《艱難時世》中的情感解析

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

2、rough analyzing the love in Hard Times, it is concluded that Hard Times is full of love.Key words: Charles Dickens; Hard Times; humanlove摘要：艱難時世是杰出的批判現(xiàn)實主義作家查爾斯狄更斯的不朽之作。小說中狄更斯表達了對窮人的人性之愛，揭示出愛是力量的源泉，愛能戰(zhàn)勝“事實”教育，愛能給人們帶來希望。筆者意在分析這部小說中的人性之愛，指出艱難時世中充滿愛。關鍵詞 :查爾斯狄更斯； 艱難時世；人性之愛ContentsI. Introduction.1II. Lit

3、erary Review. . .1A. Charles Dickens. .11. Life.12. W o r k s. 13. Comments . .2 B. Hard Times . .21. The main idea.22. The fiction.33. The study at home.3III. The Plot of Hard Times.4A. Sowing.4B. Reaping. 5C. Garnering. .5IV. The Love in Hard Times.5A. Human love. 5B. Love generates strength.61. R

4、achael andStephenswife.62. Rachael and Stephen.7C. Love triumphs over Facts.81. Love and Facts. 82. Comments.8D. Love brings about hope91. The hope of Stephen.92. The hope of solutions.10V. Conclusion.10Works Cited.12Analysis of Love in Hard TimesI. IntroductionCharles Dickens has achieved popular r

5、ecognition to a degree rarely equaled 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 a

6、s Great Expectations or Bleak House. However, the perspectives in those studies on Hard Times are somewhat limited in the sense that most people think that in a world of indiference, selfishness and dishonesty, people are thrown into a desperate state, feeling lonely and helpless. However, we should

7、 learn to look at the bright side 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 understanding ofHard Times that I have decided to write the present dissertation.II. Literary ReviewA. Char

8、les Dickens1. LifeCharles Dickens was born in a little house in Landport, Portsea, England, on February 7th, 1812. At the age of eleven, Dickens was taken out of school and sent to work in a London blacking warehouse, where his job was to paste labels on bottles for six shillings a week. When the fa

9、mily fortunes improved, Charles went back to school, after which he became an office boy, a freelance reporter, and finally an author.His realistic writing style had a great influence on subsequent writers like Henry James, Joseph Conrad and Bernard Shaw. Dickens novels go beyond the social injustic

10、es and highlight on the distortion and alienation of human nature. As one of the most realistic writers, Dickens directs his fictions to a questioning of social injustices and inequalities.2. WorksWith Pickwick Papers (1836-7) Dickens achieved immediate fame; in a few years he was already the most p

11、opular and respected writer of his time. It has been estimated that one out of every ten people in Victorian England was a Dickensreader. Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickelby (1838-9), and The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) were huge successesMartin. Chuzzlewit (1843-4) was less so, but Dickens第1頁共1

12、2頁Analysis of Love in Hard Timesfollowed 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 Expectations (1860-61) and Our Mutual

13、 Friend (1864-5) complete his major works.3. CommentsAs the greatest representative of British critical realistic writer of the 19th century, Charles Dickens has been enthusiastically criticized both before and after his death. For instance:He is both the most imaginative and fantastic and the most

14、topical and documentary of great Novelist (Leavis 60).Ralf Waldo Emerson once said:“I m afraid he has too much talent 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 comments abroad, here is one of t

15、he comments at home.Critics have always been challenged by his art, andoften analyze Dickens works from perspectives such as historical background, his own life experiences and his writing techniques (Luo 136).From the above, we can see that the critics are obsessive about Charles Dickens himself an

16、d his works.B. Hard TimesDismissed initially as “sullen socialism , ”the novel gained new life with F. R. Leavis positive critical treatment in The Great Tradition (1948). Leavis consideredHard Times as Dickens “ masterpiece his” aonlyd serious“ work of art . Since”then it has been one of Dickens be

17、st-sellers, widely taught in schools, partly due to the fact that it is Dickens shortestmajor work.1.The main ideaHard Times is Dickens strong and directattack on industrial conditions in the Midlands, and a one-sided attack on the utilitarian value system of the middle 19th century based upon emoti

18、onal blue-collar appeals for labor sympathy.Instead of presenting a historically accurate picture of the extraordinary changes brought about by the industrial revolution, Hard Times, which is written on the basis of an investigation of the industrial Manchester town, gives a true but sorrowful life

