Critical Hard Times

"Awful Unknown Quantities": Addressing the Readers in Hard Times
Author(s): Carolyn Vellenga Berman

Source: Victorian Literature and Culture, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2009), pp. 561-582
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40347246
Accessed: 29-09-2015 19:42 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Victorian Literature and
Culture.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 92.234.42.210 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 19:42:59 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
VictorianLiteratureand Culture(2009), 37, 561-582. Printedin theUnitedStatesof America.

Press. 1060-1503/09$15.00
2009 CambridgeUniversity
Copyright
doi:10.1017/S1060150309090342
"AWFULUNKNOWNQUANTITIES":
ADDRESSING THE READERS IN HARD TIMES
By CarolynVellengaBerman
Charles Dickenswas lionized inthe early 1850sforhispolitical

powersas a novelist,
inFraser'sMagazine
1850review
ofDavidCopperfield
A December
andreformer.
journalist,
thattheso-called"Boz"
affirmed
has done more, we verilybelieve, forthe promotionof peace and goodwill between man and man,
class and class, nation and nation, than all the congresses under the sun Boz, and men like
Boz, are the true humanizers,and thereforethe truepacificators,of the world. They sweep away
the prejusdices of class and caste, and disclose the common groundof humanitywhich lies beneath
factitioussocial and national systems.1
whohadbegun
to a writer
tohispoliticalpowersmusthavebeengratifying
Suchtributes
inan ageof
thepowerofthewriter
hiscareeras a parliamentary
Theyproclaimed
reporter.
to
is
...
that
sense
Thomas
out
Democracy
equivalent
"Printing
Carlyle's
bearing
print,
Whoevercan speak,speakingnowto thewholenation,becomesa power,a branchof
on thisideaby
Fraser'selaborated
withinalienable
weightin law-making."2
government,
to his ability
another
to
one
characters
"introduce"
to
Dickens's
ability
uncanny
linking
ranks."MenlikeBoz," thereviewer
toreadersofdifferent
suchcharacters
to "introduce"
at themillto the
to thepeerage"and "thegrinder
thepeasantry
"introduce
explained,
whoownsthegrist"(700).
millionaire
to therichandtitled
withpoliteusage,thelowerrankis "introduced"
In accordance
wereDickens'sreaders
here.Butthisconventional
actually
peers
begsthequestion:
phrasing
ofcourse,
Orviceversa?On theaverage,
aboutthelowerorders?
andmillionaires
reading
lowerinrankthan
weremostly
inthemiddle.Dickens'sreaders
theanswerliessomewhere
Jo.
the
than
and
Bleak
of
Dedlock
Many,likeDavid
House,
pauper
higher
up
mostly
Lady
readerswerethe
Some
Little
and
Steerforth
his
beloved
fell
between
Emily.
Copperfield,
butothers
in
Hard
Louisa
like
hardware
Times,
of
successful
traders,
Gradgrind
daughters
toLouisaprovesas fatalto
whoseintroduction
menlikeStephen
wereworking
Blackpool,
did
Dickens'sreaders
Whiletheywereoutnumbered,
however,
himas Emily'stoSteerforth.
includefineladies- andthequeenherself.
561
562
ANDCULTURE
VICTORIANLITERATURE
How couldDickenscollectively
addressthemall?3Thisquestioncomesto thefore
in HardTimes,a workwhich,in myview,betrays
aboutthe
a marked
self-consciousness
Victorian
Tobe sure,HardTimesis anunusualcase,evenwithin
novel'sdivergent
audiences.
in 1854,weekly
Dickens'soeuvre.Firstpublished
inDickens'smagazine
HouseholdWords
installments
ofHard Timeswereavailableat a meretwopencean issue.The completed
toprint
thanDickens'sothernovels.
andlessexpensive
work,too,wasmeanttobe shorter
Dickensandhis
Whilemaking
and"cheap"as possible,however,
thenovelas "compact"
Thisis reflected
at
let
still
aimed
readers
us
with,
publishing
say,higher
aspirations.4
partners
intheadvertisements
in
the
reissueof
thatappeared
the
of
the
tale
monthly
opposite opening
Medici
.
. . nowso
di
HouseholdWords,
"Manon's
Resilient
Bodice
and
Corsaletto
lauding
a
manufacturer
the
elite
our
and
of
Flora,"
extensively
patronised
by
aristocracy," "Imperial
ofsilksallegedly
ordered
bythequeen.5
to
Suchmarketing
concerns
enterthenovel'stextin theformof an elaborateeffort
foretells
thenarrator
canvassbothitssubjectsanditsaudiences.
AttheendofHardTimes,
willfinally
thatMr.Gradgrind,
learnto make"his
MemberofParliament
forCoketown,
factsandfigures
subservient
to Faith,Hope,andCharity,"
byhis"late
onlyto be taunted
haveonly
"intheeraofitsbeingquitesettled
dustmen
thatthenational
associates,"
political
calleda People"(221; book3,
todo withoneanother,
andoweno dutytoan abstraction
ch.9, myemphasis).
as a setoftrashcollectors
Theunflattering
visionofparliament
busily
howdoes
forrepresentative
rubbish
a crucialproblem
sifting
government:
through
pinpoints
whichit claimsto
it represent,
or evenknow,itsown"People"?"ThePeople,"an entity
is notjustanabstract
theresult
ofa disassociation
ideahere,butan"abstraction":
represent,
fromspecific
ontheremoval
oftheveryobjectsitrepresents.6
instances,
predicated
This abstraction
role forrepresentative
("the People") plays the same rhetorical
as thepersonification
towhomDickensclaimeda peculiarduty:"theReader."
government
"DearReader!"Dickenswrites
inanopenlypolitical
appealattheendofthenovel,"Itrests
withyouandme,whether,
inourtwofieldsofaction,similar
shallbe ornot"(222;
things
book3,ch.9). Witha magictypical
oftheprinted
renders
a collective
novel,thisabstraction
addressintimate,
outfrom
the(re)printed
reaching
pagetotheparallelworldoftheunknown
individual
the(journalor)book.Elsewhere
inthenovel,however,
the"reader"
holding
plays
- or,ifthereadershouldprefer
a moreequivocalrole:"So nearwas Mr.Bounderby
it,so
faroff'(15; book1,ch.4). Is he nearorfar?Itdependson thereader.
