"Cliff Notes - Hard Times" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

Louisa explains that she simply wanted to see what the horse-riding was like, that she has been tired lately--of everything. She shows no guilt or sorrow, despite her father's anger.

Gradgrind ends the discussion abruptly and orders his children to come home with him. On the way, he attempts to instill guilt in them by asking them what their friend Mr. Bounderby will think about their behavior. The mention of this name causes a distinct change in Louisa's emotions.

NOTE: Dickens compares Mr. Bounderby to Mrs. Grundy, a character in a popular English play, Speed The Plough (1798). Mrs. Grundy is often referred to (but never seen) in the play. She is a proper prudish neighbor, about whom the characters often say, "What will Mrs. Grundy think?" The character is still seen to represent a model of British propriety. You'll soon see why Dickens compares Bounderby to Mrs. Grundy.

^^^^^^^^^^HARD TIMES: CHAPTER IV

At Stone Lodge, Josiah Bounderby is talking to Mrs. Gradgrind. He is a rich, loud, balding balloon of a man, a "Bully of humility," and Gradgrind's best friend. Bounderby is telling Mrs. Gradgrind a story she has undoubtedly heard countless times before--the story of his early life. It's a tale of hardship and cruelty. Bounderby was deserted by his mother, raised by a wicked grandmother, and forced to support himself in a variety of odd jobs. The position he has achieved--and it's a lofty one, he'll be the first to tell you--is entirely due to his own perseverance.

NOTE: Bounderby is another of the novel's major characters. Our first clue to Dickens's opinion of him is in Bounderby's name: a "bounder" is British slang for an ill-bred, pushy person.

Dickens's description of Bounderby reveals one of the writer's famous stylistic traits--the repetition of words or phrases. In this paragraph he repeats the word "man" and phrases such as "a man who" and "a man with." The repetition creates a rhythm that accelerates and reaches a climax with the final line: "A man who was the Bully of humility." The "music" created by these rhythms is particularly Dickensian. Try reading this passage aloud (or similar passages) to appreciate the full flavor of Dickens's prose.

Gradgrind arrives home with Tom and Louisa. He immediately criticizes his wife for allowing them to leave their studies. The perpetually sickly Mrs. Gradgrind can only sigh and ineffectively scold her children.

Mrs. Gradgrind is both comic and pathetic in her attempts to raise her children by her husband's principles. She can do little more than parrot his orders when she tells them to "go and be somethingological directly," a reference to the vast number of subjects (whose titles end in "ology," or "the study of") they are forced to learn. Scolding her children seems to rob her of what little energy she has, and she soon fades from the scene.

Gradgrind and Bounderby are mystified. How could Thomas and Louisa be tempted to go to the circus when they have never been allowed anything that might have spurred their imaginations? Bounderby suggests that it might be Sissy Jupe who's responsible. Louisa met her when Sissy applied for entrance to the school at the Gradgrind home.

The two men decide to see Sissy and her father to try to nip in the bud their influence on Louisa. While Gradgrind searches for their address, Bounderby slips into the children's study. There he finds Louisa, Tom, and their sister Jane and brothers Adam Smith and Malthus.

NOTE: The two youngest Gradgrind boys are named after famous eighteenth-century economists. Adam Smith was the author of an influential book, The Wealth of Nations (1776), and Malthus wrote the Essay on Population (1798), which argued that war and medical epidemics were necessary to curb the growing world population. Dickens found both writers to be harmful influences.

Bounderby offers his and Gradgrind's forgiveness for the children's "crime" and asks Louisa for a kiss. She passively allows him to kiss her, but when he leaves she vigorously rubs the spot. She tells Tom that she wouldn't cry if he were to take a knife and cut the spot from her face.

Louisa's behavior may make you think of her as a spoiled brat. But from what you have seen of her upbringing, do you understand her attitude? Yet why is she so hostile to Bounderby? The reasons for her coldness toward him will become clearer as the story unfolds.

^^^^^^^^^^HARD TIMES: CHAPTER V

Bounderby and Gradgrind pass through Coketown on their way to find the Jupes. It is a depressing and ugly town, full of harsh noises and foul smells. The red bricks of the building have been blackened by smoke that pours like "interminable serpents" from sooty chimneys. All of the buildings are monotonously similar, and the piston of the huge steam engine moves up and down "like the head of an elephant."

The images of the serpentlike smoke and the steam engine that resembles an elephant's head will be used throughout the novel to indicate the mark that industry has placed on the town, which has become like a jungle.

There are eighteen churches in Coketown that no one attends, despite a committee that argues in Parliament that the citizens should be forced to go to services. Other committees testify that the citizens drink too much, take opium, go to sleazy hangouts to sing and dance. As for Bounderby and Gradgrind, they see the people as lazy and ungrateful, dissatisfied no matter what is done for them. Dickens wonders if there is any relation between these citizens, dulled by their boring, impoverished lives, and the melancholy Gradgrind children. Both the citizens and the children have been denied "fancy." Dickens merely raises the question here, but there is little doubt about the conclusion he implies.

Dickens calls this chapter "The Keynote," which is the note or tone on which a musical composition is based. It is important to Dickens that we understand the conditions that affect the lives of Coketown citizens if we are to understand his book and the anger that caused him to write it.

Bounderby and Gradgrind are surprised to see Sissy Jupe running toward them. Chasing her is the colorless Bitzer, teasing her about her definition of a horse. Gradgrind scolds Bitzer for taunting the girl and then asks her to lead him and Bounderby to the hotel where the performers are staying.

Notice the difference between Bounderby and Gradgrind in this scene and the one that follows. Although they are portrayed as friends, there are distinct differences in personality between them. Which of them seems to have the softer side?

^^^^^^^^^^HARD TIMES: CHAPTER VI

The public house where the performers are staying is called Pegasus's Arms.

NOTE: The image of the horse continues to weave its way through the story, first in the classroom, then in Mr. Jupe's occupation, now in the hotel sign--Pegasus, the mythical flying horse. Such a fabled creature would never meet with Gradgrind or Bounderby's approval, but it is too dark for them to see either the sign or the picture inside. Dickens seems to be having fun by dangling these irritants under their noses without allowing the men to see them.

As Bounderby and Gradgrind wait impatiently for Sissy to find her father, they are joined by members of the troupe: Childers, famous for his Wild Huntsman act, and Kidderminster, who helps Childers's act by dressing as an infant. To emphasize the performers' childlike innocence, Dickens has given them names--Childers and Kidderminster--that suggest their youthful spirits. Notice, too, that Kidderminster plays Cupid, the ancient Roman god of love, usually portrayed as a young boy with a bow and arrow.