Hard Times by Charles Dickens Fiction Classics

<p><strong><em>Hard Times</em> is regarded as one of Dickens' darker novels.</strong> It introduces the character of Thomas Gradgrind. Like many of Dickens' characters Gradgrind's name tells the reader much of what they need to know. As schoolmaster Gradgrind says Now what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts sir! Gradgrind's factual upbringing dooms his children Tom and Louisa in different ways. The book is set in Coketown an industrial city. Because of its treatment of the role of factory work as well as education in society <em>Hard Times</em> was thought to be a socialist work at the time of its publication. It was also written during a time when Dickens was experiencing trouble in his own marriage and it features a number of unhappy couples and much family discord. Less popular at its publication than many of other Dickens' works <em>Hard Times</em> remains one of the most-taught of Dickens' major books possibly because of the group it is the shortest.</p>