Assignment writing: Paper 104( Literature of the Victorians)
This blog is Assignment writing on paper 104 (Literature of the Victorians) assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
Name: Nidhi Dave
Paper: Literature of the Victorians
Roll no: 16
Enrollment no: 4069206420210005
Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com
Batch: 2021 - 23 ( MA Semester 1)
Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
đź”…Dickens's Hard Times as a Social Novel:
👉Social Novel:
The social novel, also known as the social problem (or social protest) novel, is a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel".More specific examples of social problems that are addressed in such works include poverty, conditions in factories and mines, the plight of child labor, violence against women, rising criminality, and epidemics because of over-crowding, and poor sanitation in cities.
👉Hard Times as a Social Novel:
Hard Times, a social protest novel of nineteenth-century England, is aptly titled. Not only does the working class, known as the "Hands," have a "hard time" in this novel; so do the other classes as well. Dickens divided the novel into three separate books, two of which, "Sowing" and "Reaping," exemplify the biblical concept of "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).
Hard Times’ by Charles Dickens is a social protest novel of nineteenth-century England. Throughout the novel, Dickens makes his voice of protest explicitly clear as he expresses the hardship and inequalities of an industrial, hierarchical society. Dickens portrays how difficult life was through all the characters and their positions in society. Several social and political issues are addressed by Dickens, particularly through education, marriage, divorce and the working conditions of the poor. In Book 1, Chapter 11, Stephen Blackpool reflects these issues through his line “Tis aw a muddle.” It could be argued that this remark by Blackpool refers to the power structures within the novel and how the ‘muddle’ is caused by those with power.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens is set in the Victorian age predominantly attacking on the then existing social problems, educational system, caste system, economic system and many more. The Victorian era was dominated by an aristocratic group of people whose power later slowly faded away and lost its influence.
The Victorian era in Britain was during the reign of Queen Victoria (18371901). Although it was a peaceful and prosperous time, there were still problems within the social structure. Among the social classes of this era were the upper class, the middle class and the lower class. Those who were lucky enough to study in the upper class did not usually do manual labor. All things considered, they claimed land and recruited lower-class laborers to work for them, or contributed to make a benefit.
Most people living in England in this era, particularly those in the working class, were struggling due to the oppression they were facing. Dicken’s experiences of social realities were his source of inspiration for this novel. Dicken’s saw how people were living in difficult times as many of them worked factory jobs, where they were forced to work long and hard hours for very little money. When considering Blackpool’s remark, perhaps he was commenting on how people’s lives were made difficult by the power structures in society.Among the working class were unskilled workers who worked in cruel and unhealthy conditions (Victorian England Social Hierarchy).They didn't approach clean water and food, schooling to their youngsters, or appropriate attire.Often, they lived on the streets and were far from the jobs they could get, so they had to walk wherever they could. Unfortunately, many workers use drugs like opium and alcohol to cope with their suffering.
Charles Dickens's novel, Hard Times in the Victorian era is determined mainly by attacking the existing social problems, education system, caste system, economic system and many more. The Victorian era was dominated by an aristocratic population whose power later faded and lost its influence. The state of the faded aristocracy in the novel is presented through the characters of Gradegrind and Boundaryby.The condition of fading aristocracy has been represented through the characters, Mr. Gradgrind and Bounderby in the novel.
Dickens has clearly expressed his hatred of the divorce law, which remains a privilege of the rich. Stephen Blackpool, an industrialist who was drunk and had a British wife, wanted a divorce from her, but could not afford the expensive fees due to his poor financial condition and divorce law. The operation of the poor working class by rich industrialists is at the heart of the novel's outrage. Hardworking workers are turned into mere 'Hands' without any emotion, which shows that they are only counted in terms of work, production and manufacture. They are not treated as human. The novel is a fundamental critique against the economic inequality of an age where the rich are extremely rich and the poor are poor, they can't even eat a square meal. All measures against blue collar workers. 'Hands' have always been suppressed by the law, trade unions and their employers.
