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Original poster

Hard Times readalong 2022

242 replies

Piggywaspushed · 28/12/2021 09:52

Hello and welcome to the selected Dickensalong of 2022 : Hard Times.

This is Dickens' shortest novel (yay!) but was still serialised in instalments running from April to August 1854.

I propose shortening this slightly:

January BOOK ONE Chapters 1- 6
February Chapters 7–12
March Chapters 13 -16
April BOOK TWO Chapter 1- 5
May Chapters 6-12
June BOOK THREE Chapters 1 - 5
July Chapters 6 to end.

Some version number chapters consecutively but I have gone for the Wordsworth edition numbering. Hope that is OK.

So this is kind of a pint sized readalong! Might be more manageable for some of those who fall by the wayside normally (naming no names...)

I enjoy Dickens when he does social commentary so am looking forward to this one and to eventually meet Gradgrind.

OP posts:
Terpsichore · 01/03/2022 09:59

Yes, speaking as a Northerner originally (not a million miles from Preston/Blackpool), the dialect bits could have been so much worse!

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 01/03/2022 11:23

As I mentioned previously, I'm reading this again as an adult after a gap of thirty-odd years, so I'm finding it really interesting as I go along, what I remember from first time round.

Not much, actually! My clearest recollection is the classroom scene and the characters of Louisa, Tom and Sissy, the young people. I also remember Gradgrind and Bounderby, but it's almost like I'm reading this novel for the first time. I think the younger me related for the most part to the younger characters.

Saying that, I feel more horrified now at the marriage between Louisa and Bounderby. Yuck and yuck again. The word 'repressed' describes Louisa perfectly. And depressed. It's like she has given up on her life, although she did make the point to her father as to whether she was expected to love Bounderby as her husband. I'm not sure if you can say she made a stand. It's not quite that, but she didn't submit quietly.

Poor Stephen and Rachel. His situation is so sad. I don't think I appreciated it so much as a young person, how desperately trapped he is in his marriage. That chapter was excellent, when his wife almost drank from the wrong bottle and he watched her, in turmoil. Rachel is clearly The Saintly One in this novel!

I also have my suspicions about the old woman.

Also, what is Mrs Sparsit up to with her foot in a cotton stirrup? Is she working on a loom? A small loom for the home?! She is also someone to be reckoned with. I wouldn't trust her an inch.

I think that Tom is going to go off the rails and I think he is going to take advantage of Louisa's new-found position. Mrs Sparsit doesn't seem to think much of the marriage (good for her). 'I hope you will be happy and get what you deserve' or words to that effect.

SapatSea · 01/03/2022 11:54

Echoing others- poor, poor Louisa! Can you imagine having to sleep in the same bed, have sex with Bounderby and share a chamberpot? The horrors of that bedroom would be enough to make anyone give up on life.

Terpsichore · 01/03/2022 12:10

I wondered about the netting too, Fuzzy - I thought it was done with a kind of shuttle, but just in the hands. I found this explanation online:

Mrs. Sparsit netting at the fire-side…

Netting was a form of needlecraft, popular among Victorian ladies, that used linen, cotton, or silk thread to weave mesh purses as well as mesh decorations for handkerchiefs and similar articles. The "cotton stirrup" was used to hold the proper tension for making knots. Dickens surely intends us to see a sharp contrast between Mrs. Sparsit's netting as a leisure pursuit and Stephen's hard, unremitting labor of weaving at the mill. Note that Mrs. Sparsit carries on her hobby instead of taking lunch, as a sign of gentility, while Stephen must forgo his lunch during his one break simply in order to have time to speak to his employer.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 01/03/2022 12:27

Thank you Terpsichore! That's very interesting. That contrast is stark, when you think about it.

ChessieFL · 01/03/2022 13:01

There’s nothing wrong with age gap relationships when it’s based on live and both partners go into it on equal terms and with open eyes. Here, it’s awful because Louisa doesn’t really have any choice. Women were always the unequal partner anyway, but a big age gap just makes that power imbalance even worse.

On the plus side, Bounderby doesn’t seem the healthiest of specimens so hopefully Louisa won’t have to put up with him for long!

I’m enjoying this book. It is much faster moving than some of the other Dickens I’ve read. Like others I’m intrigued who the old woman is, and whether Stephen and Rachael will be able to get together. I also feel a bit sorry for Stephen’s wife - it can’t have been easy being an alcoholic then, there wasn’t exactly much support around was there?

