Foils in 'Hard times'

Foils in 'Hard times'

1. Gradgrind

   • 'Facts alone are wanted in life.Plant nothing else, and root out everything else'
     • He prides himself on being "eminently practical" and values only facts and figures, raising the children according to these principles.
   • For Gradgrind and Bounderby the circus is “wonder, idleness, and folly”
     • He believes that the 'wonder' and 'fancy' symbolised by Sleary's circus produces nothing useful for them and so they assume that it does not work
   • He ultimately realises that his factual philosophy is flawed and attempts to live a life concerned with hope, charity and faith-
     • 'The enlightenment has been forced upon me, and the discovery is not mine'
       • Emphasises his change in philosophy and acceptance of the necessity of 'fancy'
       • Transition from harsh fact to the fancy symbolised by the circus and Sleary
     • 'Faith, Hope, and Charity'
       • These were needed to combat the issues in the industrial society, Dickens argues
       • Link to Sleary's quote, Gradgrind recognises this in the form of:
   • Takes Sissy in following her abandonment, despite her character being the ultimate representation of fancy as opposed to fact
     • Her connexions made her not an object for this school, and that she must not attend any more'

2. Sleary

   • Sleary as a member of the Circus which represents fancy as opposed to Gradgrind's philosophy of hard facts can be seen to represent amusement and joy which is restricted to the Gradgrind children
     • The business of amusement acts as a counter to this strict enforcement of facts by Grandgrind and Bounderby
     • they can’t be alwayth a working, nor yet they can’t be alwayth a learning”
   • At the outset of the novel, Sleary's circus is a counter to the orderly and efficient world that is represented by Gradgrind.
     • Dickens' description of the circus is messy and chaotic, as opposed to the orderly society favoured by Gradgrind based on logic and reason
   • 'Opening his arms wide he took her by both hands'
     • Emphasises familial love which is perhaps restricted to the Gradgrind children due to their father's strict philosophy
       • Dickens: The circus people have “an untiring readiness to help and pity one another”
     • Compassion
       • Dickens argues this should be carried into the industrial world (rescuing Tom for instance) there is no place for compassion regarding law&order in the industrial world.
         • 'there ith a love in the world, not all Thelft-interetht after all, but something very different'
     • It is also Sleary’s compassion for Sissy that makes him willing to rescue Tom in the end.
       • Ultimately helps Gradgrind despite their opposing philosophy for he majority of the novel.
   • Speech and description is looked down upon by Gradgrind, he who has established a school in order to teach only facts and 'root out everything else' is in clear opposition to what Sleary's circus represents.
   • 'a voice...like the efforts of a broken old pair of bellows'

3. Dickens illustartes the contrasting philosophies at the outset, using Gradgrind's focus on hard facts and an education system which promotes this, but also 'fancy' and imagination, as symbolised by the circus. The reader does not see this again until the end of the novel in which it comes forward to save Tom.

   • Sleary's circus represents the old form of labor and community, hence why it fades out in the novel- Dickens supports an industrialised society, so long as it does not lose its humanity.