This document summarizes Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times. It provides background on Dickens and the time period, an overview of the characters and plot, which is set in Coketown during the industrial revolution and focuses on the conflict between facts and imagination. The summary highlights how Louisa is devastated by her childhood and forced marriage, how Tom becomes arrogant and frames Stephen, and how Sissy teaches the children fancy despite living in a house of facts. At the end, most characters lead unhappy lives except Sissy.

1. HARD TIMES
BY: CHARLES DICKENS
Presented by : Arushi Rawat

2. Title
• Hard Times was the tenth novel by
Charles Dickens, first published in
1854
• Set in the times of industrial
revolution
• Set in Coketown
• Very different from other novels

3. Biography
• Dickens was born on February 7,
1812, England and died on June 9,
1870 of a stroke.
• He was an English writer and social
critique
• Early life
• Dickens is credited by the Oxford
English Dictionary with introducing
no less than 247 new words and
usages into the language

4. Stephen Tom Mr.
Grandgrind
Louisa Bounderby SissyMrs. Sparcit
Characters

5. Words
• 1. Principle-a basic generalization that is accepted as true
• 2. Tediously- repetitious or lacking in variety
• 3. Stubborn-tenaciously unwilling to yield
• 4. Regulate-bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage
• 5. Ruminate-chew the cuds.
• 6. Elucidate-make clear and comprehensible
• 7. Phenomenon-any state or process known through the senses
• 8. Replete-deeply filled or permeated
• 9. Devoid-completely wanting or lacking
• 10. Subdue-put down by force or intimidation
• 11. Vitality-a healthy capacity for vigorous activity
• 12. Injunction-a formal command or admonition
• 13. Idle-without a basis in reason or fact
• 14. Counterpart-a person or thing having the same function as another
• 15. Deplorable-bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure
• 16. Rigid-incapable of compromise or flexibility
• 17. Contravene-go against, as of rules and laws
• 18. Torpid-slow and apathetic

6. Words…
• 19. Hand: a body part, a factory worker
• 20. Citadel-a stronghold for shelter during a battle
• 21. Haggard-showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
• 22. Prodigious-great in size, force, extent, or degree
• 23. Strive-exert much effort or energy
• 24. Capacity-the power to learn or retain knowledge
• 25. Myriad-a large indefinite number
• 26. Solemnize-perform (the wedding ceremony) with proper ceremonies
• 27. Auspicious-auguring favourable circumstances and good luck
• 28. Abase-cause to feel shame
• 29. Affectionate-having or displaying warmth or affection
• 30. Allude-make an indirect reference to
• 31. Astounding-bewildering or striking dumb with wonder
• 32. Behove-be appropriate or necessary
• 33. Cellarage-a storage area in a cellar
• 34. Congregate-come together, usually for a purpose
• 35. Consign-give over to another for care or safekeeping
• 36. Devoid-completely wanting or lacking

7. Words…
• 37. Disconcerted-having self-possession upset; thrown into confusion
• 38. drawing room-a formal room where visitors can be received and entertained
• 39. ecclesiastical-of or associated with a church
• 40. elated-exultantly proud and joyful; in high spirits
• 41. elucidate-make clear and comprehensible
• 42. equestrian -of or relating to or featuring horseback riding
• 43. erring -capable of making an error
• 44. farrier-a person who shoes horses
• 45. folly-the trait of acting stupidly or rashly
• 46. girder-a beam used as a main support in a structure
• 47. hearthrug-a rug spread out in front of a fireplace
• 48. heed-careful attention
• 49. incumbrance-any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome
• 50. indignation-a feeling of righteous anger
• 51. jaded-exhausted
• 52. nuisance-anything that disturbs, endangers life, or is offensive
• 53. obliged-under a moral obligation to do something
• 54. peremptorily-in an imperative and commanding manner

8. Words…
• 55. privy-informed about something secret or not generally known
• 56. pugilist-someone who fights with his fists for sport
• 57. quip-a witty saying
• 58. serene-not agitated
• 59. shawl-cloak consisting of an oblong piece of cloth used to cover the head and
shoulders
• 60. sop-dip into liquid
• 61. stroller-a small vehicle in which a baby or child is pushed around
• 62. subdue-put down by force or intimidation
• 63. suffrage-a legal right to vote
• 64. surpassing-exceeding usual limits especially in excellence
• 65. susceptible-yielding readily to or capable of
• 66. vagrant-a wanderer with no established residence or means of support
• 67. vaunt-show off
• 68. vexed-troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances
• 69. woefully-in an unfortunate or deplorable manner
• 70. fancy-created from the imagination rather than from life.

9. Literary devices
• Grandgrind´s philosophy and Sissy´s imagination- facts vs
fantasy
• “Tom gave himself up to be taken home like a machine.”
Grandgrind and industrial revolution
• “to read mere fables about men and women, more or less like
themselves, and about children, more or less like their own”and
“human nature, human passions, human hopes and fears, the
struggles, the triumphs and defeats . . . of common men and
women.”-fantasy leading to questioning
• Mrs. Sparsit’s imaginary staircase symbolizes the standards of
social conduct during the Victorian era.
• “fire with nothing to burn, a starved imagination keeping life in
itself somehow.” and “within her like an unwholesome fire.”-
symbolism

10. Themes
• Fact vs fancy
• Mechanization of humans
• Power of femininity
• Love
• Childhood

11. Summary
• In Coketown all the people are passing through
a really hard time. Louisa, not knowing how to
feel and being forced into a marriage is
devasted about her childhood. Tom who grows
into an arrogant man and robs a bank placing
the blame on Stephen; an innocent hand stuck
in his unhappy marriage. Sissy, stuck in the
Grandgrind household teaches the children
about fancy in a house full of facts as
Bounderby lies about being self-made man. At
the end, most the characters lead a no exiting
life except Sissy, who grows up and has a
family.

12. “There is a wisdom of the head, and...
there is a wisdom of the heart.”
― Charles Dickens, Hard Times

13. Bibliography
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Times_(novel)
• https://
www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/reading-charles-dickens-biography.php
• https://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/books/15-things-you-
probably-didnt-know-about-charles-dickens/95702
• https://www.shmoop.com/hard-times-dickens/summary.html