Whenthenovelist's
becomereaders
andaudiences,
thechallenges
ofa collective
address
further:
subjects
emerge
"whentheHandsclearedoutagainintothestreets,
there
werestillas manyreaders
as before.
/
thedelegate,
hadto addresshisaudiencetoothatnight"(185; book3, ch.4).
Slackbridge,
WithSlackbridge's
in thenovel,authorial
bleedsintofree
narration
speech,as elsewhere
indirect
before
thespeaker's
wordssurface
inanextended
oratory
merging
quote,implicitly
twoabstractions:
ReaderandPeople.
HardTimes,
I willcontend,
is deeplyconcerned
aboutbothabstractions,
andtheir
shared
tomakeincommensurate
Thenovel'struetarget
tendency
subjects
commingle.
maythusbe
atoncemoreabstract
andmoreprecisethantheexcessesof"political
something
economy"
and theindustrial
worldthatit soughtto superintend.
It is notthesearchforempirical
evidenceofsocialproblems
thatDickensattacks,
perse,northeuse ofstatistics
generally,
butthegovernment's
relianceon thegathering
ofevidenceabout"thePeople"
increasing
andtheaccompanying
shiftin formas wellas content
fortheBritish
educational
system.
- knownas the"bluebooks"for
thegovernment
on socialconditions
Criticizing
reports
theReadersinHardTimes
Addressing
563
from
hislarger
ofinciting
stiff
bluecovers- Dickensturns
their
socialreforms
tothe
project
the
for
of
basis
such
reforms.
subtler
project examining
Dickens'sattack
onthe"bluebooks"as such.HardTimes
Tomakethiscase,I emphasize
to
these
with
references
Yetcritical
teems
discussions
of
government
specific
publications.
in
Hard
Times
and
have
overlooked
theroleplayed
industrialism politicaleconomy
largely
thatbrought
thetwotogether.7
since
Perhapsthiswasinevitable,
reports
bythegovernment
with
accounts
ofthem,andhistories
theverysamegovernment
reports along
newspaper
sourcesof "facts"and "contexts"
fortheVictorian
written
fromthem- areourprimary
contain
bare
that
the
blue
books
do
not
historical
but
us
novel.HardTimesreminds
realities,
material
all
their
own.
witha
ofthem,
history
representations
thebluebooks,as I willargue.Itengageswiththem
Dickens'snoveldoesnotjustattack
interview
andrelying
on
thesortoffact-finding
them,
theydescribed,
staging
bymimicking
reveals
In
so
Hard
Times
a
between
totellitsstory.8 doing,
limited
their
convergence
palette
Allthree
them.
thatdigested
rivalsintheprint
andtheperiodicals
novels,
reports,
government
to
and
to
and
the
to
torepresent,educate,
for public.HardTimes
speak
sought
marketplace
its
it
to
a representative
caricatures
By implication,
trying apprehend subjects.
government
audience.9
anew
at
to
its
also probesa flourishing
Looking
trying apprehend
printculture
a crucialscenein the
Dickens'sattackon thebluebooksin HardTimesthusilluminates
ofthenovel.
as wellas thehistory
ofpublicknowledge
history
/. TheBlueChamber
new genreand a
a relatively
The "blue books" printedby Parliament comprised
of
the
of
authorized
Hansard
proceedings
reports
beganpublishing
phenomenon.
burgeoning
seemed
to
in 1774.Bythe1830s,"parliamentary
theHousesofParliament
explode"
printing
to
on theBritishworking
"Blue Books"310). Majorreports
classes,submitted
(Frankel,
of
the
after
the
formation
forthepublic,appeared
andprinted
committees
parliamentary
of earlier
followedin thefootsteps
Statistical
Societyin 1833;thesereports
Cambridge
citesthe
in
colonies.
Sheila
Smith
the
on conditions
committees
to Parliament
reports
on
the
Condition
ofthe
Sanitary
Reportof 1839,Chadwick'sReport
Factory
Inspectors'
in
Health
of
Towns
the
on
of1842,theRoyalCommission
1844,and
Population
Labouring
of
andSewerageofTownsReportin 1852as "important
theDraining
reports
pioneering
an
earlier
1838
consults
Report
TysonRoberts
society"(28). Gwyneth
nineteenth-century
andLeewardIslandsandan 1840Reporton theState
intheWindward
onNegroeducation
Districts
intheMining
Education
ofSouthWales.By 1854,sixtylargefolios
ofElementary
underbluecoverseachyear(Stanley).
werepublished
a governmental
As HardTimesreminds
us,the"bluebook"phenomenon
represented
of theBritish
in
surveillance
the
marked
a
new
on twofronts.
innovation
First,it
stage
of
first
that
the
It
is
subjects
professionals. noteworthy
bygovernment-appointed
population
access
with
the
least
those
were
ofknowledge
thisgovernment-sponsored
subjects
production
classes.Second,itinstitutionalized
andtheworking
togovernment
power:colonialsubjects
Evenas the"bluebooks"
on thereports
therelianceof lawmakers
by experts.
produced
of
onnewlyinteresting
thegazeofgovernment
trained
theyalsoshifted
objects knowledge,
workby
the
within
between
therelationship
requiring
government,
powerandknowledge
action.
to
committeesprecedegovernment
hiredbygovernment
professionals
knowledge
564
VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE
Thepublicationofgovernment
wouldseeman odd targetfora novelthatgrewout
reports
of an essay called "Fraudson theFairies,"protesting
againstthepoliticallycorrectrevision
of whatDickensconsideredthepeople's fairytales.Yet in Hard TimesDickens's ire at the
to studyand shapeworking-class
government
reportsultimately
reading- of
targetsefforts
to introduce
fairytales and fiction,in particular.
