Why does Stephen Blackpool refuse to join the Labour movement?

Why does Stephen Blackpool refuse to join the Labour movement?

Stephen is the only Hand who refuses to join a workers’ union: he believes that striking is not the best way to improve relations between factory owners and employees, and he also wants to earn an honest living. As a result, he is cast out of the workers’ group.

What does Stephen Blackpool represent in hard times?

Stephen Blackpool, one of the main characters in the novel is a worker in industrial town. He is representing the working class in Victorian era, and through his characterization and representation of working class, we may see that there are several social issues in that time.

Why was Stephen Blackpool cast out of Coketown?

Stephen Blackpool After a dispute with Bounderby, he is dismissed from his work at the Coketown mills and, shunned by his former fellow workers, is forced to look for work elsewhere. While absent from Coketown, he is wrongly accused of robbing Bounderby’s bank.

What is the main principle of Mr Gradgrind’s philosophy?

rational self-interest
Gradgrind expounds his philosophy of calculating, rational self-interest. He believes that human nature can be governed by completely rational rules, and he is “ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you what it comes to.” This philosophy has brought Mr.

What happened to Stephen Blackpool?

After being framed for bank robbery, Stephen ends up dying from falling into a giant hole in the ground.

Who robbed the bank in hard times?

Tom Gradgrind
Tom is Louisa’s brother, and is raised in the same manner that she is. He ends up a degenerate gambler who robs Bounderby’s bank to pay his debts.

Why does Dickens refer to the workers in the factory as hands?

By calling the workers “hands” Dickens illustrates how the factory workers are only seen as a part of the machine, only a part of the system, rather than individuals. Blackpool is used throughout the book as a metonym for the factory; he is internal to the factory.

What is the significance of Coketown in the novel Hard Times?

The significance of Coketown in the novel Hard Times is that it provides an appropriate backdrop to Dickens’s withering critique of industrial society. It’s notable that the town is named after what it produces, coke, a hard grey fuel.

Who robbed the bank of Bounderby?

Tom is Louisa’s brother, and is raised in the same manner that she is. He ends up a degenerate gambler who robs Bounderby’s bank to pay his debts. Tom then has to be smuggled abroad in order to avoid going to prison.

Why did the writer describe Mr Gradgrind as a cannon?

Q#1: Why did the writer describe Mr. Gradgrind as a’Cannon’? Ans: He was very forceful and spoke very harshly and loudly. That is why the writer has described him as a cannon.

What is Mr Gradgrind’s view of education?

Mr Gradgrind’s beliefs about education were, first, that reason as opposed to imagination ‘is the only faculty to which education should be addressed’ (56–7), secondly that education should be characterised by the accumulation of useful facts rather than the cultivation of idle fancies and, finally and most generally.

What does the image of Louisa walk down a staircase symbolize to sparsit?

Sparsit’s staircase represents her animosity towards Louisa, who is the person descending the stairs, and how she wants Louisa to fall and lose what’s precious to her. Mrs. Sparsit is jealous of Louisa, and wants to get rid of her to help escalate her wealth and standing. 2.)

What is the moral of the story Hard Times?

The moral of Hard Times is that a life built completely on the basis of facts and statistics is limited and unhappy. Gradgrind raises his children, Tom and Louisa, to value only money and to live entirely by practical values.

What is called Taste is only another name for fact?

While Bounderby declares that “[w]hat is called Taste is only another name for Fact,” Dickens implies that fact is a question of taste or personal belief. As a novelist, Dickens is naturally interested in illustrating that fiction cannot be excluded from a fact-filled, mechanical society.

Why is James harthouse in Coketown?

Harthouse is a well-born young guy who is trying to get into Parliament. He’s in the same political party as Gradgrind. He comes to Coketown to learn how to work the political process and get to know some money men like Bounderby. While there, he tries to seduce Louisa and almost succeeds.

Is serpents of smoke metaphor?

In this example, Dickens uses the alliterative words serpents of smoke as a metaphor for the imagery of the polluting smoke spiralling continuously from the chimneys of Coketown factories. The use of the word serpent is a biblical reference to represent the evil and poisonous, even Satanic, attribute of the smoke.

How are the working people of Coketown described?

Coketown is described as being “inhabited by people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same pavements, to do the same work and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next” (27-28).

What is Tom addicted to in Hard Times?

While Tom is explicitly shown to drink and take narcotic drugs, for Louisa, it is not a literal substance that tempts and intoxicates her into perilous behavior. Instead, it is the handsome libertine, James Harthouse.