Industrial workers are paid less and do not get adequate and satisfactory benefits to make a living, which eventually leads to protests against the industrialists. Dickens expressed his displeasure at the evolving system of industrialism in England.
The novel is a great example of an attack on the usefulness of the Victorian era, not counting high emotions and feelings but focusing only on work skills, information, numbers and calculations. Reality has replaced love and feelings. 'Love' is the wrong expression for Gradgrind. The Victorian era was characterized by the same features. This situation is clearly shown by Dickens.
Also the children of Gradgrind were not allowed to wander, imagine and ask questions about emotions and even they were not told any story and no rhyme was heard. For, Gradgrind was true to all and everything. He even turned the relationship into numbers and truth and persuaded his daughter Louisa to marry a man twice her age.
Dickens also satirizes the education system in his novels. The curriculum, the school environment and the teachers were deeply influenced by the useful values. Students were taught to follow what teachers were told, but not to think or wonder about the lessons they were given. Tom, for example, faced a problem and could not cope with the situation, even though he was highly educated at the time andLucia could not understand his own emotions due to the weak Victorian-era education system.
The nineteenth century was an age of continual change and unparalleled expansion in almost every field of activity. Not only was it an era of reform, industrialization, achievement in science, government, literature, and world expansion but also a time when people struggled to assert their independence. Man, represented en masse as the laboring class, rose in power and prosperity and gave his voice to government.The prophets of the time deplored the inroads of science upon religious faith, but the Church of England was revivified by the Oxford Movement; evangelical Protestantism was never stronger and more active; and the Roman Catholic Church was becoming an increasingly powerful religious force in England.
The Industrial Revolution, though productive of much good, created deplorable living conditions in England. Overcrowding in the cities as a consequence of the population shift from rural to urban areas and the increase in the numbers of immigrants from poverty-stricken Ireland resulted in disease and hunger for thousands of the laboring class.Whole families, from the youngest to the oldest, had to enter the factories, the woolen mills, the coal mines, or the cotton mills in order to survive. Children were exploited by employers; for a pittance a day a nine-year-old worked twelve and fourteen hours in the mills, tied to the machines, or in the coal mines pulling carts to take the coal from the shafts.
The Poor Law of 1834 provided for workhouses; indigent persons, accustomed to living where they pleased, bitterly resented this law, which compelled them to live with their families in workhouses In fact, the living conditions were so bad that these workhouses were named the "Bastilles of the Poor." Here the poor people, dependent upon the government dole, were subjected to the inhuman treatment of cruel supervisors; an example is Mr. Bumble in Dickens' Oliver Twist. If the people rejected this rule of body and soul, they had two alternatives as the machines took more jobs and the wages dropped — either steal or starve. Conditions in prisons were even more deplorable than in the workhouses. Debtors' prison, as revealed in Dickens' David Copperfield, was a penalty worse than death.Thomas Carlyle called this system of economy "the dismal science." Dickens, influenced by Carlyle, castigated it again and again.The Utilitarians, however, helped bring about the repeal of the Corn Laws and to abolish cruel punishment. When Victoria became queen, there were four hundred and thirty-eight offenses punishable by death. During her reign, the death penalty was limited to two offenses — murder and treason. With the softening of the penalties and the stressing of prevention and correction came a decrease in crime.
Even though writers of the period protested human degradation under modern industrialism, the main factor in improvement of conditions for labor was not outside sympathy but the initiative taken by the workers themselves. They learned that organized trade unions were more constructive to their welfare than riots and the destruction of machines, which had occurred during the Chartist Movement. Gradually the laboring classes won the right to help themselves. Trade unions were legalized in 1864; two workingmen candidates were elected to Parliament in 1874.
Words Count: 1,550
References:
- https://www.barickacademy.in/2021/08/dickenss-hard-times-as-social-novel.html
- https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hard-times/about-hard-times
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