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Jesse Ochoa
Ms.Gardner
English 10 Per 4
11 Nov 2014
Hardships In Society
Burt, Daniel S. "Dickens, Charles." The Literary 100: A Ranking of the Most
Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets of All Time, Revised Edition. New
York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web.
13 Nov. 2014
In this article by Daniel S. Burt, Daniel says that Charles Dickens was the
best writer that ever lived in the English language since William Shakespeare.
In addition, Shaw states that Dickens was followed by many of his Victorian
readers and they all had the same ideas that Dickens did at his time. Charles
Dickenss books are in depth and have range and are enormous and that he
has earned a compassion with Shakespeare. Dickenss works had insightful
diction and had a clear selection of words for many of his works.

This article gives great information on Dickenss choice of words for every
book that he wrote and it's clear why he wanted to choose the words he

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chose for Hard Times. Hard Times has demanding diction in that the main
character demands his children do better, but he uses this great diction to
get his point across. Charles Dickens is compared to Shakespeare in this
article and thats a good thing because both used great writing for their
writings and Hard Times is a great example why Dickens is compared to
Shakespeare.
Kelen, Christoper. "class and British fiction." In Maunder, Andrew. Facts On File
Companion to the British Short Story. New York: Facts On File, Inc.,
2007.Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 16 Nov. 2014 \

This article by Christoper Kelen offers insight on how the middle class works
in Britain and how everyone in middle class has a role in society. The classes
in this British society are aristocratic, professional,and manual labor, this was
how the jobs were split up in British society. In addition, many people such
as Karl Marx saw a flaw in this system of society and decided that there
should be no social difference in society and everyone should be equal.

This article provides a clear and insightful reason on why the middle class
was how it was and how it was deeply flawed. In Hard Times, the book is
based on the middle class and how the middle class always had problems
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and shows it needed to change. Charles Dickenss wrote about the middle
class since his readers were middle class, and showed them that the middle
class was unfair and it needed to be changed to a classless system.

Nesson, Liam Conway. "social class." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer, ed.Encyclopedia

of Themes in Literature.. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.Bloom's
Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 15 Nov. 2014
This article by Liam Nesson gives the reader a look at different social classes
in different countries in the world like Germany, United States, England , and
more. Nesson states that the divisions in the United states are based on
wealth, power, and status, wealth plays a big role in the other countries as
well. Nesson also states in addition to the information already stated that in
multiple countries there are class divisions and the money isnt spread out
equally between all the classes.
The issues that are in modern day social classes are also included in the book
Hard Times. Charles Dickens tried to get his middle class readers to read his
book and see the problems with social divisions, but the same problems are
still found today. Hard Times shows how the middle class was better than the
lower class, but they still had hardships and still had problems that are found
in modern day countries. Charles Dickens wants this

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social class system to be abolished, but readers didnt learn from his book
and the problems are still found today.

Ruskin, John. "A Note on Hard Times," (1860). Quoted as "On Hard Times" in
Bloom, Harold, ed. Charles Dickens, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea
House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 11 Nov.
2014

This article written by John Ruskin, provides information that the writer of
this article claims that Hard Times is Charles Dickenss best work and should
be studied carefully. Significantly, the author speaks of the importance of the
characters and how they teach society about things in life and hardships in
life. In addition, Ruskin speaks about how Dickenss work is insightful and
wit because of Dickenss choice to speak in a circle of stage fire.

This article offers clear and precise information on the main characters of
Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Not only does it explain why Dickens used
different forms for each character, but how he made those characters. The
book, Hard Times, answers lots of questions for people that have questions
on social ideas and more. This article not only provides clear info on the
characters of hard times, but his writing and how it effects the book.

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Shaw, George Bernard. "Hard Times," (1912). Quoted as "On Hard Times" in

Bloom, Harold, ed. Charles Dickens, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea
House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 16 Nov.
2014

This article by George Bernard Shaw offers information on how the social
class was not perfect in society and Charles Dickens tried to show that in his
book, Hard Times. Shaw also states that this book is not supposed to amuse
the reader that is reading the book, but its supposed to make you
uncomfortable. Shaw also includes that society itself was the oppressor
because it wasnt the social ills that oppressed society, society itself did it and
made the middle class deeply flawed and Charles Dickens tries to show this
in Hard Times.
This article gives clear information on Charles Dickenss idea on why he
decided to write about the middle class in Hard Times. Charles Dickens wrote
this book in the middle of the nineteenth century and this was when the
middle class was still struggling and philosophers came around telling people
about an equal and better form of society. This article ties to it because Shaw
says Charles Dickens wrote about the middle class because mostly all of
Dickenss readers were a part of the middle class and they would read this
book and see that the middle class needed a change and maybe they could
help change.
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Shephard, Marie Tennent. "Dickens, Charles." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Charles

Dickens, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing,

2003.Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 11 Nov. 2014

This article by Marie Tennent Shepard provides clear information on Charles

Dickenss life on how he started writing, all the way up to his death. Shepard
also speaks about how Dickens used writing as a way to teach people how
the less fortunate of the Victorian society. In addition, for Dickenss last ever
performance, more than two-thousand people showed up in a hall in London,
and then he died on June 9, 1870 of a paralytic stroke.

This article gives amazing information on why Charles Dickenss wrote his
fantastic book, Hard Times. Charles Dickens wrote many of his books as an
outcry for the less privileged in the Victorian society, and Hard Times speaks
about hardships and the less privileged in any society. Charles Dickenss
wrote as an outcry for the Victorian society, but he really wrote about
societies everywhere because this occurs everywhere, but Charles Dickens is
the only one to touch on the topic. The characters in Hard Times all have a
tough life since they are middle class, but they dont have an easy life
compared to the high classes of society.