Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Hard Times by Charles Dickens My first foray into the world of Dickens long after my reading of Great Expectations , Hard Times explores the ideas of morality, and viewing the world in either black and white terms or in shades of gray. It asks whether we should focus on reason in all things or let our hearts be our guide in many things. Set in the industrial mid-19th century, Hard Times mainly follows Tom and Louisa Gradgrind through their youth, tutored to believe in nothing but the facts, into adulthood where reality is confused by the heart conflicting with reason. Tom grows into a man interested more in drink and gambling than in hard work. He is a character of self-interest in-so-far as it works out to his advantage, such is the case when he uses a working class man to act as a cover for himself to rob the bank he works for. The man is blamed and Tom is silent, until it is discovered that Tom was the robber. His own life is eventually saved from accountability because of h...