《艰难时世》中的情感解析

1、艰难时世中的情感解析Analysis of Love inHardTimesAbstract: Hard Times is the immortal masterpiece of the great critical realistic writer, Charles Dickens. In the novel Dickens expressed hishuman love for the poor, revealing that love generates strength, love triumphs over Facts, and love brings about hope. Thr

2、ough analyzing the love in Hard Times, it is concluded thatHard Timesis full of love.Key words: Charles Dickens; Hard Times; human love摘 要：艰难时世是杰出的批判现实主义作家查尔斯狄更斯的不朽之作。小说中狄更 斯表达了对穷人的人性之爱，揭示出爱是力量的源泉，爱能战胜“事实”教育，爱 能给人们带来希望。 笔者意在分析这部小说中的人性之爱，指出艰难时世 中充 满爱。关键词：查尔斯狄更斯；艰难时世；人性之爱Contents.1I. IntroductionII. L

3、iterary Review .1A. Charles Dickens .11. Life .12. Works13. Comments . .2B. Hard Times .21. The main idea .22. The fiction 33. The study at home .3III. The Plot ofHardTimes .4A. Sowing .4B. Reaping .5C. Garnering .5IV. The Love inHardTimes .5A. Human loveB. Love generates strength .61. Rachael an dS

4、tephe nS wife 62. Rachael and Stephen .7.8.8C. Love triumphs over Facts1. Love and Facts2. CommentsD. Love brings about hope .91. The hope of Stephen 92. The hope of solutions .10V. Conclusion .10.12Works CitedI. IntroductionCharles Dicke ns has achieved popular recog niti on to a degree rarely equa

5、led in English men of letters since the publication of his first novel. With regard to his great work-Hard Times, critics both at home and abroad have made much progress on the study of themes and characters, although Hard Times has not attracted as much attention as Great Expectations or Bleak Hous

6、e. However, the perspectives in those studies on Hard Times are somewhat limited in the sense that most people think that in a world of indiferenee, selfishness and dishonesty, people are thrown into a desperate state, feeling Ionely and helpless. However, we should learn to look at the bright side

7、of our life. It is not difficult to see that Hard Times is full of truth, beauty and kindness. It is with the intention of providing the readers with a better un dersta nding ofHard Times that I have decided to write the prese nt dissertatio n.II. Literary ReviewA. Charles Dickens1. LifeCharles Dick

8、e ns was born in a little house in Lan dport, Portsea, En gla nd, on February 7th, 1812. At the age of eleve n, Dicke ns was take n out of school and sent to work in a London black ing warehouse, where his job was to paste labels on bottles for six shillings a week. When the family fortunes improved

9、, Charles went back to school, after which he became an office boy, a freela nce reporter, and fin ally an author.His realistic writi ng style had a great in flue nce on subseque nt writers like Henry James, Joseph Conrad and Bernard Shaw. Dicke ns no vels go bey ond the social injustices and highli

10、ght on the distortion and alienation of human nature. As one of the most realistic writers, Dicke ns directs his ficti ons to a questi oning of social injustices and in equalities.2. WorksWith Pickwick Papers (1836-7) Dicke ns achieved immediate fame; in a few years he was already the most popular a

11、nd respected writer of his time. It has been estimated that one out of every ten people in Victoria n En gla nd was a Dickenseader. Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickelby (1838-9), and The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) were huge successesM artin Chuzzlewit (1843-4) was less so, but Dicke ns followed

12、it with his unforgettable A Christmas Carol (1843). Bleak House (1852-3), Hard Times (1854), and Little Dorrit (1855-7) reveal his deepening concern for the injustices of British society. A Tale of Two Cities(1859), Great Expectati ons (1860-61) and Our Mutual Friend (1864-5) complete his major work

13、s.3. Comme ntsAs the greatest representative of British critical realistic writer of the 19th cen tury, Charles Dicke ns has bee n en thusiastically criticized both before and after his death. For in sta nee:He is both the most imaginative and fantastic and the most topical and docume ntary of great