Key chaptersof Hard Timesthusfunction
its centralpreoccupation:publicknowledgeof,and prescriptions
for,theworkingclass as
consumersof everything
fromreligionto drugsand popularreading.Chapterfive,titled
"Key-Note,"firstintroducesCoketownas a seriesof "stuntedshapes" and moralfailures,
in parliamentary
discourse:
onlyto revealthesourceof suchdescriptions
Nor was itmerelythe strangerwho noticedthis,because therewas a nativeorganisationin Coketown
itself,whose members were to be heard in the House of Commons every session, indignantly
petitioningforacts of parliamentthatshould make theirpeople religiousby main force.Then, came
theTeetotal Society,who complained thatthese same people would get drunk,and showed in tabular
statementsthattheydid get drunk
Then, came the chemistand the druggist,with othertabular
statements. . . (22).
As thispassage emphasizes,the materialsforDickens's plot derivefromthe politically

in a government
forum.
chargedstatements
to a different
"Never
"strikesthekey-noteagain" by referring
Wonder,"
Chaptereight,
set of tables,thistimeprovingand puzzlingover the factthatthese same people would
readfiction(41). "Therewas a libraryin Coketown,to whichgeneralaccess was easy,"the
narrator
hismindaboutwhatthepeopleread
explains,andMr.Gradgrind
"greatlytormented
in thislibrary:a pointwhereonlittleriversoftabularstatements
periodicallyflowedintothe
ocean
of
tabular
which
no
diver
ever
to
statements,
howling
got anydepthin and came up
sane" (42). Whattheproliferating
tablesof libraryrecordsdocumentedaboutthepeople's
hours'work,sat downto readmere
readinghabitswas this:"Theysometimes,afterfifteen
fables
took
De
Foe
to
their
instead
of Euclid." How could theyprefer
bosoms,
They
novels
to
books?
"Mr.
was
everworking,
in printand outof
for
reading
geometry
Gradgrind
at
this
eccentric
and
he
never
could
make
out
it
unaccountable
how
this
sum,
print,
yielded
(42).
product"
Despite Dickens's emphasison statisticaltables,theblue books were notexclusively
Anecdotalknowledgeclashedand combined
composedof economicanalysisand statistics.
withstatisticalknowledgein live debate,as in theensuinggovernment
reports.The power
of publicstoriestoldby witnessescomes to theforein an 1835 accountof how theHouse
of Commonscame to requeststudiesof workingconditionsin factories.Takingtheside of
embattledfactory
owners,theForeignQuarterlyReviewstressedthat
The manufacturersanswered the charges made against them throughincontrovertiblefacts, the
tables of mortality,the records of hospitals and police-offices,the registersof parishes and courts
of justice ... but thereare still people in the world, who preferthe figuresof speech to the figures
of arithmetic,and the rules of Longinus to those of Cocker.10Pathetic tales, more than sufficient
to supply a whole generationof novelists,prevailed over a dull, dry parade of stupid figures,and
a Committeeof the House of Commons was appointed to examine the state of our manufacturing
population.(Taylor 109; qtd. in Poovey,History313)
We have in thisaccounta succinctprecisof Dickens's dramaticoppositionin Hard Times:

storiesversus"dull" figures;classical grammarversusgeometry;and novelsversustables
AddressingtheReaders in Hard Times
565
The Britishgovernment
of mortality.
reportson theconditionof theworkingclasses, like
contestsbetweenthepersuasive
Dickens's novel,thusarosein thecontextof parliamentary
tales"
and
and
kinds
of
both
of knowledgeaboundin the
"stupidfigures"
power "pathetic
reports.
government-issued
Dickens takes revengeupon the puzzled parliamentarians
by employinga fairytale
allusionto intimatetheviolencelurkingbehindthegovernment
reports'blandblue covers.
to thefairytalevillainBluebeardconstruestheproliferation
ofblue booksas a
His reference
hardwaretraderturned,
schoolreformer
siteof secrethorrorin thelibraryoftheformer
first,
Mr.
a
"man
of
facts
and
M.P.
of
calculations"
Coketown, Gradgrind,
and,finally,
(6):
AlthoughMr. Gradgrinddid not take afterBlue Beard, his room was quite a blue chamber in its
abundance of blue books. Whatever they could prove (which is usually anythingyou like), they
by the arrivalof new recruits.In that charmed
proved there,in an army constantlystrengthening
social
were
cast up, got into exact totals, and finally
the
most
questions
complicated
apartment,
settled- if those concernedcould only have been broughtto know it. (75; bk. 1, ch. 15)
Bluebeard'ssecretchambercontainstheevidence
In theclassicfairytalebyCharlesPerrault,
of his crimes thebodies of his formerwives.Revealingthisevidenceonlyservesto harm
"thoseconcerned,"since thenewestwife'sdiscoveryof thisknowledgeprovokesherown
of Dickens's "complicatedsocial questions"in
(attempted)murder.The "finalsettlement"
the"blue chamber"would,by thisanalogy,amountto deathfortheobjectsof thisofficial
11
theblue coversofthegovernment
reportsas a markerofsecretevil
knowledge. Construing
a la Bluebeard,Hard Timesappearsto concurwitha Welshresponseto an 1847 reporton
educationin Wales,dubbingthereport"blue withoutand blackwithin"(Jones13).
The collectionof evidence about working-classlife is not a minorconcernbut a
major object of apprehensionin Hard Times.Dickens stages the primalscene of a new
betweengovernanceand knowledgein theencounterbetweentheunassuming
relationship
JosiahBounderby.
theblowhardmanufacturer
laborerStephenBlackpooland his employer,
"Combination"
When Stephenrefusesto join the workers'
(union),Bounderbysummons
thepoorman,in orderto presenthimto thegentlemanJamesHarthouse,who has "coached
himselfup witha blue book or two" fora possiblebid forparliament(97; bk. 2, ch.2). As
Bounderbyexplainsto Stephen,"Here's a gentlemanfromLondonpresent... a Parliament
gentleman.I shouldlike himto heara shortbitof dialoguebetweenyou and me ... instead
of receivingit on trust,frommymouth"(1 14; bk. 2, ch. 5). The ensuingdialogueindicates
an awarenessofthenewstatusoftheworkersas objectsofgoverning
knowledge.Stephenat
of
"blue
book" commissions:
the
formation
firstappearsto recommendto his interlocutors
an
what
"Look howwe live,an wheerwe live,an in whatnumbers, by
chances,andwi' what
in
those
contained
sameness,"he says, citingthekindof information
government
reports
(115). But at theend of thissentence,Stepheninvokestheworldnotof "blue books,"butof
Bluebeard,afterall: "and look how themillsis awlus a goin,and how theyneverworksus
no nigherto onydis'antobject- ceptinawlus,Death."
