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British Literature since 1798 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Hard Times add'l thoughts
        Remember, Coketown isn't named after Coca-Cola or anything like that but rather the fuel made when you grind coal. Now, get your popcorn, because I'm about to connect Hard Times to multiple other texts here. It's fitting that it was written before J.G. Ballard's novel, because the coke is an allegory for the lifelessness of the city; no one there has time to think about climate change and the long-term effects of producing such a fuel when they're just trying to make ends meet before their own time reaches its end. But does this not also sound like the decay I mentioned for Smith's novel? Unlike NW, Coketown is not a real city, but both cities have been highly depressed.
        To pick such a simple name as Hard Times for your novel, I would say you’re committing to showing what the plot will be about through intricate detailing since you’re not telling it in the title. Dickens does a great job at that, since he makes it realistic enough that hard work and strong attitudes are rewarded but not treated as free tickets to the top. Stephen Blackpool is able to find love and stay true to his work values, but he literally works himself to death when he falls into the mine shaft. Louisa has better luck: she ultimately goes on to live that sweet life described at the end, but that’s only after years of hard work and, well, keeping the right attitude. It’s fitting that motion pictures were still black and white when this novel came out, because when I think of what this Coketown might’ve looked like, all I picture is gray.
- - - - NW/Hard Times connection
      - Leah and Louisa are similar characters to me, not just in terms of both having “L” names but in terms of their marriages and much more. Leah’s marriage to the hairdresser Michel is much more enviable than that of Louisa, since she does love him and is with him by choice, but their disagreements on whether to have children among other things create bumps in the road. While she at least doesn’t feel the need to satisfy a full city with an arranged marriage, she does show she cares about other people by being one of few to challenge Keisha’s chosen identity despite herself being white—some of this is based in frustration at her own self for not having as much success as her friend, but you can still tell she genuinely cares.
      - Yet what connects these two even more is the way they care about other people. The same way we see Leah take on the “side mission” of trying to help out Shar instead of being cross with the latter for scamming her, it’s really Louisa who takes Sissy Jupe under her wing. She and Leah both live in effective slop pails, but they’re both literally and figuratively the one person in the area who would open their door to a stranger. I was surprised at how quickly Mr. Gradgrind’s attitude towards Sissy changed, but I think seeing his own daughter’s kindness and mercy inspired him to adopt those qualities (and Sissy) for himself. Louisa and Sissy are among the only two characters to receive happy endings—the former does end up leaving Bounderby even though they never officially divorce—and I think the message here is that showing those two qualities, kindness and mercy, to others is the fastest way to make hard times more manageable.
- - - - Quote: "The brief span of an individual life is misleading. Each one of us is as old as the entire biological kingdom, and our bloodstreams are tributaries of the great sea of its total memory" (Ballard).
        Brief analysis: all of not just humanity but life in general is biologically linked, so we have the obligation to carry on what our ancestors created. Even the less "intelligent" animals played a part in that, so we shouldn't be too arrogant in our own capabilities--especially when our own climate-neglecting decisions could lead to the ecosystem's downfall.