Hard Times, by Charles Dickens, and Three Cups of Tea, by Greg

Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, have many similarities and many

differences. Where both books contain trials and challenges, they also are

based on completely different time periods and settings. Mr. Bounderby only

values money and power, where Greg Mortenson devotes his life to help

poverty-struck villages in Pakistan, even though he is poverty-struck himself.

Although Hard Times and Three Cups of Tea have their similarities with

problems and challenges, the characters react and handle them much

differently.

Hard Times starts out with Mr. Gradgrind telling his students that they

should live a fact-based lifestyle and only speak facts, nothing else. He repels

imagination and opinion and raises his children to do the same. The

characters in Hard Times all have their problems and trials but only seem to

care about themselves. They focus too hard on trying to live their lives and fix

their problems so that they never help others. Three Cups of Tea is completely

based on giving to others, and making sacrifices that will end up benefitting in

the end. Even though the characters have practically nothing, they all work

together and help each other where they can, and you can sense the

difference is happiness and friendships between the two books. There is

much grief and tension in Hard Times, but there is much success and love in

Three Cups of Tea.

 Greg Mortenson is the man that Three Cups of Tea is written about. He

grew up in Africa and his parents taught him early on in his life to help others.

At one point in his life, he ventures on a trip to climb K2 with some friends.

When he’s coming down the mountain, he gets lost on a glacier and almost

dies, but a Pakistani mountain guide finds him and saves his life. Greg ends up

at Korphe village in Pakistan, where the people show gracious hospitality and

welcome him in, nursing him back to health. He promises to build the village a

school for the children, so they can get an education and have somewhere to

go. Greg was already poor back in the United States, and he lost his job on top

of that. He sacrifices everything he had to help the people in Pakistan, and

later on devotes his life to building schools for villages like Korphe. Mr.

Bounderby is very different from Greg Mortenson. He was raised in poverty

and grew up to have a hard heart and determined spirit. He ends up a very

wealthy and powerful man in Coketown, owning a factory and a bank. Mr.

Bounderby only values business, money, and power. He only cares about

himself and is always trying to gain more power and money. Never does he

help anyone with their problems, as poverty strikes all around him. These

two characters are the complete opposite, not only with their situation, but

how they react to it.

The setting of the two books is very different. Hard Times takes place in

Coketown, a city in England that is in the middle of the industrial era. The
people are all undergoing bad jobs, low pay, and poverty. There is a feeling of

grief and pain throughout the whole book, and people live fact-based

lifestyles. Three Cups of Tea takes place in modern United States and Pakistan.

The people of Pakistan are living in small villages where living conditions are

very bad and there is almost no education. The villages have no schools and

little transportation. But the villages seem grateful with what they have, and

happy. Where Hard Times is sad and solemn, Three Cups of Tea is happy and

filled with the spirit of giving and helping others.

In the two books, there is a huge difference in what has been given and

who has been affected from it. In Hard Times, Mr. Gradgrind raises his kids on

a fact-based lifestyle. He trains them not to use their imagination and sense of

opinion. Because of this strict and simple lifestyle, the kids grow up with

problems and they are affected for the worse. Louisa ends up depressed and

sad that she married Mr. Bounderby and she has always been forced upon

this factual mindset. Tom ends up rebellious and he robs a bank. Mr.

Gradgrind’s influence on his kids and students ends up coming back to him

when Bitzer catches Tom and Mr. Gradgrind can’t convince Bitzer to let him

go because he taught Bitzer not to use emotion and feeling. Greg Mortenson’s

influence on others is very different. He helps the people of Pakistan and

shows them an example of giving. He builds them a school and changes not

only their lives, but also the lives of the generations to come. Now, the
children can be educated and get sophisticated jobs. He only affects people for

the better.

Altogether, Hard Times and Three Cups of Tea have their similarities

with situation, but have their major differences with how the situations are

handled. Mr. Bounderby and Greg Mortenson are completely opposite in their

lifestyles, background, and mindset. The two books take place in very

different settings, but are both undergoing poverty. Last of all, the example

set for others is extremely different in the two novels. Greg Mortenson

influences others for the good, and helps them with their lives. Mr. Gradgrind

ruins his children’s childhood and lifestyle, influencing them for the bad. It is

more important in life to be a good influence in life than to help yourself and

obtain wealth, power, and knowledge. And the comparison of Hard Times and

Three Cups of Tea clearly represents this.