reportsdirectly:"Look howyouconsidersofus,
Stephennextaddressesthegovernment
to Secretarieso' State 'bout
wi'
an writesof us, an talksof us, and goes up
yordeputations
awlus
we
are
wrong,and neverhad'n no reason
us, and how yo are awlus right,and how
This
ch.
in us sin ever we were born" (115; bk. 2,
5).
complaintis presumablyaimed at
to the
likeBounderbywho,thenarrator
manufacturers
explains,submit"tabularstatements"
566
ANDCULTURE
VICTORIANLITERATURE
HouseofCommons
theworkers
ofCoketown
as a "badlot,""neverthankful,"
diagnosing
"dissatisfied
andunmanageable"
"restless,"
(22;bk.1,ch.6),whileresisting
anygovernment
orregulation
oftheirownpractices:
inspection
They were ruined,when theywere requiredto send labouringchildrento school; theywere ruined,
when inspectorswere appointed to look into theirworks; theywere ruined,when such inspectors
consideredit doubtfulwhethertheywere quitejustifiedin choppingpeople up withtheirmachinery;
theywere utterlyundone,when it was hintedthatperhapstheyneed not always make quite so much
smoke. (86; bk. 2, ch. 1)
YetStephen's
havebecome
howtheworkers
Bounderby,
speechgoesbeyond
byemphasizing
What
evenwhentheyprovidethefactsthemselves.
objectsof representation
by others,
ofus,
"howyouconsiders
Stephen
objectstois whatwe havelearnedtocall a "discourse":
an writesofus,an talksofus" - a seriousmatter
butalso forthe
notonlyforparliament
is
ofthesituation
man.Despiteall thereports,
as Stephenasserts,
trueknowledge
literary
elusiveandunfathomable:
tella man'tisnota muddle?"
"Whocanlookon't,sir,andfairly
(115;bk.2,ch.5).
the
Evenin thekeyspeechthatDickens(in)famously
deletedfromhis manuscript,
context
of government
of Stephen'sclaims.The scenein
reporting
upstagesthecontent
as well as a motiveforhis refusal
questionfurnishes
Stephenwithspecificcomplaints,
tojoin theworkers'
intimate
union(Butwin181).The passagestarts
outin a deceptively
conversation
between
star-crossed
andRachel:"Thou'stspokeno' thylittle
lovers,
Stephen
sister.
Thereagen!Wi' herchildarmtoreoffaforethyface.'She turned
herheadaside,
andputherhand[up]."The factory
a
accidentinvolving
Rachel'sbelovedsisterprompts
sentimental
callforpityandactionbasedon thepainofan eye-witness.
ButDickensturns
atoncefrom
thisprivate
as Stephen
accident
paintothepublicsceneofthefactory
dispute,
ofa subsequent
miracle
goesontonotetheinadequate
government
report:
"Where dost thou ever hear or read o' us - the like o' us - as being otherwisethan onreasonable
and cause o' trouble?Yet thinko' that.Governmentgentlemencome and make's report.Fend offthe
dangerous machinery,box it off,save life and limb; don't rend and tear human creetursto bits in a
Chris'en country!What follers?Owners gets up theirthroats,cries out, Unreasonable! Inconvenient!
Troublesome!' Gets to Secretaries o' States wi' deputations,and nothing'sdone. When do we get
therewi' our deputations,God help us! We are too much int'restedand nat'rallytoo farwrongt'have
a rightjudgment.Haply we are; but what are theythen?F th' name o' the muddle in which we are
born and live and die, what are theythen?" (qtd. in Butwin 177)
Dickensmaywellhavedeleted
thissceneinorder
to"avoida kindofworking-class
activism"
withthequieting
(Butwin179).He mayalsohavefeltuncomfortable
speechhegaveRachel:
"Letsuchthings
letthembe!" "I will,sincethoutell'st
be,Stephen.
Theyonlyleadtohurt,
meso. I will.I passmypromise"
we shouldnotethat
(qtd.inButwin177).Ifso,however,
thisdeletionindicates
an acuteawareness
ofhisownworking-class
readers.
The sceneis
notbecauseitmenacesmiddle-class
butbecauseitmight
wellbereadby
readers,
dangerous
menlikeStephen,
Dickenshimself
intoa rabble-rouser,
tothe
working
making
comparable
pitilessSlackbridge.
Addressing
567
industrial
Hard Times,as Blackpool's"muddle"suggests,is a strangely
novel.
cautionary
Afterall, as Sheila Smithhas argued,the"blue books" providedthematerialforindustrial
novelsandsocialrealisminthisera.Notingthat"thepeoplewhogaveevidenceinthereports
voice" ofindividualsfromthe
arefarfrombeinga facelesscrowd,"Smithcitesthe"authentic
in
once
more
than
literature,
nineteenth-century
especiallyin thenovels
reportswho "speak
the
scientist
T.
H. Huxley's claim that
Eliot
and
Thomas
of George
Hardy"(26). Quoting
of
who
affects
to
and
mere
man
"eventhe
letters,
ignore
despise science,is unconsciously
for
his
her
and
indebted
best
with
productstohermethods,"Smithsuggests
spirit
impregnated
thatHard Times,in a way,bitesthehandthatfeedsit (Smith29).
as theydidthereformist
impulses
WhywouldDickensattackthebluebooks,representing
I
that
an
intramural
ofrepresentative
critiqueofgovernment
reportson
government?suspect
farmoreradicalas Dickensdevelopedhis storyfor
readersbecamesomething
working-class
Ratherthanscorningthepoliticalsciencethat
set
of
diverse
readers.
and
faceless
a puzzling
discourseabout"thePeople" in a manner
Dickens
satirizes
influenced
him,
parliamentary
to
his
readers.
own
address
thatimplicateshis
Stephen'svoice is thusa discursiveeffect,
how
as
for
it is exhibited.This is whythecontent
what
it
much
for
notso
says
important
the
demands
thatproducedit. "Now,whatdo you
context
and
its
of his speechforegrounds
him,"I ha' notcoom
complainof?" Mr. Bounderbyasks; Stephenrespondsby reminding
I
for"
bk.
were
sent
I
for
that
here sir. . .to complain. coom
2, ch. 5). Here, as in
(114;
"authentic"
voice thana satireof
less
a
worker's
we
see
is
what
Stephen'sotherspeeches,
not
Such
scenes
in
contests.
thewayitis staged parliamentary
parody onlythegovernment's
to
the
of
the
condition
use of statisticsto apprehend
workingclasses, but also its efforts
The
of
its
chambers.
workers
within
of
the
voice"
exhibitthe"authentic
parade dialogues
and "pathetictales" by witnessesin theblue books thusforcesus to reconsiderboththe
theatrical
aspectsand thesatiricrangeof Dickens's novel.
