Hard Times
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In my novel Hard Times, one of the major themes that I try to present is how industrialization has a negative effect on our society. The adoption of machine rather than man undermines the development of emotions and imagination. In my characters, I try to show how the lack of human emotion and contact can lead to a miserable life. In reading Marx's "Communist Manifesto", he brings to the table many ideas that coincide with my ideas about the dehumanization of industrialization.
In my characterization of the Gradgrind children, their father instills rationality and to not have imagination. In chapter III of book one, I write, "No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moonNo Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, Twinkle, twinkle little star"(7). The children are brought up on facts leaving no room for silly thoughts, aspirations and dreams. In chapter eight when Tom becomes an apprentice at Bounderby's bank, Louisa begins to wonder what is missing from her boring, emotionless life. Her mother tells her daughter not to wonder, hence where I thought of the title of this chapter.
Going along with Marx's terms, my character Stephen Blackpool represents the proletarian and Mr...