Industrial revolution of entertainment

In Hard Times Charles Dickens presents a harsh warning about the threats of the industrial revolution on mankind. The despoiling of nature, loss of emotion, theft of individuality, nullification of imagination, destruction of family, lies and corruption of power in the name of efficiency and logic are the faces of this overall threat. To combat these threats, Dickens advocates through his characters a sense of family, respect of nature, management of socialism and entertainment to preserve humanity against the onslaught of industrialization.
The book begins with the figurehead leaders of industrialization, Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby, programming children into future automaton workers. Instead of a childhood filled with imagination and curiosity, Mr. Gradgrind promotes “…nothing but Facts!”
Gradgrind comes to adopt one of these students, Sissy Jupe. Sissy’s reading is the exact opposite of Gradgrind’s own children, Thomas and Louisa, as Dickens states, “They took De Foe to their bosoms instead of Euclid, and seemed to be on the whole more comforted by Goldsmith than by Cocker.” Louisa speaks of these effects to her brother, saying, “I can’t talk to you so as to lighten your mind, for I never see any amusing sights or read any amusing books…” Tom says, “I wish I could collect all the Facts…and all the Figures…and I wish I could put a thousand barrels of gunpowder under them, and blow them all up together!” Their mother expresses her strife upon hearing of her children’s rebelliousness to the system of Facts by saying to them, “…I really do wish that I had never had a family…”
The Gradgrind family is not alone in their suffering caused by industrialization. Mr. Bounderby is quick to point out to everybody his estrangement from his mother since his childhood. The lower-class are also suffering widespread familial hardships as shown by Sissy’s father abandoning her and in the marriage of Stephan Blackpool, a laborer in Coketown who pays his alcoholic wife his wages to stay away from him. Stephen is prevented from escaping his tragic marriage by laws set up to afford the rich luxuries such as a divorce.
The novel continues with the characters further having their lives upset. The truth of Bounderby's success is exposed, and his loveless marriage to Louisa falls apart due to a visitor of Gradgrind's. Stephen's fate keeps getting worse and worse as does Tom's. Human suffering is not the only injuries shown.
The despoiling of nature resulting from the greed of industrialization is also best exposed through the character of Stephen. After leaving Coketown to find a new job, Dickens writes about the new landscape he encounters: “So strange to turn from the chimneys to the birds. So strange to have the road-dust on his feet instead of the coal-grit…And the trees arched over him…”

The despoiling of nature is not limited to wanton pollution by industrialization but also a disregard for animals. Bounderby brags throughout the book about the meats he eats as a symbol of status and success, his most often used example being, “…turtle soup and venison.” When Sissy tells Mr. Gradgrind about reading to her father and dog, Merrylegs, Mr. Gradgrind replies, “Never mind Merrylegs, Jupe. I don’t ask about him.”
By the end of the novel Mr. Gradgrind realizes the danger of industrialization and comes to embrace his family, emotion and compassion. One of the starkest contrasts of Gradgrind coming to embrace ideals opposite that of industrialization is his newfound
appreciation of animals, namely dogs. He expresses his thoughts in a conversation with Mr. Sleary, saying, “Their instinct…is surprising.” Sleary also shows his respect for dogs, explaining, “…but I have had dogth find me…in a way that made me think whether that dog hadn’t gone to another dog, and thed, “You don’t happen to know a perthon of the name of Thleary, do you?””
Throughout the book Dickens writes with a very sarcastic tone on the environment created by the industrial revolution. He also uses many allusions, in particular to the Bible, the most obvious being that of Stephen being a martyr of the industrial revolution just as Stephen was the first martyr of Christianity.
The emphasis of animal respect is but one of the pioneering themes presented by Hard Times and Dickens’ criticism of industrialization. This respect of animals is perhaps a pioneering inspiration for animal rights movements. Other than a promotion of controlled socialism, themes such as the threat posed to mankind from machines and technology, societal control imposed by conditioning and a stunting of imagination have become common themes in science-fiction works and industrial music. By being a template for later social movements and inspiring other entertainment forms, Dickens has succeeded in warning society about the dangers of industrialization with Hard Times.