Beginning of Essay
rd Times “On every page Hard Times manifests its identity as a polemical work, a critique of Mid-Victorian industrial society dominated by materialism, acquisitiveness, and ruthlessly competitive capitalist economics” (Lodge 86). The quotation above illustrate ....

Middle of Essay
.... to those that Dickens creates a firm character basis with. The opening chapter emphasizes on Thomas Gradgrind Sr., and his students fittingly referred to as “vessels before him ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they are filled to the brim” (Dickens 12). Gradgrind’s methods of education are employed to show Dickens’ view on the evil of the educational system. Among the “vessels” are Bitzter and Sissy Jupe. They exemplify two entirely different ideas, serving Dickens for allegorical purposes. Bitzer, the model student of Gradgrind’s school of “facts, facts, facts” becomes the very symbol of ....