Not all Charles Dickens novels are 800-page pieces!Actually, my favorite book of him, Hard Times. Boitempo], is only 300. A relatively short size is probably due to its simple and parabolic structure. The books (“Semer”, “Harvest” and “Provide”) clearly explain, Difficult Times illustrate and dramatize the biblical teaching that we harvest what we plant.
This is not to say that the novel is schematic or too moralistic. The characters Dickens creates are people in the flesh who make painful decisions, for which we have a deep interest. The flawed protagonist, Thomas Gradgrind, is a retired merchant who runs a standard school that educates children to reason only in terms of facts. Using the same utilitarian education system for their eldest son (Tom) and daughter (Louisa), he forbids them to read poetry or fiction and eradicates them from all fanciful, romantic or heroic notions.
- Although Gradgrind is not a bad man or an indifferent father.
- His inability to cultivate the heart and soul of his children has disastrous results: Tom and Louisa grow up as atrofied adults.
- Devoid of true human feelings.
- The kind of feelings that must always accompany virtuous behavior.
- Tom.
- Without suffering the slightest remorse.
- First manipulates his beloved sister and then robs a bank and incriminates an innocent worker.
- When his father asks him why he did these terrible things.
- Tom appeals to the law of averages: since the number of workers is large.
- Many are forced to be dishonest.
- Unfortunately and tragically.
- Gradgrind will not fail to see the bitter fruit of his utilitarian ideals.
The true heart of the novel, however, refers to Louisa’s deastrous marriage to a corrupt capitalist, Bounderby, thirty years her age. When Gradgrind communicates Bounderby’s proposal to Louisa, she wants to share with her father what’s in her heart, but no one knows. how to communicate emotionally. Although both know that Louisa doesn’t like Bounderby, Gradgrind ignores him and advises him to make up his mind based on facts and statistics. Their marriage is devoid of love, leaving Louisa emotionally immature trapped in an unscrupulous situation. libertine, with whom he almost escaped.
At the last second she gives up (after all, it’s a Victorian novel!), and instead of running away, she runs to her father’s house, who greets her at the door, to see her fall, inert heaps, on her. Although Gradgrind is honored by the experience and realizes that there is a gap in his education system, he cannot repair the damage that has been done. Bounderby rejects Gradgrind’s request to give Louisa some time away from him and leaves her forever. she never remarries and lives like a single woman with no children.
The fate of Gradgrind, Tom and Louisa may suggest that Difficult Times is a dark romance, but Dickens is careful to contrast their stories with a troupe of circuses that, although lacking in facts, are rich in love, warmth and joy. Dickens teaches us that there are aspects of our lives and souls that cannot be easily weighed and measured.