Book I, Chapters 1-2

1. Examine Dickens’ use of repetition in these two chapters, explaining what you think Dickens gains by repeating such words as “hard,” “fact,” “sir,” “square,” and “squarely.”

2. Discuss just what Gradgrind and the others appear to mean by “facts.”

3. Dickens’ position appears to be that teachers who are not so well-prepared as M’Choakumchild, who may indeed have learned less than he has, would make better teachers. That, knowing less, they could teach “infinitely” more. Argue for or against this idea, basing your remarks on a combination of what you have observed in your own teachers and what Dickens tells you about M’Choakumchild and Gradgrind’s school.

Book I, Chapters 3-4

1. Write an analysis of Mr. Gradgrind’s exchange with his daughter in Chapter 3.

2. Comment on Mr. Bounderby’s physical appearance, gestures, and tone of voice and explain what these convey about his personality.

Book I, Chapters 5-6

1. “People mutht be amuthed, Thquire, thomehow.” Discuss how Mr. Sleary’s statement might be said to express Dickens’ own conviction in Hard Times.

2. Compare and contrast Mr. Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind’s attitudes and responses to the circus people.

3. Based on what you now know about Sleary’s Horse-Riding and Gradgrind’s establishment, explain why you think Sissy was right or wrong in accepting Gradgrind’s offer.

Book I, Chapter 7

1. Mrs. Sparsit and Mr. Bounderby are both in their own ways proud people who pretend to be humble. Explain how and in what ways.

2. Examine Mr. Gradgrind’s motives for taking Sissy Jupe into his household in the light of what he tells her at Bounderby’s house.

Book I, Chapter 8

1. Discuss the nature of Tom and Louisa’s relationship, basing your remarks on the conversation in this chapter.

2. Discuss Mrs. Gradgrind’s attitude toward her children. What kind of a parent is she? Can Louisa or Tom look to her for support? If not, why not?

Book I, Chapter 9

1. Sissy believes herself to be “O so stupid!” for her answers in class. Actually, they show considerable intelligence of a certain kind. Discuss what kind of intelligence that is, as well as what sort of outlook is revealed by her “mistakes.”

2. Discuss Louisa’s attitude toward Sissy before and after the conversation recorded in this chapter.

Book I, Chapters 10-12

1. Dickens calls Stephen Blackpool a “man of perfect integrity.” First, what do you think this means, and, second, how in these chapters does his integrity manifest itself?

2. Discuss the significance of the imagery Dickens uses to describe the Coketown factories, particularly the image of the “Fairy palace.”

Book I, Chapter 13

1. Chapter 13 is both sentimental and melodramatic, two qualities that are found frequently in Dickens’ work. First, look these words up in the dictionary and explain how the definitions apply to the events in the chapter and the way it is written. (If you don’t think they do, say why not.)

2. State how you think Dickens prepares the way for the climactic emotional intensity of the scene between Stephen and Rachael in the rest of Chapter 13.

3. Write an interpretation of Stephen’s dream, relating the episodes in the dream to events in his life. Then suggest how Dickens manages to make this dream so “real.”

Book I, Chapters 14-15

1. Examine Dickens’ metaphor of time as a manufacturer and compare it to some other example of metaphoric language in Hard Times.

2. Write a defense of Louisa’s education, or elements of it, in which you show that its outcome could have been very different.

Book I, Chapter 16

1. Supply either Tom or Sissy Jupe (or both) with wedding toasts.

2. Speculate on the motives for Mrs. Sparsit’s newfound compassion for her employer.

3. Compare and contrast Mr. Bounderby’s speech on his wedding day with any one of his speeches of comparable length.

Book II, Chapters 1-3

1. Macaulay, the great Victorian man of letters and historian, famously dismissed Hard Times for what he called its “sullen socialism.” Cite evidence to support this observation, in this chapter and elsewhere. If on the contrary you think Dickens is no socialist, sullen or otherwise, explain why.