//.TheNationalSchoolmaster
Hard Timesstands apart from Dickens's othernovels. As David Lodge has noted,it
from"scenes ratherthanepisodes,explicitverbal
constructed
is unusuallymelodramatic,
theauthorialvoice is verymucha speakingvoice:
"even
betweencharacters";
interchanges
butan orator,a pulpit-thumper"
a
fireside
nota ruminative
conversationalist,
essayist,oreven
not
does
orator,perhaps?Lodge
say. But since D. A. Miller's
(405-6). A parliamentary
how
have
understood
we
Dickens,like his character,
searchinganalysisof Bleak House,
he could
a
as
former
voices."12Surely,
reporter,
parliamentary
"do[es] thepolice in different
to
what
effect
Dickens
how
and
To
as
well?
voices just
grasp
parliamentary
impersonate
of
in
the
context
theblue
Hard
Times
read
we
must
mightadoptsuchvoices in Hard Times,
education.
thoseon working-class
book reports,
particularly
Readers have long been puzzled by Dickens's indirectapproach to the industrial
landscapein Hard Times.Ratherthangoingintothe"fearfulstory. . . beingthenenactedin
thenorth,"with"loss of moneyon theone side and thepangs of hungeron theother,"as
this"purpose"to
Hard Timeshad "subordinated"
one disappointedreviewercommented,
"educational
of
an
effects"
evil
"another":"to exhibitthe
system"not,to the reviewer's
in
knowledge,"in operationanywhere England" (Sinnett331). If the conflictbetween
"mastersand men" in the northof England were the subject of Dickens's story,this
568
focus would,indeed,be unaccountable.But if Hard Timesset out to critiquethecurious

new relationship
betweengovernment
reportsand the laboringclasses, thenthe question
of educationalreformdeservesall its prominencein the novel. The blue book reports
on educationallow us to graspnot only whyDickens approachesthe social problemsof
voice solely
theresulting
narrative
industrialism
as he does,butalso whywe cannotattribute
to "Dickens."
Far frombeing a footnoteto the storyof labor conflicts,educationwas a key site
in the manufacturing
forgovernment
intervention
districtsand the lives of workers.The
Committee
ofthePrivyCouncilon Educationwas formedin 1839,hiringas itsfirst
secretary
JamesKay (laterKay-Shuttleworth),
authorof the 1832 reporton "The Moral and Physical
ConditionoftheWorkingClasses ofManchester"(Alton67-68). In supportofhisviewthat
educationwas thesolutionto thepoormoralandphysicalconditionsofthelaboringclasses,
Educationin
theCommitteeproducedsuchblue book reportsas "The Stateof Elementary
of Schools in theFactory
theMiningDistrictsof SouthWales" (1840), "The Establishment
Districts"(1843), and the"ReportintotheStateof Educationin Wales" (1847).13This last
effort
to groundgovernment
educationalreforms
on a fact-basedsurveyof specificlocalities
withthenickname"The
a
Welsh
national
great
controversy,
"entering
mythology"
provoked
Treacheryof theBlue Books" or "Brad y LlyfrauGleision"(Roberts1).
Kay-Shuttleworth's
guidelineson hiringCommissionersto conductthissurveyshow
how the educationreportsaimed at once to assess currentconditionsin educationwith
newlyscientific
precisionand to facilitategovernancebyideologicalconversion.According
to Kay-Shuttleworth,
themenwho wereto "examinethewholequestionwithimpartiality"
shouldbe "laymenoftheChurchofEngland"whowere"accustomedto statistical
inquiries"
and wouldbe "capable of analysingtheopinionson social,politicaland religiousquestions
whichmay be presentedto them,and of diffusing
juster views among all classes" (my
emphasis,qtd. in Roberts76). Whathe meansby "justerviews" becomesclearerwhenwe
wherethe
read thetextof the 1843 reporton new model schools in the factorydistricts,
commissioner
commentsthat
In everytown some individualswere to be foundwho thought(or pretendedto think)thatuniversal
suffrage. . . would secure a systemof legislationmorebeneficialto theworkingclasses thanwhathad
hithertobeen pursued. Among these were several ill-disposed persons, who, in orderto gain some
temporaryadvantageassumed, and induced othersto believe, thattheprinciplesof theCharterwould
be obtained by the compulsorystoppage of mills and factoriesand generallyof all labour." {Report
fromR. J. Sanders 299)
Educationreportsstressedthe efficacyof model schools in counteracting

such dangerous
ideas, observingfor example the "beneficialeffects"of new schools on "the workingclasses of thisneighborhood,
who used to be notoriousfortheirblackguardism."14
In towns
"neglectedin respectof education,"theCommissionerssuggested,"theeffectswerepartly
seenintheturbulent
and seditiousstate"ofthesedistricts.