14、 Novelist (Leavis 60).Ralf Waldo Emers on once said: “ m afraid he has too much tale nt for his genius; it is a fearful locomotive to which he is bound and never be free from it nor set to rest. He daunts me!”(Collins 69).Apart from the comme nts abroad, here is one of the comme nts at home.Critics

15、have always bee n challe nged by his art, an dofte n an alyze Dicke ns works from perspectives such as historical background, his own life experiences and his writi ng tech niq ues (Luo 136).From the above, we can see that the critics are obsessive about Charles Dicke ns himself and his works.B. Har

16、d TimesDismissed initially as ullen socialism , fhe novel gained new life with F. R. Leavis ositive critical treatment in The Great Tradition (1948). Leavis considered Hard Times as Dicke ns “ masterpiece his axndy serious work of art . Si nce”the nit has bee n one of Dicke ns best-sellers, widely t

17、aught in schools, partly due to the fact that it is Dicke ns shortest major work.1.The main ideaHard Times is Dicke ns stro ng and direattack on in dustrial con diti ons in the Midlands, and a one-sided attack on the utilitarian value system of the middle 19th cen tury based upon emoti onal blue-col

18、lar appeals for labor sympathy.In stead of prese nti ng a historically accurate picture of the extraord inary cha nges brought about by the in dustrial revoluti on, Hard Times, which is writte n on the basis of an inv estigati on of the in dustrial Man chester tow n, gives a true but sorrowful life

19、of Coketown, and shows the writer deep concern with the morality problems ofpeople in in dustrializati on.2. The fictionIn the west, there are two ways of reading intcHard Times.Read it as a fiction of city. From this respect, we can see Mr. Bounderby reiterates his rise from birth-i n-a-ditch to in

20、 dustrial and finan cial eminen ce, that brings the poor and the homeless to the cen ter of Dickers stage; rather, it is in theirrelati ons to the hegem onic middle class that Dicke ns explores the range of possibilities offered by the urban theatre of modern life (Jordan 116).Read it as a ficti on

21、of childhood. While Dicke ns inv ariably set himself aga inst religious severity (which he always associated with the spirit of the Old Testamen) he was n evertheless good at imag ining wicked childre n as spotless onor example, Tom Gradgri nd in Hard Times, a veritable“ manfeterf”h ness who grows i

22、nto ayoung man give n to“grovelli ng sen sualities” (Qualls 93).3. The study at homeSome critics focus on the relatio nship betwee n people and the in dustrial society such as the n egative in flue nces upon people of the Great In dustrial Revoluti on. Take the paperO n Dehuma nizing In dustrializat

23、i on In Charles Dicke ns Novels-Oliver Twist, Hard Times and Great Expectations as an example. The author Li Ting holds thate is stupriteous.tSHLouisa,industrialization creates alienation of humanity. For instanee, Mrs. Sparsit in Hard Timesis a “decent ” lady and always shows hexrtrtesMr. Bounderby

24、. But deep in her heart, she looks dow n upon him, calli ng him but in private she always despises her.The concept of dehumanizing industrialization in Hard Times is revealed in alie nati on of huma nity both physically and men tally, which in cludes the loss of huma n dig nity as a result of the ch

25、a nges of the en vir onment and way of life, loss of free mind, feeli ng of in sig nifica nce as well as creati on of double pers on ality.Some other critics focus on charateration. By means of analyzing the male psychological tendency through the female characters created in Hard Times He Rundong h

26、olds that Dicke ns view can avoid from the in flue nce of male authority and their culture due to his own sex. Although Dicke ns showed supremely sympathy and understanding to women, he was still ready to obey the traditional gender prejudice and value prejudice.This paper discussesthe descripti on

27、of Sissy in Dicke ns Hard Times through several aspects, such as Sissy s in flue nce on the Gradgri nd family and other people, the portrayal of Sissy character, etc. Through the descripti on of Sissy, Dicke ns huma nist thought and reformist thought are made evide nt. The author con cludes that Dic

28、ke ns reformist thought, that is, solvi ng social con flicts by mild reform, was progressive and feasible under the social circumstances of that time (He 50).III. The Plot of Hard TimesA. SowingThomas Gradgri nd runs a school of hard fact in the in dustrial city of Coketow n.He happens to see his ch