2. Analyze the interchanges between Louisa and Harthouse for any preliminary hints of her attraction to him.

3. Indicate why you think Tom finds Harthouse so attractive.

Book II, Chapters 4-5

1. Discuss Dickens’ attitude toward the audience in the meeting hall in the light of his apparent opposition to unions.

2. Discuss the attitude, or combination of attitudes, displayed by Stephen Blackpool during his second visit to Mr. Bounderby’s.

Book II, Chapter 6

1. Discuss what quality of her character is disclosed in Louisa’s scene with Stephen.

2. Examine how Dickens lends poignancy to Stephen’s early morning departure from Coketown.

Book II, Chapters 7-8

1. Analyze Bounderby and Harthouse’s reaction to the news of the bank robbery, indicating what it reveals of their characters and outlooks.

2. Suggest what light Tom’s destruction of the rosebuds in Bounderby’s garden sheds on his character.

3. Compare and contrast Dickens’ extended description of Bounderby’s summer house with his description of Grad¬grind’s Stone Lodge.

4. Write a paper exploring indications of the intensity of Louisa’s feelings for Tom in any of their previous scenes together.

Book II, Chapter 9

1. Show how Mrs. Gradgrind’s deathbed scene, in particular the question Mrs. Gradgrind wants to ask her husband, relates to the larger themes of the novel.

2. Compare and contrast Mrs. Sparsit’s attitude to Mr. Bounderby before and after his marriage to Louisa.

Book II, Chapters 10-12

1. Explain why you think Dickens tells so much of the action of Chapters 10 and 11 through the eyes of Mrs. Sparsit.

2. Compose a stern reply to Louisa’s speech in Chapter 12, in the style of Gradgrind’s first appearances in the novel.

3. Discuss the role the weather, particularly the frequent storms, seems to play in Hard Times.

Book III, Chapters 1-2

1. Gradgrind’s new attitude toward his daughter is plain enough; he is full of remorse and tenderness. From their exchanges in Chapter 1, suggest what you think his daughter’s attitude is toward him.

2. Sissy’s speeches to Mr. Harthouse have a theatrical, “worked up” quality unlike her usual manner but similar to that employed by other characters at other moments in the novel. Explain why her speeches have this quality and compare them to one other example of heightened or artificial speech.

3. Explain why you think Mr. Harthouse gives in to Sissy.

Book III, Chapter 3

1. Write a paper speculating about what would have to happen for Bounderby to undergo the same redemption apparently experienced by Gradgrind.

2. Imagine that Sissy stands in Mr. Gradgrind’s place and must answer to Mr. Bounderby’s anger. Having witnessed her performance with Harthouse, indicate how she might go about it.

Book III, Chapters 4-5

1. What techniques does Dickens use to help increase the suspense as he heads into the home stretch of his narrative?

2. Examine the phrase “Bully of Humility” and show how it applies to the character of Mr. Bounderby, especially in Chapter 5.

Book III, Chapter 6

1. Christian imagery and language is employed in this chapter. State whether you think the usage is effective and compare it to a few chosen instances elsewhere in Hard Times.

2. The “sobered man” who is so active in the rescue operation is an example of a character in Dickens who, while so minor as not even to attain to the dignity of a name, is yet vivid and memorable. Suggest why you think Dickens chose to emphasize his participation by giving him such a leading role in the rescue effort.

Book III, Chapter 7

1. Comment on the part played by railway travel in the novel. Restrict yourself to references to train travel in this chapter and no more than two or three other chapters in the novel.

2. Examine what Mr. Sleary says about Sissy’s old friends, relate the stories he tells to themes in Hard Times, and indicate why you think Dickens has Mr. Sleary tell Sissy these stories.

Book III, Chapters 8-9

1. Comment on the final lines of Hard Times. What does Dickens mean by his and his readers’ “separate fields of action”? What course is he recommending his readers to follow?

2. The well-known English critic F. R. Leavis once called Hard Times a “moral fable.” Indicate the evidence for this characterization in its two final chapters.