A "soundseculareducation,based
on theprinciplesof reasonand religion,"theyagreed,"would be thebest antidoteagainst
thesevicioushabits."15
This is whyHard Timesopens withthe scene of an unnamed"government
officer"
a
model
school
under
the
of
the
school
reformer
who
exhibits
visiting
wing
Gradgrind,
the work of a model teacherturnedout by the new teacher"factory"establishedby
Addressing
569
committee
(8, 10; bk. 1,ch. 2). Dickensknewsuchsceneswell.As Anne
Kay-Shuttleworth's
HiebertAlton notes,Dickens was "active in helpingvariousschools, especiallyRagged
fororphanand defectivechildren";he "spentmuchof his time
Schools, and institutions
visitingschools,especiallythose... forthepoorerclasses"; and he "advocatedmoreState
in thefunding,
intervention
supervisionand settingof educationalstandards."Nevertheless,
he "wantedbotha highercaliberof educationforthepoorand a highercaliberof teachers"
thanthesereformsproduced(Alton73-74). Whatwe see in Hard Timesis thusa pointed
toprovideandregulatequalityeducation
intramural
critiqueofDickens'sownalliesinefforts
fortheworkingclasses.
Labor tensions,livingconditions,and the mortaldangersof the miningdistrictsall the loosely gatheredproblemsin Dickens's novel - were targetedby the government
education.16
educationalinitiatives
groundedin thesereportson working-class
Frequently,
the reportscombineda fastidiouspredilectionfornumberswitha fatuouslyincomplete
mode of "accounting"forthesenumbers.For example,on the life expectancyof miners:
"The averagelifeis veryshort- notabove 33 years,as appearsfromthe [parish]register.
This may be accountedforby thepersonaldirtinessof the miners,who neverwash their
bodies."17In Hard Times,Mr. Grandgrindsimilarlyattemptsto answerthe questionof
hisdaughtershouldmarryhisfriendMr.Bounderbybycomparingthe"Factsofthis
whether
in theirages) to "thestatisticsof marriage,so faras theyhave yetbeen
case" (thedisparity
likeGradgrind,
in
obtained EnglandandWales" (77; bk. 1, ch. 15). The government
reports,
in
numbers.
themselves
concealedtheirpartiality
by grounding
Meanwhile,as thenovelhints,government
reportson theworkingclasses weregradually
which
not
medium
onlyelectedofficialsbutBritishcitizens
by
becomingtheeducational
of
the
the
schoolchildren
of all kinds including
rulingclasses - gainedknowledgeof the
Dickens
in
the
British
laborersin theirmidst(and
givesus theconsequencesofthis
Empire).
in
hertownas a phenomenonof
workers
of
the
notion
shiftin Louisa Gradgrind'sgeneral
nature:
settled
tobe infallibly
tobe workedso muchandpaidso much,andthereended;something
Something
into
and
floundered
those
that
blundered
and
laws
of
laws,
demand;
against
something
supply
by
when
wheat
over-ate
itself
was
and
when
wheat
a
little
was
that
dear,
pinched
something
difficulty;
to
thatoccasionallyroselikea sea, anddid someharmandwaste(chiefly
was cheap;. . . something
itself),andfellagain;thissheknewtheCoketownHandstobe. (120-21; bk.2, ch.6)
"likethelowercreatures
ofCoketown"as something
ofthe"multitude
Louisa's apprehension
the
dramatizes
of thesea-shore,onlyhandsand stomachs"(52)
"positiveunconscious"of
shiftin formand
the
indicates
thenew formsof governingknowledge,and
corresponding
contentfortheBritisheducationalsystem.18
As J.M. M'Culloch (a modelforDickens's teacher,"M'Choakumchild")explainedin
A Series ofLessons, studentswereonce taughtelocution
theprefaceto his 1831 textbook,
poetry";now they
speeches,and readingthelatestsentimental
by "recitingparliamentary
in
"Natural
facts"
mustinsteadstudy"usefuland interesting
History"and "Elementary
19
than
Rather
Science" (Hard Times325-26).
pickingup ruling-classskills by imitating
to decode the new formsof knowledge
learn
speeches, studentswould
parliamentary
use.
forgovernment
producedby knowledgeprofessionals
570
ANDCULTURE
VICTORIANLITERATURE
Thepopulation
inHardTimesis thusnotjustanysurveillance.
surveillance
mimicked
describedby
surveillance
OtherDickensnovelsecho and indictthe "individualizing"
whenone wishes
MichelFoucaultin Disciplineand Punish:"In a systemof discipline,
toindividualize
thehealthy,
normalandlaw-abiding
adult,itis alwaysbyaskinghimhow
muchofthechildhe has in him,whatsecretmadnesslies within
him,whatfundamental
its
crimehe has dreamtof committing"
(192-93). Hard Times,by contrast,
generalizes
individuals
standout
characters.
Withregardto thecomposite
theycannothelpbutform,
was
injustthisway:"there
onlybybaffling
categorization.
SissyJupeconfounds
Gradgrind
inthisgirlwhichcouldhardly
intabular
be setforth
form [H]ewasnotsure
something
thatifhe hadbeenrequired,
forexample,to tickheroffintocolumnsin a parliamentary
hewouldhavequiteknownhowtodivideher"(73; bk.1,ch.14).
return,
Itis anamalgam
Dickens'sCoketown
cookedupfrom
returns.
is,inshort,
parliamentary
We mightthuscomparethe
ofthemanufacturing
townsfoundin bluebookdescriptions.
hasdescribed
narrator's
tonewiththe"language
ofthebluebooks"as Gwyneth
TysonRoberts
it. In herclose analysisof the 1847Report... intotheStateofEducationin Wales,for
Roberts
finds
that
example,
[Commissioner] Johnson's overview. . . has a high frequencycount of vocabulary with strongand negative - emotive force ("barbarous," "obnoxious," "atrocious," "heinous," "degradation,"
"depravity,"and so on), but forhim these were apparentlyobjective descriptionsof people, places,
and educational standardsin northWales, and he seems to have seen no contradictionbetween the
use of such vocabulary and the dutifulassurance . . . with which he ended his survey: "I limit this
Reportto the factswhich I have ascertained."20
Whatguaranteed
theobjectivity
of Commissioners'
"facts"was nota neutral
descriptive
but
the
collection
of
data
direct
tone,
quantifiable alongside
testimony
bytheCommissioners
- theirages,whether
as wellas theirinterlocutors,
trained
of teachers
e.g.,"thenumber
at a normalschoolor a modelschool- forwhatperiodandwhen."21
Thisby no means
a judgmental
himself
observers.
precluded
responsefromthereporting
Kay-Shuttleworth
invoked
thespecter
evils":
ofdegeneration
indescribing
theworkers'
and
moral
"physical
"Ill-fed- ill clothed- halfsheltered
. . . [it]onlyremainsthattheyshould
and ignorant
become. . . demoralized
andrecklesstorender
theportraiture
ofsavagelife"{Four
perfect
Periods23). Thiswashisdescription
oftheweaversofManchester.
which
first
weaver,
StephenBlackpool,Dickens'sfictional
appearsin a longsentence
wouldfitneatlyamongthedescriptive
ifit
written
blue
book
commissioners,
passages
by
werenotexaggerated.
