Coming across the film adaptation of Hard Times starring Alan Bates, which we have here at the library on DVD, reminded me that this was one of the few Dickens novels that I had never read.
The story starts with a young girl from a travelling circus being taken in and educated by wealthy merchant Thomas Gradgrind, who runs a school fashioned after his own idea of what education should be. The action takes place in “Coketown,” a fictional name for a very real type of industrial town in the mid 1850’s. The depiction of the town and the conditions of the workers is almost propaganda-like.
It is slow going at first, with much time spent portraying Mr. Gradgrind’s philosophy of education, but this is necessary, since this philosophy shapes the story and directly contributes to its outcome. But gradually, as with all Dickens’ novels, the characters and their interaction with each other take hold of the reader’s attention, and don’t let go. Now I’m looking forward to the DVD.
Submitted by Jane Brown.