ChessieFL · 01/03/2022 13:02

That first sentence should say based on love! Must learn to proofread….

YnysMonCrone · 01/03/2022 17:21

I managed to read the chapters this month, and I'm enjoying it so far. I agree poor Louisa, surely it isn't going to end well.
I am interested in the old woman wanting to just see Mr B? Like he is some kind of celeb? Has to be some kind of relative, but I won't speculate further.

Still loving Dickens turn of phrase about facts - and knowledge - particular "There was a moral infection of claptrap about him" . Brilliant

YnysMonCrone · 01/03/2022 17:26

Are we just reading Ch1-5 of Book 2 for next month? I should manage that

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 01/03/2022 17:32

I was looking at this earlier and Book 2 is quite chunky, comparatively. Either we split it in half , or do the whole thing, which is quite a lot. So I vote Chaps 1 - 5 for March?

OP posts:
LadybirdDaphne · 01/03/2022 18:48

Chapters 1-5 for March ok by me 👍🏻

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 01/03/2022 19:11

Chapters 1-5 is fine by me too.

I also love the phrase 'a moral infection of claptrap' . A fantastic turn of phrase :)

ChessieFL · 01/03/2022 19:54

I’m happy to read the whole of Book 2 in March - it’s about 100 pages which is about the same as the instalments of Copperfield/OMF. Chapters 1-5 is only about 40 pages which doesn’t feel like enough to get into it.

However, if others prefer a shorter instalment that’s fine. There’s 12 chapters in book 2 though so wouldn’t chapters 1-6 be a better division?

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 01/03/2022 20:02

It fits in with the divisions of original instalments so there must be a Big Moment.

OP posts:
Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 01/03/2022 20:05

With OMF I did find those sections quite hard going. I forgot what happened and got confused...Blush

OP posts:
IsFuzzyBeagMise · 02/03/2022 07:36

I skimmed it last night. Chapters 1-6 make a better division.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 02/03/2022 11:44

Okeydoke !

CHAPTERS 1 - 6 OF BOOK 2 PLEASE!

OP posts:
DesdamonasHandkerchief · 02/03/2022 16:31

Nothing to add, agree the marriage between Louisa and Bounderby is skin crawling. I really didn't understand why she was quite so passive when entering into it.

Did feel very sorry for Stephen B. stuck with his millstone of a wife, thank goodness marrying in haste and repenting at leisure isn't a life sentence these days. I was willing her to drink the poison and free him up for the saintly Rachael. I'm a very Bad person obvs.

I think we all know who the old woman is Wink but as you're all being so noble and not speculating I won't either Grin

InTheCludgie · 02/03/2022 16:40

The bit in the last chapter where Bounderby mentions how he had watched Louisa grow up made me feel a bit queasy. Was really hoping she would refuse him! Now she's condemned to a lifetime of being bored stiff by his stories of how hard he had it back in his youth.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 02/03/2022 16:51

Yes. I'm getting more than a bit tired of his blustery rags-to-riches spiel.

ChessieFL · 02/03/2022 19:06

I genuinely have no idea who the old woman is!

SapatSea · 02/03/2022 19:32

I think Louisa is passive because that is what she has been conditioned into, she is likely incredibly depressed and just numbed by life. Maybe since she hasn't been out and about and has lived quite an enclosed life she may not realise all that marriage might entail.

InTheCludgie · 02/03/2022 20:11

That's likely I guess SapatSea, which is a pity as she seemed to have a bit of fire about her when younger. Maybe it's been stamped out of her as the years have gone on.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 02/03/2022 20:50

Yes, I agree with both of you. She was more fiery when younger, but has been ground down (small pun there!)

Sissy seems to be faring better. She is still herself. She is an individual, she hasn't been broken by the system. She feels compassion for Louisa on hearing the news of her impending marriage, but Louisa can't deal with her kindness and shuns her.

AliasGrape · 03/03/2022 13:31

Oh poor Louisa! Horrifying. I think she did well to speak up/ question her father as much as she did, the way she described her upbringing was so sad - and he father was actually proud of himself for it.

Mrs Sparsitt is an interesting one. I can’t quite work out where she’s meant to be going now?

Stephen/ Rachael/ his wicked wife - all a bit too heavily done for me right now. Not subtle old Dickens was he?

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