As in thebluebooks,thecareful
observation
ofthephysicalspaces
intown,takentobe a reflection
ofthe"multitude"
itcontains,
overwhelms
thedescription
oftheindividual
whowillrepresent
it.He is identified
name
and
onlyby
bytherelevant
number
thatdescribes
him:hisage.
In the hardestworkingpartof Coketown; in the innermostfortifications
of thatugly citadel, where
Nature was as stronglybricked out as killing airs and gases were bricked in; at the heart of the
labyrinthof narrowcourtsupon courts,and close streetsupon streets,which had come intoexistence
piecemeal, everypiece in a violent hurryfor some one man's purpose, and the whole an unnatural
family,shoulderingand trampling,and pressingone anotherto death; in the last close nook of this
great exhausted receiver,where the chimneysfor want of air to make a draught,were built in an
Addressing
571
of stunted
andcrookedshapes,as thougheveryhouseputouta signofthekindof
immensevariety
who
be
ofCoketown,
called
might expectedtobe bornin it;amongthemultitude
genetically
people
"theHands,"- a racewhowouldhavefoundmorefavourwithsomepeople,ifProvidence
hadseen
- lived
ofthesea-shore,
fitto makethemonlyhands,or,likethecreatures
onlyhandsandstomachs
of
Times
bk.
ch.
a certainStephenBlackpool,forty
51-52;
1,
10)
years age. (Hard
is elusivehere,butfigures
of speechaboundto bringthe
Knowledgeof theindividual
to
life.
crammed
into
sentence,
Theyare,indeed,
frantically an overburdened
compound
one
as
courts,
streets,
bricks,
feet,chimneys,
gases,shoulders,
trampling another, metonymic
whilemetaphorical
Natureis bricked
out,onlyto
houses,hands,andstomachs
aggregate,
"unnatural
Like
the
blue
book
as thedegenerate,
return
accounts,
family."
post-Malthusian
oftheconditions
ofworkandlaborwitha
a condemnation
thispassagejumblestogether
it.Dickens'snarrator
himself
from
survive
forthepeoplewhomight
horror
onlydistances
that"somepeople"mighthave
in thefinalphrase,withthecomment
suchassociations
themtobe "onlyhandsandstomachs."
preferred
effect
FansofthebluebooksmayobjectthatDickensfailsinhissatirical
byignoring
Yet
voicesthemselves
inthegovernment
these
voicesoftheworkers"
the"authentic
reports.
of
theheavilyanthologized
forexample,
Letus consider,
werealso an amalgam.
testimony
Act:
to
the
1833
which
a childtextile
worker,
Factory
helped prompt
I get5s. 9d. It is fouror fiveyearssincewe
I workat Mr.Wilson'smill.I attendthedrawing-head.
workeddoublehours.We onlyworkedan houroverthen.We gota pennyforthat.We wentin the
at sixo'clockbythemillclock.It is abouthalfpastfivebyourclockat homewhenwe go
morning
We comeoutat sevenbythemill.The clock
toofastbyNottingham.
we
areabouta quarter
and
in,
childis aboutseven.Thereare
It goes likeotherclocks.I thinktheyoungest
is in theengine-house.
undernineyears- 22
onlytwomalesin themill.I daresaytherearetwenty
toquestions
a setofanswers
aboutthisvoice,whichisobviously
Thereisnothing
spontaneous
"How
"What
"How
numbers:
relevant
toelicitandverify
time?",
much?",
long?",
designed
statements
ofthesefirst-person
"Howdo youknowwhattimeitis?",etc.Thepresentation
ofstatements,
affectless
ina seemingly
however,
(andpitiable)
conjures
upa powerful
string
toa
becauseitrefers
subject.Thephrase"I daresay"hasnotbeeneditedout,presumably
on
the
a subjectivity-effect speaker.
toconfer
butitalsofunctions
factual
doubt,
Occasionally,
to
thechildwitnessis permitted
to Parliament,
interest
ofparticular
on "moral"questions
he
is
in
our
room;
cross-tempered
expressan opinion:"WilliamCrookesis overlooker
iftheydo notdo theirwork
He doesnotbeatme;he beatsthelittlechildren
sometimes.
nowandthen"(1100).
Theywantbeating
right.
inthe
between
stateandsubjects
encounter
from
thepoliticized
HardTimesdoesswerve
swerve
is
this
in
homeschool; narrative
schoolstoGradgrind's
terms,
accomplished
factory
childSissyJupe,an unusualworking-class
theadoptionof theabandoned
pupil
through
at themodelschoolin
YetSissyJupe'songoingexperiences
whohailsfromthecircus.23
toaddressthe
thebluebooks'efforts
tolampoon
Coketown
giveDickensampleopportunity
in
lower
the
informs
visitor
classes.As thegovernment
(presumably class)children
working
and
be
in
all
are
to
theschoolinchapter
one,fromnowon "you
things
regulated governed
Theeducation
children?
working-class
byfact"(9; bk. 1,ch.2). Howcouldfacts"govern"
in
as
Indies
In theWest
us totakethephraseliterally.
Wales,government
encourage
reports
572
ANDCULTURE
VICTORIANLITERATURE
commissioners
andthe
shockatthepupils'ignorance
oftheBritish
expressed
government
InWales,forexample,
nation
forwhichitstood,unified
(imperial)
bylanguageandreligion.
oftheseschoolswithout
that"a childmightpass through
thegenerality
theycomplained
thatempire
of
either
the
or
limits,
ofwhichhe
language
learning
general
history,
capabilities,
is borna citizen"(qtd.inRoberts106,myemphasis).
