Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Explain how the values and attitudes of Bounderby are indicative of the era of the industrial revolution. The novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens offers a glimpse into the life and times during the industrial revolution in England during the nineteenth century. Dickens offers a wide range of characters from the upper class factory owner to the lowest class factory workers. He creates characters in this range of social classes and crafts this story that intertwines each person and their transformations throughout the novel. Almost every character in this story is complex and has characteristics that run deeper than their place in society, and this is what makes the novel so very important and intense. While there are many complexities linked to these characters, some do not appear to be as complex but in actuality they are. A strong example would be Josiah Bounderby, the wealthiest character in the novel. Mr. Bounderby is a factory and bank owner in Coketown, the industrial town in which the novel is set. He claims that he came from not . . .
hing to riches and has no problem exclaiming the trials and hard times that he went through to get to where he is now. The revolution came after a time when technological ways of life were not considered to ever dominate society the way they eventually did. When they were first married, their honeymoon was a trip for Bounderby to watch over other factories, clearly more interested in the progress his factories were making than actually spending time with his new wife. Bounderby ended up being pitied by the reader not because of the rough childhood he claimed to have had, but because everything he tried to believe backfired and left him a wealthy, emotionless, and lonely character. His wife Louisa was an object of this tactlessness more than once. In the end all that mattered was the products made and the conditions of the workers were not even taken into consideration. Although the industrial revolution did result in much wealth for some, it was also an emotionless and lonely time. His wealth and business was priority and the drive in his life. Factories treated their workers appallingly and even children were forced to work extremely long days just to create this product. While the people who hear these stories have no reason to doubt Mr. When Louisa and Bounderby eventually split up, Bounderby was not willing to respond to the fact that Louisa was trying to gain emotional feelings inside, and he threatened to send all of her things back to Stone Lodge. This is very significant because if the comparison is made between Bounderby and the industrial revolution, there are many aspects that are in fact very comparable. The industrial revolution was also driven by the same forces and was also blindfolded by desires to make profit. Another comparison that can be made was how insensitive the industrial revolution was.
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