29、ildren, Louisa and Tom, peering into a circus in direct oppositi on to his views on things of fan cy. The cause for the offen se, suggested by his friend Josiah Bounderby, a “ semade man banker and mill owner in Coketown, is that Sissy Jupe, the daughter of oneof the circus folk from Sleary s travel

30、ing circus, has bee n en rolled n Gradgri nd s school and is a bad in flue nee.Gradgrind and Bounderby proceed to visit the girl s father in order to have her removed from school. They find that he has aba ndoned the girl and Gradgri nd agrees to take her in in the hope of reform ing her on the con

31、diti on that she n ever men ti ons her former life.Stephen Blackpool, a power loom weaver in Bounderby s mill, is married to a drunk. When he asked Bounderby how he can get out of his marriage, aiming at marrying Rachael. Bounderby tells him that he married for better or worse and without money cann

32、ot be released from the marriage.Stephen sees that despite the poor conditions in the factories, the union is not a very feasible option becausethe negotiator, Slackbridge, as his name suggests,is a very poor “ bridgetwee n the workers and the own ers. Because he does not support the union, his peer

33、s reject him. Before long he is fired by Boun derby.Tom, Louisa, and Sissy finish school, Sissy unsatisfactorily. Tom is apprenticed to Bounderby. Bounderby asked Gradgrind for Louisa s hand and she reluctantly agrees to marry him on the chanee of helping Tom. Sissy remains with Mrs. Gradgri nd to h

34、elp raise three youn ger childre n.B. ReapingJames Harthouse, a characteristic member of the upper-class, comes to Coketown to search for something else to bide his time with. Harthouse is very manipulative and toys with people s emotions and disregards their feelings in favor of his own fan cy.Tom

35、has take n to gambli ng and has falle n heavily into debt. Louisa and Tom visit Stephe n and Louisa sympathetically offers money to help him relocate. Tom takes Stephe n aside and asks him to loiter around the bank in the eve nings before he leaves town on the prete nse of offeri ng work.The bank is

36、 robbed and Blackpool, see n loiteri ng about the bank in the days before the robbery, is suspected.Mrs. Sparsit, Bounderby s housekeeper, captures Mrs. Pegler and bringsher to Bounderby s house where she is revealed to be Bounderbys loving mother, dispro ving Boun derby s story of being a self-made

37、 man, aba ndoned as a child.Harthouse falls in love with Louisa and tries to lure her away from her unhappy marriage to Boun derby. She flees to her father and reveals the un happ in ess she has felt since childhood. He softens as he realizes the mistakes he made in her education.C. GarneringLouisa

38、stays with his father, cared for by Sissy. Boun derby aba ndons Louisa.Rachael and Sissy, walking in the country, come across Stephens hat near a deserted mine and realize he has falle n in. They sum mon help. Stephe n is brought out alive but dies on the way back to town. Before dying he tells Mr.

39、Gradgrind to question his son, Tom, concerning the robbery.Tom, knowing that capture is close at hand escapes, with the help of Sissy, to a town where Sleary s Circus is performing. Thomas, Sissy, and Louisa meet him there and, after a last minute attempt by Bitzer to capture him, escapes abroad, wi

40、th the help of the circus folk, where he later dies in misery. Thomas Gradgrind abandons his in flexible dema nds for facts in favor of Faith, Hope, and Charity.IV. Love in Hard TimesA. Human loveIn Dicke ns op inion, in dividual “ humarhove ” may tur n a weak pers on into a strong and fearless one

41、to protect whom he or she lovest smuch more powerful and energetic than Facts; and it brings about hope and future for human beings. If every one is able to love, if every one cares for others with their lovi ng heart, ifevery one is surro un ded by love, what a bright and happy world will it be for

42、 all human beings? How can any evil still exist in such a beautiful world?While industrialization has brought the Great Britain unprecedentedeconomic developme nt it has con sig ned the com mon people to an impers on alized world of Ioneliness and helplessness,in which they have lost their innocence

43、, their passions, their free mi nd and their true n ature (Zhao 78).Hard Times, written in the background of industrialization, not only gives a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the hypocritical ruling class, but also shows a pround sympathy for the hon est and good-hearted com mon peo

