I had picked up “Hard Times” after I had finished reading “The Jungle” since I was in the mood for the same kind of sensations that the latter had invoked in me. I was however, somewhat disappointed. I didn’t really like the book. What stood out however, were some memorable characters namely Mr. Gradgrind, and Mr. Bounderby whom Dickens amusingly refers to as “The bully of humility.”
Image Credit: Believe Collective
Another thing that struck me was Dicken’s superb style of prose. He moves in quick succession from the philosophical, and then suddenly without warning to the satirical. Occasionally his sentences are so long that I’m forced to re read them to grab the meaning.
The title “Hard Times” doesn’t really refer to the material poverty we found in “The Jungle” inasmuch as it talks about the mental impoverishment of some of the main characters, as well as the intense and unfulfilled longing of the others. Certainly the setting is in the somewhat ruthlessly industrial town of “Coketown”, but we don’t really read about poverty as such. As usual, Dickens ends his stories by neatly wrapping up loose ends and uncovering fortuitous incidents.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this work to those looking for the intensity and gripping nature of other Dickens stories such as “The Old Curiosity Shop” and “Oliver Twist.” But still, an interesting read if you want to reach out to some new characters with their peculiar idiosyncrasies.