Louisa comes out

After hearing Harthouse’s and Louisa conversation in the woods, Sparsit expected Louisa to go meet him in the city. As we read, Lousia proved Sparsit wrong. Instead of meeting Harthouse, she went to go visit her father where she had an emotional conversation with him. She told him how she really felt about the way he raised her. She admitted that being taught only facts, and not being able to use her imagination ruined her life. She also tells him that she married someone whom her heart doesn’t belong to; it belongs to Hearthouse. Do you think the tone set the mood of how Louisa felt when she was telling Gradgrind how she felt? Or do you believe it is implied by the choice of words used?

A crazy woman.

Ms. Sparsit continues to show how creepy and crazy she is when she follows Louisa into the woods. She suspects Louisa is up to something with Harthouse so she quietly follows behind her. When she approaches Louisa, she discovers that Harthouse is confessing his true feelings to her and says he wants to be her lover. Louisa then agrees to meet him in Coketown later and when Harthouse leaves crazy Ms.Sparsit continues to imagine Louisa falling down the stairwell into the abyss. Do you think Ms. Sparsit is stalking Louisa because she’s extremely jealous of her relationship or for some other unknown reason? Don’t you think she’s crazy and obsessed with Bounderby because of what continuously keeps doing regarding Louisa, his wife?

Slackbridge vs. Stephen

In Chapter 4 of Book Two, Slackbridge gives a powerful speech to a group of workers, expressing his strong feelings against the poor working conditions. He attempts to bring the workers together into a union that will fight for their rights to be treated better as workers. Although Slackbridge is described as an ill-made man who is considered sour and unfavorable compared to the honest workers, the crowd is moved by his speech and enthusiastically supports him. All but one of the workers are ready to form this union - all but Stephen Blackpool. This man cares more about keeping his job and sustaining a decent relationship between them and the employers rather than stand against them. As a result of this opposite opinion, he is then treated as invisible by the rest of the workers.

This simple picture of one man standing up for individual rights and another playing it safe holds a much deeper illustration behind it. Dickens displays the struggles of workers at the time, whether it be fighting for better working conditions or being so in need of work that it'd be best to side with the unfair employers. In terms of issues during the Industrial Revolution, what do Slackbridge and Stephen each represent to you? According to the portrayal in the novel, how do you think Dickens feels about working conditions of the time? What message do you feel he is attempting to convey through the characters of Slackbridge, Stephen, and the group of workers?

Is it fate?

In the last section of Hard Times called "Garnering", we see characters pick up the pieces the harvest/reap of seeds that were missed; in other words, characters make an attempt to restore peace back into their complicated and mend their past life in order to endure their continued journey in life with new, refined resources of a better person. We see in this section those who were true to themselves are rewarded with benefits to their life while those who were deceiving, arrogant were rewarded with the miserable consequences of karma (which is also death). Bounderby's true colors are exposed along with his "inspiring" life story of determination; that story was in fact a lie. That was just an excuse to cover up the true means of the abuse Bounderby faced from his mother. Mrs. Sparsit is sent off to Lady Scadgers, ruining her potential chances of marrying Mr. Bounderby. Tom in fact escapes the consequences of the law but isn't able to erase his guilt of his awful behavior/crime; this essentially brings him to his death. On a happy note, Sissy Jupe (the moral victor of the novel) ends up content with her life.
Oddly so, the only exception to these justices being served is the case of Stephen Blackpool and his beloved Rachael. Stephen Blackpool (who has been absent from Coketown for a while, trying to find work) tries to clear name from this accused fault that he in fact did not commit. He was essentially set up by Tom Gradgrind as a "cover up" for Tom's committed bank robbery on the bank he was apprenticing at. But, on walking back to Coketown, Blackpool falls down the Old Hell Shaft, completing his terminal bad luck and "fate" in life as a Hand in society. Upon his last words spoken to Rachael, Stephen Blackpool dies.
Do you believe that the end result of Stephen Blackpool's life was fair? Do you think this incident was just a mere accident or a matter of fate that resulted in his death? What was Dickens trying to arouse in his audience with the fact of these unfortunate tragedies on this innocent man? How do you feel?

"Reap the seeds."

"What have you done with the garden that should have bloomed once, in this great wilderness here?" She struck herself with both her hands upon her bosom.

In the first book "Sowing", the "seeds" (or conflicts/events) are planted to direct the novel in its plot structure of the story. Some of these seeds include Sissy coming to live in the Gradgrind residence, Louisa is forcefully married to Mr. Josiah Bounderby, the introduction of the "Hands" (as told from Stephen Blackpool's perspective), Tom is apprenticed at the new bank of Bounderby,etc. As the story progresses, we witness (at the end of book two) Louisa's mental collapse in front of her father in Chapter XII ("Down"). After the great build up of this much anticipated scene, this scene depicts a climactic moment in time in Louisa Gradgrind's life. How and what does this scene of this collapse allow Dickens to portray? Was there specific, previous happenings that may have been shown before in the novel (through irony) to result in this consequence? How does this context in this scene relate to the title of the second section of the novel, "Reaping"?

Mrs. Sparsit ...

Mrs. Sparsit seems to be extremely jealous of Louisa’s relationship with Bounderby. In Chapter 9 she continues lurking around Bounderby’s house to try and win him over from Louisa. While doing so she also briefly notices how Louisa seems to be around Harthouse more. And in Chapter 10, she daydreams about Louisa heading down a deep staircase into a dark abyss. She begins to be pleased by these thoughts she’s having about Louisa falling into an abyss. I think Mrs. Sparsit is becoming rather obsessive with Bounderby and might rat Louisa out because she’s hanging out with Harthouse too much in order so she can get her shot at Bounderby.

Tom's Trouble

After Stephen accepts 2 pounds form Louisa in Chapter 6 of the second book, Tom summons him to loiter outside of the bank late at night for a few nights. After he did this, he left for Coketown. A few mornings later Bounderby charges in on James Harthouse and Louisa announcing that the bank had been robbed of 150 pounds and the last person to be seen there was Stephen Blackpool. Louisa confronts Tom and asks him if he had stolen the money, but Tom slyly protects his innocence. But after this he stuffs his face in his pillow and starts sobbing tears of guilt. What does this tell you about his character? Can Tom be trusted? If he was receiving money from Louisa, why did he use Stephen to steal more money from another source? If Stephen was tried in a case against Tom, who would most likely be ruled innocent? Would their social class have an affect on the ruling? Explain.