Tom in Hard Times

Charles Dickens is one of the greatest writers of the Victorian age. It is said that he often used his art of writing to speak out against the social injustices endured by the poorer citizens of his time. This is well demonstrated in his book entitled Hard Times. The book is set in the industrialisation era of nineteenth-century England, where there is a very wide gap between the rich and the poor. The story takes place around the Gradgrinds, who are a wealthy and prosperous family from Coketown. The father, Thomas Gradgrind, is a man entirely devoted to the philosophy of rationalism, self-interest, and cold hard fact. This philosophy had a large presence on the teachings that Mr. Gradgrind transmitted to his children, especially for Louisa and Tom. Both Louisa and Tom had a very difficult childhood with the notion of fact and without ever letting their emotions or imagination run free. Due to his strict upbringing, Tom will become a very cold young man. Throughout his life, h...