. There are several other aspects which make this novel different from his other novels. It is about quarter of the length of the other novels written by Dickens.

Hard Times is without a preface and illustrations. In most of his other novels the scenes are mostly set in London, but it is the only novel not to have its scenes set in London.

The story is set in a fictitious town called Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town. The place seems to be somewhat similar to Manchester, although it is much smaller.

It is assumed that Coketown is partly based on 19th century Preston. The town represents the Victorian industrial growth.

Charles Dickens used to publish a weekly periodical called Household Worlds, but its sales were going down.

To increase its sales he published this novel in installments in that periodical. The sales increased and Dickens achieved his objective.

Since the time of its publication, the novel has received a mixed response from critics. Some of the famous critics such as George Bernard Shaw, F. R. Leavis, and Thomas Macaulay particularly admired the author’s treatment of trade unions in this novel.

They also admired the description of the divide between capitalist mill owners and undervalued workers during the Victorian era.

Dickens often used his pen to draw the attention of the readers towards the plight of the poor. Hard Times served his purpose best. The novel is set amid the industrial smokestacks and factories of Coketown, England.

The author has very expertly used the novel’s characters to portray the huge gulf between the rich and poor in England. Dickens believed that the middle and upper classes were unfeeling and selfish. Through this novel he criticized such classes of the society.

The novel tells about the transformation of the 19th century England. It was turning into a factory machine. In those days, the middle-class was primarily concerned with making a profit efficiently and practically.

Dickens has used hard, vicious, and sometimes hilarious satire and sentimental melodrama in Hard Times. It is an easy book to read and the author desired his readers to