Characterization In Dickens

Josiah Bounderby exhibits many qualities which make him believable. First of all, Bounderby tries fervently to uphold his image. As a member of the middle-class, he leads everyone to believe that he worked very hard to achieve his position as a wealthy factory owner. Any champion of the middle-class works hard to get where he is, and works hard to stay there. He gets to enjoy the fruits of his labor, yet does not have enough freetime to become bored with life. His plight, as he presents it, follows:

‘ I hadn’t a shoe to my foot. As to a stoc king, I didn’t know such a thing by name. I passed the day in a ditch, and t he night in a pigsty. … ‘I was born with inflammation of the lungs, and of everything else, I believe, that was capable of inflammation.’ … ‘ How I fought through it, I don’t know,’ said Bounderby. ‘I was determined, I suppose. I have been a determined character in later life and I suppose I was then. Here I am Mrs. Gradgrind, anyhow, and nobody to thank for my being here, but myself’ (Dickens 37).

Bounderby maintains that he fought his way, tooth and nail, to gain his present position. This is a very admirable accomplishment. Everyone takes Bounderby’s story for the gospel until his Mother, Mrs. Pegler, uncovers his scheme. She did not abandon him, as he claimed, and he did not work his way up from obscurity. This is what makes Bounderby a believable character. Acceptance is a vital human quality, but admiration is the most sought after. If Bounderby goes by the truth, then he gains acceptance society. If, however, he concocts this story about fighting his way up from a ditch, then he gains the admiration of his peers.

Stephen Blackpool is the martyr of the lower class. We can relate the most to Stephen as a character because he holds the most admirable human qualities. As a worker in Bounderby’s factory, Stephen must work very hard to maintain himself. He sees that despite the poor conditions in the factories, the union is not a very viable option because the negotiator, Slackbridge, as his name suggests, is a very poor “bridge” between the workers and the owners. Because he does not support the union, his peers reject him. We can easily relate to his isolated feeling and sympathize with him.

Stephen is also a victim of his social class. He is in love with Rachel but cannot be with her because he is married to a woman who left him years before. He also cannot divorce her because he cannot afford to. This adds the emotional complexity of something unattainable to Stephen’s character, making him even more believable as a character.

Dickens’ characters in Hard Times are more than just caricatures for an allegorical novel on the present state of England. They are real, thinking, breathing, feeling people who are driven by impulse, desire and acceptance. Dickens’ use of believable characters makes his novel more realistic and therefore more effective. If Dickens had chosen to write his novel using shallow, “cartoon-like” characters, it would be immediately dismissed as a social commentary and would not be hailed for its novel-like qualities. Only when a literary work is appreciated on many levels can it truly be effective in any one area.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1990