19、of Coketown, and shows the writer deeps concern with the morality problems of第2頁共12頁Analysis of Love in Hard Timespeople in industrialization.2. The fictionIn the west, there are two ways of reading intoHard Times.Read itas a fiction of city. From this respect, we can see Mr. Bounderbyreiterates his

20、rise frombirth-in-a-ditch toindustrialand financial eminence, thatbrings the poor and the homeless to the center of Dickers stage; rather, it is in theirrelations to the hegemonic middle classthat Dickens explores the range ofpossibilities offered by the urban theatre of modern life (Jordan 116).Rea

21、d it as a fiction of childhood. While Dickens invariably set himself againstreligious severity (which he always associated with the spirit of theOld Testament),he was nevertheless good at imagining wicked children as spotless onesfor example,Tom Gradgrind in Hard Times, a veritable“ monstoferlfishne

22、ss”who grows into ayoung man given to“ grovelling sensualities” (Qualls 93).3.The study at homeSome critics focus on the relationship between people and the industrial societysuch as the negative influences upon people of the Great Industrial Revolution. Takethe paperOn Dehumanizing Industrializatio

23、n In Charles Dickens Novels-Oliver Twist,Hard Times and Great Expectations as an example. The author Li Ting holds thatindustrialization creates alienation ofhumanity. For instance, Mrs. Sparsit in HardTimesis a “ decent ” lady and always shows hectr resptoMr. Bounderby. But deep inher heart, she lo

24、oks down upon him, calling hime “is stupidcourteous”. toShLouisa,but in private she always despises her.The concept of dehumanizing industrializationin HardTimes isrevealed inalienation of humanity both physically and mentally, whichincludesthe loss ofhuman dignity as a result of the changes of the

25、environment and way of life, loss offree mind, feeling of insignificance as well as creation of double personality.Some other critics focus on charateration. Bymeans ofanalyzing the malepsychological tendency through the female characters created in HardTimes, HeRundong holds that Dickens view cant

26、avoid from the influence of male authorityand their culture due to his own sex. Although Dickens showed supremely sympathyand understanding to women, he was still ready to obey the traditional genderprejudice and value prejudice.This paper discusses the description of Sissy inDickens Hard Times thro

27、ughseveral aspects, such as Sissy s influence on the Gradgrind family and other people,第3頁共12頁Analysis of Love in Hard Timesthe portrayal of Sissy character,s etc. Through the description of Sissy, Dickens humanist thought and reformist thought are made evident. The author concludes that Dickens ref

28、ormist thought, that is, solving social conflicts by mild reform, was progressive and feasible under the social circumstances of that time (He 50).III. The Plot of Hard TimesA. SowingThomas Gradgrind runs a school of hard fact in the industrial city of Coketown. He happens to see his children, Louis

29、a and Tom, peering into a circus in direct opposition to his views on things of fancy. The cause for the offense, suggested by his friend Josiah Bounderby, a “ self-made man”banker and mill owner in Coketown, is that Sissy Jupe, the daughter of oneof the circus folk from Sleary s traveling circus, h

30、as been enrolledin Gradgrind s school and is a bad influence.Gradgrind and Bounderby proceed to visit the girl s father inorder to have her removed from school. They find that he has abandoned the girl and Gradgrind agrees to take her in in the hope of reforming her on the condition that she never m

31、entions her former life.Stephen Blackpool, a power loom weaver in Bounderby smill, 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 cannot be released from the marr

32、iage.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 “ bridgetween” the workers and the owners. Because he does not support the union, his peers reject him. Before long he

33、 is fired by Bounderby.Tom, Louisa, and Sissy finish school, Sissy unsatisfactorily. Tom is apprenticed to Bounderby. Bounderby asked Gradgrind for Louisa shand and she reluctantly agrees to marry him on the chance of helping Tom. Sissy remains with Mrs. Gradgrind to help raise three younger childre

34、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第4頁共12頁Analysis of Love in Hard Timesmanipulative and toys with people s emotions and disregards their feelings in favor of his own fancy.To

35、m has taken to gambling and has fallen heavily into debt. Louisa and Tom visit Stephen and Louisa sympathetically offers money to help him relocate. Tom takes Stephen aside and asks him to loiter around the bank in the evenings before he leaves town on the pretense of offering work.The bank is robbe

36、d and Blackpool, seen loitering about the bank in the days before the robbery, is suspected.Mrs. Sparsit, Bounderby shousekeeper, captures Mrs. Pegler and bringsher to Bounderby s house where she is revealed to be Bounderbys loving mother, disproving Bounderby s story of being a self-made man, aband