44、ple of the opressed and exploited lower class.B. Love generates strength1. Rachael andStephens wifepen thIndustrialization brought England profits as well as problems. Wealth grew hand in hand with poverty and social in justice. Trade and manu facturi ng based their econo mic growth on shameless in

45、trigue and merciless exploitati on. The steam engine became “ a powerful mon ster ” en slav ing millio ns of people. Un der Dicke ns Coketown was a living hell for the proleariat.It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it. It was a town of

46、machinery and tall chimneys, out of which in termi nable serpe nts of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and n ever got un coiled (Dicke ns 18).People all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same paveme nts, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same

47、 as yesterday and to-morrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next (Dickens 18).Caught up in the plight, Stephens wife chose to look for a releasein her own way. She took to drinking, left off working, sold the furniture, pawned the clothes, and played old Gooseberry. She disgraced

48、 herseIn everyways, bitter and bad ” (Dicke ns 60)She cared about no thi ng and loved n obody. We can say that it is the lack of love that resulted in what she was.One day Stephe nsf wife was drunk once aga in, all wan deri ng and lost, woun ded too, and bruised” (Dickens 69). Rachael, who loved Ste

49、phen, came to look after her. Her disgraceful garme nts were removed, and everyth ing was in its place and order asStephe n had always kept it (Dicke ns 69).Rachaels love for Stephens wife was totally unselfish. She did this for the reasons thatStephens wife worked with her when they were girls, and

50、 that Stephen should nt let his wife die whe n he was kin dhearted. Thou art not the man to cast thr last stone, Stephe n, whe n she is brought so low(Dicke ns 70)2. Rachael and Stephe nRachael is the one that cares about Stephe n. I am thy poor frie nd, with all my heart and mind? (Dickens 70)Steph

51、e n also admitted that: thou hast done me so much good, and hearte ned of me in that cheeri ng way (Dicke ns 55).Whe n the bank is robbed and Stephe n Blackpool, see n loiteri ng about the bank in the days before the robbery, is suspected and hun ted by Mr. Boun derby, who jumped to a premature con

52、clusi on and un fairly condemned Blackpool without the ben efit of due process.But Rachael knew him and trusted him. The masters against him on one hand, the men against him on the other, he only wantin to work hard in peace, and do what he felt right. ”(Dickens 211)Just supported by a senseof duty

53、and devotion derived from her keen love to Stephe n, she appears un expectedly calm and brave. She wrote Stephe n what had bee n done aga inst him and came to Mr. Boun derby, help ing clear Stephe n. Stephe n! The hon estest lad, the truest lad, the be6t!(Dicke ns 209)Having seen Stephen lying maime

54、d at the bottom of a deserted mine, Rachael fell upon her kn ees and crying out O, my good Lord! He dow n there! Down there!” At first this, and her terrific screams, were all that could be got from Rachael, by any tears, by any prayers, by any represe ntatio ns, by any means (Dicke ns 223).All the

55、emoti ons stirred by her love to Stephe n went out at once at that mome nt. Conviced by Sissy, Rachael ran as she had never run before (Dickens 224) to seek help. From this we can see how deep she loved him, and ifsthe love that carried her on help ing and sav ing Stephe n.Fin ally Stephe n was brou

56、ght up. Though he lay quite moti onl ess look ing up at the sky, the first word he said was Rachae? (Dickens 227), giving away Stephen love to Rachael. Their abid ing love is see n from this:Rachael, beloved lass!Don let go my hand. We may walk toogeter t night, my dear!”“will hold thy hand, and kee

57、p beside thee, Stephe n, all the wa”(Dicke ns 229)From Rachael and Stephe n, we can see that people equipped with intense huma n love will be gran ted formidable and infin ite courage and stre ngth to support them undergoing any suffering and overcoming any hardship optimistically and in domitably.C

58、. Love triumphs over Facts1. Love and FactsNow, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls no thi ng but Facts. Facts alone are wan ted in life. Pla nt no thi ng else, and root out everythi ng else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir” (Dickens 2)The education which “ dist