Hard Times (Thrift Editions)

My satire is against those who see figures and averages | and nothing else | proclaimed Charles Dickens in explaining the theme of this classic novel. Published in 1854 | the story concerns one Thomas Gradgrind | a fanatic of the demonstrable fact | who raises his children | Tom and Louisa | in a stifling and arid atmosphere of grim practicality. Without a moral compass to guide them | the children sink into lives of desperation and despair | played out against the grim background of Coketown | a wretched community shadowed by an industrial behemoth. Louisa falls into a loveless marriage with Josiah Bouderby | a vulgar banker | while the unscrupulous Tom | totally lacking in principle | becomes a thief who frames an innocent man for his crime. Witnessing the degradation and downfall of his children | Gradgrind realizes that his own misguided principles have ruined their lives. Considered Dickens' harshest indictment of mid-19th-century industrial practices and their dehumanizing effects | this novel offers a fascinating tapestry of Victorian life | filled with the richness of detail | brilliant characterization | and passionate social concern that typify the novelist's finest creations. Of Dickens' work | the eminent Victorian critic John Ruskin had this to say: He is entirely right in his main drift and purpose in every book he has written; and all of them | but especially Hard Times | should be studied with close and earnest care by persons interested in social questions.