37、oned as a child.Harthouse falls in love with Louisa and tries to lure her away from her unhappy marriage to Bounderby. She flees to her father and reveals the unhappiness she has felt since childhood. He softens as he realizes the mistakes he made in her education.C. GarneringLouisa stays with his f

38、ather, cared for by Sissy. Bounderby abandons Louisa. Rachael and Sissy, walking in the country, come across Stephenshat near adeserted mine and realize he has fallen in. They summon help. Stephen is brought out alive but dies on the way back to town. Before dying he tells Mr. Gradgrind to question

39、his son, Tom, concerning the robbery.Tom, knowing that capture is close at hand escapes, with the help of Sissy, to atown 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, with the help of the circ

40、us folk, where he later dies in misery. Thomas Gradgrind abandons his inflexible demands for facts in favor of Faith,“ Hope, and Charity”.IV. Love in Hard TimesA. Human loveIn Dickens opinion, individual “ humanlove ”may turn a weak person into a strong and fearless one to protect whom he or she lov

41、est. Ismuch more powerful and energetic than Facts; and it brings about hope and future for human beings. If everyone is able to love, if everyone cares for others with their loving heart, if第5頁共12頁Analysis of Love in Hard Timeseveryone is surrounded by love, what a bright and happy world will it be

42、 for all human beings? How can any evil still exist in such a beautiful world?While industrialization has brought the Great Britain unprecedented economic development it has consigned the common people to an impersonalized world of loneliness and helplessness,in which they have lost their innocence,

43、 their passions, their free mind and their true nature (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 honest and good-hearted common people o

44、f the opressed and exploited lower class.B. Love generates strength1. Rachael andStephenswifeIndustrialization brought England profits as well as problems. Wealth grew hand in hand with poverty and social injustice. Trade and manufacturing based their economic growth on shameless intrigue and mercil

45、ess exploitation. The steam enginebecame “ a powerful monster ” enslaving millions of people. Under Dickens pen th 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 machinery and tall

46、 chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled (Dickens 18).People 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 to-morr

47、ow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next (Dickens 18).Caught up in the plight, Stephenswife chose to look for a release in her own way. “She took to drinking, left off working, sold the furniture, pawned the clothes, and played old Gooseberry. She disgraced herseln everyways, bitt

48、er and bad.” (Dickens 60)She cared about nothing and loved nobody. We can say that it is the lack of love that resulted in what she was.One day Stephenswife was drunk once again,“all wandering and lost, wounded too, and bruised”(Dickens 69). Rachael, who loved Stephen, came to look after her. Her di

49、sgraceful garments were removed, and everything was in its place and order as第6頁共12頁Analysis of Love in Hard TimesStephen had always kept it (Dickens 69).Rachaels love for Stephenswife was totally unselfish. She did this for the reasons that Stephenswife worked with her when they were girls, and tha

50、t Stephen shouldntlet his wife die when he was kindhearted. “Thou art not the man to cast thr last stone, Stephen, when she is brought so low”(Dickens. 70)2. Rachael and StephenRachael is the one that cares about Stephen.“I am thy poor friend, with all my heart and mind”.(Dickens 70)Stephen also adm

51、itted that:“thou hast done me so much good, and heartened of me in that cheering way (Dickens” 55).When the bank is robbed and Stephen Blackpool, seen loitering about the bank in the days before the robbery, is suspected and hunted by Mr. Bounderby, who jumped to a premature conclusion and unfairly

52、condemned Blackpool without the benefit 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 sense of duty and devotion derived f

53、rom her keen love to Stephen, she appears unexpectedly calm and brave. She wrote Stephen what had been done against him and came to Mr. Bounderby, helping clear Stephen. “Stephen! The honestest lad, the truest lad, the best!”(Dickens 209)Having seen Stephen lying maimed at the bottom of a deserted m

54、ine, Rachael fell upon her knees and crying out“O, my good Lord! He s down 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 representations, by any means (Dickens 223).All the emotions stirred by her love to St

55、ephen went out at once at that moment. 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 its the love that carried her on helping and saving Stephen.Finally Stephen was brought up. Though he lay quite motionless lo

56、oking up at the sky, the first word he said was “Rachael”(Dickens 227), giving away Stephen s love to Rachael. Their abiding love is seen from this:“Rachael, beloved lass! Dont let go my hand. We may walk toogeter t night, my dear!”第7頁共12頁Analysis of Love in Hard Times“I will hold thy hand, and keep beside thee, Stephen, all the way”.(Dickens 229) From Rachael and Stephen, we can see that people equipped with intense humanlove will be grante