HARD TIMES

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social

critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as

the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his

lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. His

novels and short stories are still widely read today. Dickens's literary success began with the

1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an

international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character

and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial

publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel

publication. Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense. His plots

were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives.

Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in happenings to have each new monthly episode read to

them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.

“Hard Times” is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys

English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era. it is unusual in

several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens' novels, barely a quarter of the length of those

written immediately before and after it. Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, “Hard

Times” has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes

set in London. Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic

Northern English mill-town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. The novel

follows a classical tripartite structure, and the titles of each book are related to Galatians 6:7,
 "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Book I is entitled "Sowing", Book II is entitled "Reaping", and the third is "Garnering."

We first meet Sissy Jupe in Dickens’ tenth novel, however we don’t get the typical nose to tail

character assessment of this character. In the introduction of the character, Sissy is shown as a

shy and awkward school going girl. Sissy has been brought up among horses, and among people

whose livelihood depends on understanding horses but ‘we don’t know anything about that here’.

Dickens makes sure to emphasize on the fact that Sissy stands for vitality as well as goodness –

they are seen, in fact, as one; she is generous, impulsive life, findings self-fulfillment in self-

forgetfulness – all that is the antithesis of calculating self-interest. We meet Sissy in a school

scene where Gradgrind at first refuses to call Cecilia by her real name –Sissy Jupe and instead

calls her “girl number twenty” after pointing out that Cecilia isn’t a real name. he then asks her

to define what a horse is; such knowledge isn’t real, no one can really define what another

creature is and is thrown into greatest alarm for a question like this, just as innocent Cecilia was.

The irony, pungent enough locally, is richly developed in the subsequent action. Bitzer’s aptness

has its evaluative comment in his career. Sissy’s incapacity to inquire this kind of ‘fact ‘or

formula, her unaptness for education, is manifested to us, on the other hand, as part and parcel of

her sovereign and indefensible humanity: it is the virtue that makes it impossible for her to

understand, or acquiesce in, an ethos for which she is ‘girl number twenty’, or to think of any

other human being as a unit for arithmetic. Sissy’s symbolic significance is bound p with that of

Sleary’s horse-riding where human kindness is very insistently associated with vitality. The way

in which horse riding takes on its significance illustrates beautifully the poetic-dramatic nature of

Dickens’s art.
Sissy Jupe can be considered as the force of the good in the novel. She is depicted as a kind and

caring character who has learnt to put others before she puts herself. In the face of being

abandoned by her father and then being forced to learn the Gradgrind philosophy, she never

stops being the only grounding, emotionally positive source in Coketown. In a way she is similar

to another one of Dickens favourite character types, the selfless young woman who takes care of

other people.

Sissy comes from the family of circus and has her idea of imagination and fantasies; the reason

she cannot deal with most of the things they’re teaching at Gradgrind’s school is because they

are so abstract. Gradgrind’s policies don’t make any actual sense despite being logical. The idea

of circus in the novel is a perfect contradiction to Gradgrind’s philosophies and ideas. Circus is

the perfect representation of fancy. The circus entertainers possess the ability to transform the

colourless, humdrum world into a place of magic and excitement simply by using their

imagination. Through fancy, the circus entertainers don’t just find happiness in themselves, but

also pleasure others.

Dicken’s description of circus is messy and chaotic, with all people and objects engaged in all

sorts of unusual activities that fail to cohere into any sort of intelligible pattern. Dickens never

gives any of the circus acts a clear beginning, middle and end, even though in reality they must

have had them. This sort of behavior will no fit in the mathematical world that Gradgrind is

selling. How do you mathematically calculate the value of a worker whose contribution to the

work force is to

“dance upon rolling caskets, stand upon bottles, catch knives and balls, twirl hand-basins, ride

upon anything, jump over everything, and stick at nothing” (Dickens 31)?
 This is the mistake that Gradgrind makes. He assumes that because the value of the circus

cannot be calculated, the circus has no value. For Gradgrind and Bounderby, the circus is

“wonder, idleness and folly” (Dickens, 14)

For Dickens the value of the circus is in its relations. The circus people have

“an untiring readiness to help and pity one another” (Dickens 31)

that is missing from the worldview of Bounderby and Gradgrind. This is the crux of the matter

for Dickens. They are good people whether or not they participate in the system of production.

This is why they are

“deserving, often of as much respect, and always of as much generous construction, as the

every-day virtues of any class of people in the world” (Dickens 31).

It is their compassion that Dickens consistently puts forward as their primary trait, and he makes

use of it throughout the novel to move the plot forward. Sleary and the others exhibit more

familial love (as distinct from the sort of love Stephen and Rachel have) for Sissy in the initial

pages than anyone else does in the next many pages. It is Sissy’s compassion and love for Louisa

that makes her so effective in the second half of the novel.

