Hard Times readalong 2022

[Piggywaspushed]

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.

Dickens is as subtle as a sledgehammer, Alias!

Mrs Sparsit is going to live in rooms at the Bank.
Bounderby is in total thrall to her. I don't think she has a first name, does she?

Place-marking for the next installment!

Me too !

This thread does keep hiding itself!

Loved Mrs Sparsit The Bank Fairy, known to many as The Bank Dragon

@Piggywaspushed

Me too !

This thread does keep hiding itself!

Loved Mrs Sparsit The Bank Fairy, known to many as The Bank Dragon

Yes I loved that too.

'Sparen' is 'to save' in German, so it's appropriate that Mrs Sparsit is The Bank Dragon :)

It is indeed! (hence the mini market chain...)

I presume her name also has something to do with 'sparse'?

Yes! Perhaps it's more to do with 'sparse'.
She doesn't give too much away, does she :)

I read John Mullan’s very interesting The Artful Dickens recently, which had a good chapter about names. He talks about Mrs Sparsit a bit, and how Dickens makes fun of her by choosing ridiculous names for the illustrious forbears she’s so proud of - ‘Lady Scadgers’ and of course the late husband who’d been ‘a Powler’. Dickens collected lists of names, apparently.

(Mullan’s book taught me a new word - ‘cratylitic’, for names that indicate a character’s qualities, eg M’Choakumchild in Hard Times, or Tite Barnacle in Little Dorrit )

I must look up that book, Terpsichore. I think I would find it interesting.

Mrs Sparsit tells James Harthouse that her husband was a Powler and he doesn't have a clue what she's talking about.

I love the humour in Dickens.

@Terpsichore

I read John Mullan’s very interesting The Artful Dickens recently, which had a good chapter about names. He talks about Mrs Sparsit a bit, and how Dickens makes fun of her by choosing ridiculous names for the illustrious forbears she’s so proud of - ‘Lady Scadgers’ and of course the late husband who’d been ‘a Powler’. Dickens collected lists of names, apparently.

(Mullan’s book taught me a new word - ‘cratylitic’, for names that indicate a character’s qualities, eg M’Choakumchild in Hard Times, or Tite Barnacle in Little Dorrit )

O yes, I have read that and forgot!

I feel terribly sorry for poor Stephen. What a tragic figure he cuts , with his love for Rachael, his desire to be good, the ostracising from the workers and the awful elite condemning him to poverty and worse. Apparently the strike is based ion the Preston Strike which Dickens had read about. Ordinary workers were treated so horrifically in the industrial revolution and before. It's no wonder Marx arose.

A fabulous museum btw is the Museum of Working Class History in Manchester.

Think we discussed this before but I also like aptonym.

Yes, poor Stephen. The poor lad. I also feel so sorry for him with everything stacked against him. His treatment by Bounderby was appalling.

I was trying to figure out why he didn't join the union. It seems that Rachel told him to avoid trouble for his own good, but that seems to have majorly backfired! If he had held ranks with his fellow workers, he would have kept his job and stayed in town. It feels a little flimsy to me. I think that Dickens is determined to make him the outsider.

Yes I agree. Maybe Dickens didn't like unions!

I think I read somewhere Piggy that he didn't, but ...it doesn't make sense?!

Not much. But he wasn't a worker himself, I guess....

Hello! I also felt sorry for Stephen in these few chapters. I admire him for making his stand, even though I don’t really understand why he’s doing it.

Do we know what’s happened to Stephen’s wife? The last thing I remember was Rachael stopping him killing her, but can’t recall what happened to her after that. Have I missed something?

She's gone AWOL again. Think it merited a sentence.

Just checking in, I read the chapters back at the beginning of the month and I am now struggling to remember what happened (That will teach me!) I'll read the next chapters at the end of April.
I love Dickens names as well - Mr Bumble and Mr Sowerberry (Oliver Twist).

I felt very sorry for Stephen Blackpool too- I hope things come right for him - It is him and Louisa I am rooting for.

Dickens is great for names. My favourite is Mealy Potatoes.

@ChessieFL

Dickens is great for names. My favourite is Mealy Potatoes.

Where is that from Chessie? :)

Apparently Mrs Gaskell had to get Dickens to agree not to put a strike in his book because she was already planning for that to be a major plot point in North and South - so I suppose that’s why he went with Stephen Blackpool being sent to Coventry.

I must say I couldn’t quite grasp why he’s being shunned either, but after a bit of reading round, it seems to be because he won’t join a workers' union.

Sorry, I see everyone's pointed that out about Stephen B and the Union! I don’t know why he’s so against them….

He told Rachel he would avoid trouble for his own good and he wouldn't ever break a promise to her.

Yes. That sounds vague, but that's what I got from it.

Mealy Potatoes is in David Copperfield Fuzzy. Not a key character though.

Ah...Chessie....thanks :).yes! It is a great name!