Hard Times by Dickens

Hard Times

In sharp contrast to the bleak and gray industrial setting of Coketown, the circus in Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times is full of life, color, and character. In Hard Times, the circus therefore symbolizes the opposite of everything Coketown and the Industrial Revolution represent. For instance, the circus workers are fanciful and free; the factory workers, on the other hand, are drones who drudge through each day. Similarly, the performers demonstrate a cooperative, communal, and compassionate attitude, whereas the industrialists denote rampant individualism, greed, and self-centeredness. The circus represents a diversion from the mundane, a realm of pure imagination, whereas the factories of Coketown are nothing but mundane and are entirely lacking in imagination. To specific characters in Hard Times, Sleary's circus symbolizes several different and often conflicting ideas. For Tom and Louisa, and eventually for Gradgrind, Sleary's circus is a bastion of hope and a means of salvation in a cruel and oppressive world. Although Sleary's circus initially represents everything Gradgrind eschews: irrationality and fancy, eventually he comes to appreciate and embrace the nontraditional and nonconformist circus lifestyle and philosophy. Therefore, Sleary's circus serves an important role juxtaposing industrialism and romanticism in Hard Times, representing social and political philosophies that are directly antagonistic to modernization.

As an age-old and timeless tradition, the circus threatens the modernist mentality represented especially by Bounderby in the book. Throughout much of the novel, Gradgrind is similarly caught up in modernist philosophy, characterized by unabashed materialism, selfishness, and pure rationality. The circus represents the opposite of everything Bounderby and Gradgrind believe in and therefore they persecute and shun circus life, circus performers, and the circus mentality. In the opening chapters, both Bounderby and Gradgrind hold the circus in such low esteem that they persecute Sissy Jupe simply because she is the daughter of a circus performer. When Sissy speaks up in school, she demonstrates her imagination. Even though imagination is a universal hallmark of childhood, men like Gradgrind and Bounderby do all they can to squelch imaginativeness even in children. The circus therefore becomes a scapegoat for the industrialists, who fear the circus' negative impact on modernization. Sissy's playful and imaginative nature, which she attempts to express in school, is quickly scorned by the materialists who kick her out of school. For the industrialists, the circus represents a backwards lifestyle, a collection of the poorest and least empowered members of the society.

Although the circus threatens the modernist mentality, it cannot but seduce the minds and hearts of young people like Tom and Louisa. Eventually, even Gradgrind softens up to the circus mentality. In Hard Times, The circus often represents hope: hope of salvation from the everyday grind of thankless factory work; hope that there is more to life than uninspired drudgery. Gradgrind, thoroughly convinced that industrialization, individualism, and reason trump imagination, demand that his children neglect their innate playfulness and creativity. As a result, Tom and Louisa suffer from emotional and psychological despair. For them, the circus and people like Sissy who are associated with it, represent hope in humanity. Sissy's loving and innocent nature is an ideal counterbalance for the cold, harsh, emotionless nature of men like Gradgrind. When the circus performers eventually come to his son's aid, however, Gradgrind realizes that there is more to life than petty drudgery and industrial progress. Therefore, by helping Tom escape, the circus ironically comes to symbolize actual pragmatic hope as well as philosophical hope.

The circus's negative connotations include poverty, anti-intellectualism, irrationality, irresponsibility, and unchecked idealism. However, in Hard Times, Dickens shows how imagination, play, and irrationality can become practical assets. The circus mentality can temper extreme modernism with equally valid ideals: simplicity, cooperation, and generosity. The circus offers a colorful respite from an otherwise oppressive, bleak, and harsh world. Although Gradgrind initially looks down on the circus's negative connotations, he is ultimately able to appreciate the value of its whimsical lifestyle and solid social values. Gradgrind was not aware of the intrinsic value of the circus philosophy until it impacted his life directly. When he later witnesses the loyalty and generosity of the circus performers in their treatment of Tom, Gradgrind sets aside his previous prejudices and alters his own personal life philosophy. The circus allowed Gradgrind to transform his rigid modernist values into a more flexible, open-minded, and ultimately more loving worldview.