Criticism In Charles Dickens Hard Times

Charles Dickens’ novels are usually set in the backdrop of the industrial age and Hard Times is no exception. Dickens presents “a criticism of the ‘Hard Facts’ philosophy and of the society which he believed increasingly to be operating on the principles of that philosophy” (Arneson 60). He puts forward the fictional setting of Coketown as a living factory that epithomises the “satanic industrialism […] derive[d] from an inhuman application of geo-metrically abstract principles in society, education, and religion” (Bornstein 159). Such society is thus in itself a regulated machine and unwilling to accept social change. Considering Dickens’ criticism of utilitarianism, it is therefore unusual that the narrative in Hard Times remains ambiguous in its opinion for the downtrodden workers concerning their

This view disregards the fact that Dickens’ often hides his criticisms in his caricature-like characterisations (Arneson 60), which serve to distort the initial interpretation of the reader. Dickens uses Stephen as a medium to criticise his passivity in the face of the utilitarianism by which industrial society functions. In contrast, the novel’s union representative Slackbridge, portrayed as a cruel and unlikable man, acts in the best interest of the Workers’ Union. Therefore, Slackbridge, and not Stephen, is Dickens’ advocate for change in the novel. Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times as a critique on industrial utilitarianism. In 1854, Dickens’ political mindset regarding technological progress was coupled with intrigue in lieu of its possibilities but with worry “for the individual and for the quality of working-class life” (Fielding and Smith 425). Many of the descriptions regarding the social and physical environment are exaggerated and some even absurd. In the opening chapter, we experience Mr. M’Choakumchild speech about life being about solely facts and the undesirableness of a fanciful mentality (Dickens 1.1.3-4). In