After, Sissy’s father abandons her, she comes to live with the Gradgrinds; specially to take care

of the sick Mrs. Gradgrind and attend Gradgrind’s charity school. While Sissy lives with the

Gradgrind we see a major contradiction between the upbringing of Sissy as compared to Tom

and Louisa (children of Mr. Gradgrind) Sissy is also a messenger from the land of imagination.

She is obviously tied to the circus, the land of entertainment, to the life of imagination. For

instance, all three are combined when she cheers up her father after a hard day of work at the
circus by reading him fairytales about ogres and giants. But she is also one of the most realistic

characters of the novel. Sissy has been reared to wonder, to think, to love and to imagine and

even teaches Gradgrind’s daughter, Louisa a lesson on love and compassion. Sissy represents

what is truly human, and often lets her imagination run free. After failing to give a proper

definition of a horse, Sissy is humiliated by Gradgrind who tells her that she must forget those

fairy tales and fancy. On the other hand, are Louisa and Tom, two children of about the same age

as Sissy but they are completely opposite; they are not allowed to let their mind wonder as

wondering contradicted Gradgrind’s philosophy of facts. Gradgrind generalizes and does not

individualize, making his students and his children into models within the system.

Mary Poovey notes that the argument implies that “every individual is an instance of the same.

To Dickens, the fact that every individ-ual might be an instance of the same was not a matter for

celebration” (22-23)

Typical Dickens’ work, the champions often come from the working class. In “Hard Times”, that

one champion is Stephen Blackpool, a power loom weaver, who works in one of Bounderby’s

factories. Much like Sissy, Blackpool is educated through real life experience and regardless of

the pain and suffering it causes him personally, Blackpool attempts to stand for what he believes

is right. He represents the voice of humanity, shunned by the other workers when he refuses to

join the union whose leader wishes to take advantage of the people. Unlike Bounderby,

Blackpool is the soul of people. Falsely accused of robbing Bounderby's bank, Blackpool is

forced to leave Coketown. The real culprit is young Tom Gradgrind, who defends his actions in

utilitarian fashion claiming, according to "the Facts," a certain number of people employed in

positions of trust will be dishonest. For young Tom, this is a legitimate excuse for his crime, a

moral justification based on "the Facts." He fails to convince his father or Louisa who both
finally realize the danger of an education in the "Facts." In an effort to clear his name, Blackpool

attempts to return to Coketown only to fall literally into an abandoned mine pit and eventually

dies of the injuries received in the fall. Upon the stretcher he asks Tom Gradgrind Sr. to help

clear his name and implies that young Tom is the real culprit. Uncharacteristic of Dickens, he

ends the story of “Hard Times” on a down note. Dickens’ philosophy is summed up by Mr.

Sleary, the head of the circus, who says

“People have too much unhappiness. People must be amused. They can’t be always a-learnin,

nor yet they can’t be always a working, they ain’t made for it. You must have it squire. Do the

Right thing and the kind thing too, and make the best of it, not the worst” (Dickens,15)

Finally, in Book III, "Philosophical," Mr. Gradgrind learns to his shock and horror that it was his

own son Tom who has robbed Mr. Bounderby’s bank. Tom, scared of his father, decides to hide

in Sleary's circus disguised as a clown. Bitzer, the clerk in Bounderby's bank catches hold of

Tom and threatens to expose him and have him arrested. All the pleas of Mr. Gradgrind to Bitzer

to release his guilty son yield no result. However, Sleary double crosses Bitzer who with the help

of his horse and clever dog helps Tom to escape in the following manner:

"I’ll drive your thon and thith young man over to the rail, and prevent expothure here. I can’t

conthent to do more, but I’ll do that.’" (dickens, 221)

Sleary's dog keeps a close watch over Bitzer by constantly barking at him while Tom escapes

from his clutches and jumps onto Sleary’s pony-gig which takes him to the harbor from where he

boards a ship and escapes:

"It’ll be a dark night; I’ve got a horthe that’ll do anything but thpeak; I’ve got a pony that’ll go

fifteen mile an hour with Childerth driving of him; I’ve got a dog that’ll keep a man to one

plathe four-and-twenty hourth. Get a word with the young Thquire. Tell him, when he theeth our

horthe begin to danthe, not to be afraid of being thpilt, but to look out for a pony-gig coming up.

Tell him, when he theeth that gig clothe by, to jump down, and it’ll take him off at a rattling

pathe. If my dog leth thith young man thtir a peg on foot, I give him leave to go. And if my horthe

ever thtirth from that thpot where he beginth a danthing, till the morning — I don’t know him?

— Tharp’th the word!’" (dickens,223)

To conclude, Sissy Jupe can be called amongst the only nicer characters in the novel, for which

her upbringing at the circus is credited. The fact that Sissy has been kind and compassionate

towards everyone throughout and helped everyone through their hard times says a lot about the

character. The idea of circus and how neatly fancy has been placed in a fictional world of facts

shows how important it is to get away from routine and be humans instead of machines as Mr.

Gradgrind wanted. Finally, it was mainly due to Sissy Jupe that the novel got a better ending

than it could have gotten.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
HARD TIMES
- CHARLES DICKENS