Dicken's Hard Times is full of irony and satire. Dickens uses irony and satire to describe the utilitarianism, demographics and greed of money, which have been satirized in the characters in Hard Time. Grandgrind is introduced in the beginning, explaining his utilitarian theory of life and education. Grandgrind focuses on the importance of facts. Grandgrind doesn't let his children wonder, imagine or have passion or care for things. He ironically refers to Louisa as metallurgical and Thomas as mathematical. Dickens uses satire to show how its dehumanized, everything is the same and people are acting like machines.
I agree, Dickens describes this monotonous existence by referring to Coketown as being, “…like the painted face of savagery” (127). At a glance it appears to be prosperous and successful, but upon a closer look you discover the more sinister undertones. The people live by a Fact based society and have curtailed their emotions to the point of nonexistence; resulting in everyone being valued the same, a Hand; nothing more nothing less. Stephen refuses to join the strike because he works to live, but in this society he lives to work. Dickens message is that people are reduced to stats and figures instead of emotional beings in the Industrial Revolution.
I agree that Dickens comments on the "Fact" based society and the hardships it gives the Hands of Coketown. Dickens also explain that the Coketown people lived with a "sun eternally in eclipse, through a medium of smoked glass" (162). The low class Hands were trapped in the dark, with no light, blinded by the smoke--ironically created by the movement of the Industrial Revolution—preventing them to see the opportunities that lie in the outside world. Thus, making the Hands appear as less than people, but rather the machines within the factories: emotionless, depressed, and lost in the smoke.
Dicken's Hard Times is full of irony and satire. Dickens uses irony and satire to describe the utilitarianism, demographics and greed of money, which have been satirized in the characters in Hard Time. Grandgrind is introduced in the beginning, explaining his utilitarian theory of life and education. Grandgrind focuses on the importance of facts. Grandgrind doesn't let his children wonder, imagine or have passion or care for things. He ironically refers to Louisa as metallurgical and Thomas as mathematical. Dickens uses satire to show how its dehumanized, everything is the same and people are acting like machines.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Dickens describes this monotonous existence by referring to Coketown as being, “…like the painted face of savagery” (127). At a glance it appears to be prosperous and successful, but upon a closer look you discover the more sinister undertones. The people live by a Fact based society and have curtailed their emotions to the point of nonexistence; resulting in everyone being valued the same, a Hand; nothing more nothing less. Stephen refuses to join the strike because he works to live, but in this society he lives to work. Dickens message is that people are reduced to stats and figures instead of emotional beings in the Industrial Revolution.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Dickens comments on the "Fact" based society and the hardships it gives the Hands of Coketown. Dickens also explain that the Coketown people lived with a "sun eternally in eclipse, through a medium of smoked glass" (162). The low class Hands were trapped in the dark, with no light, blinded by the smoke--ironically created by the movement of the Industrial Revolution—preventing them to see the opportunities that lie in the outside world. Thus, making the Hands appear as less than people, but rather the machines within the factories: emotionless, depressed, and lost in the smoke.
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