Commissioners
vergedon self-satire
as theyreported
encounters
withindividual
children:
"Oneboytoldme,he didnotknowif
hehada partabouthimthatwouldneverdie;neither
hadheheardofsucha personas Jesus
Christ."24
Likethechildren
in thesereports,
featured
subject.Unlike
SissyJupeis a recalcitrant
of
shecombinesa resistance
to statistical
them,however,
knowledge
analysiswitha firm
church
dogma:
M'Choakumchild reportedthatshe had a very dense head for figures;that,once possessed with a
generalidea of theglobe, she took thesmallestconceivable interestin theexact measurements. . . that
aftereightweeks of inductionintotheelementsof Political Economy,she had onlyyesterdaybeen set
right... forreturningto the question,"What is the firstprincipleof thisscience?" the absurdanswer,
"To do untoothersas I would thattheyshould do untome." (46; bk. 1, ch. 9)
ofthebluebooks
totheprescriptions
view,be taught
Sissymust,inGradgrind's
according
atthe
ofinfinite
thatsheis beingtrained
tocomprehend:
"itshowedthenecessity
grinding
A
millofknowledge,
tabular
statements
toZ"
as persystem,
and
schedule,
blue-book,
report,
Her
into
hisstoney
M'Choakumchild
had"worked
(46). So, too,herteacher
way
Majesty's
mostHonorable
the
PrivyCouncil'sScheduleB" (10; bk. 1, ch.2). Blue booksidentified
defects
andprescribed
theremedies
togovern
her.YetSissy's
forhereducation,
allthebetter
sureknowledge
ofchurch
as theycontradict
thoseofmodern
tenets,
surprisingly
governing
allowsDickenstohighlight
themoralfailures
ofthosewhowoulddo so.
knowledges,
Theknowledge
ofSissyis primarily
thatofthestateandall itrules- thatis,
required
itis a knowledge
ofherself
as partofa massofsubjectsgoverned
As Sissy
byan empire.
to us about
forinstance,
Mr.M'Choakumchild
was explaining
explainsto Louisa,"today,
Natural
I think
her."Yes,itwas.itmusthavebeen,"Louisacorrects
"National,
Prosperity."
But isn'tit thesame?"(47; bk. 1, ch. 9). Hintingin her"ignorance"
thatthestatistics
of nationalprosperity
havebeenconflated
withtheproofof a providential
Sissy
bounty,
makestheconnection
clearin herreport:
is a Nation.
"Andhe said,Now,thisschoolroom
Andinthisnation,
therearefifty
millions
ofmoney isn'tthisa prosperous
and
nation,
a'n't youin a thriving
state?... I saidI didn'tknow.I thought
I couldn'tknow. . . unless
I knewwhohad gotthemoney,
and whether
anyof it was mine"(47). Howeveruseful
mathematics
to
a
child
like
the
ofpoliticaleconomy
might
prove
Sissy, teaching
soughtin
theworking
classesofthebenefits
ofsidingwiththeirrulers.
As
justthiswaytoconvince
"Theascertained
truths
ofpolitical
scienceshouldbetaught
tothe
insisted,
Kay-Shuttleworth
andindustriously
shouldbe constantly
classes,andcorrect
labouring
politicalinformation
disseminated
them"(63,myemphasis).
Withthisinmind,we might
return
tothe
amongst
ofthe"blueroom"withwhichwe began:"Inthatcharmed
the
description
apartment, most
- ifthose
socialquestions
werecastup,gotintoexacttotals,
andfinally
settled
complicated
concerned
couldonlyhavebeenbrought
toknowif (75; bk.1,ch. 15,myemphasis).
This assurancewas onlya slightexaggeration
of real parliamentary
discourse.A
in
be
found
an
oration
addressed
to
members
oftheHouse
parliamentary
counterpart
may
Addressing
573
of Commonsand printedby parliamentin the same year as Hard Times(1854), entitled

"WhatShall We Do WithOurBlue Books? Or,Parliament
theNationalSchoolmaster."
How
could theworkersbe broughtto knowthegovernment
solutionsto social questions?Lord
Stanley'sanswerwas simple:theycouldreadtheblue books. "Whatwe mostrequire,"as he
soundknowledge,andespeciallyknowledge
explained,"is an increasedfacilityfordiffusing
the
adult
members
of
the
on publicaffairs,
among
peasantclass" (4). This knowledgecould
obtained
a
of
the
be
through study
"only
opinionsheld, and of the factscollected,by
and
who
have
them
time
those
given
thought";and, "thesefactsand opinionsare onlyto
in
those
or sixtyannualvolumesof Parliamentary
be found,forthemostpart,
Blue
fifty
material
of 'Hansard'" (5). At present,he notedwithregret,
Books, whichformthe raw
or read onlysuch cheappublicationsas are
"thelabouringclass are eitherutterly
illiterate,
worthless,and in most
expressly
for themarket- publicationsat bestutterly
manufactured
to thestudiesof working-class
cases, positivelymischievous"(4, myemphasis).Referring
forhis generalization:
reading- of novels,perchance- Stanleyclaimeda firmfoundation
"I do notstopto adduce evidenceof thisfact... of whichmanyof ourBlue Books contain
wereseekingto distribute
evidence"(4, myemphasis).Membersoftheeducationcommittee
theseblue books widely,by sendingcopies to lendinglibrariesand MechanicsInstitutes;25
meansof distribution:
sendingthemto newspapers,since
Stanleysuggesteda moreefficient
ofthenationoughtto be themselveswell and accuratelyinformed"
"thepoliticalinstructors
containedin
(5). Dickens thejournalist,in thisview,would best conveythe information
the
would
novelist
merelypurveytrashy"publications
reports,whileDickens
government
a grown-upSissy,meanwhile,could spendhersparetime
forthemarket";26
manufactured
but studyingthe blue books
notjust studyingaccordingto the blue book prescriptions,
withitsblue books wouldindeed
themselves.In thisUtopianparliamentary
view,parliament
become"thenationalschoolmaster."
///.ThePitfallsofPublicKnowledge
discoursehe
Either Dickens was unconsciously impregnated by the parliamentary
attackedin Hard Times,or he meantto mimicit. Given his explicitattackon blue book
knowledge,however,whatis perhapsmostremarkableaboutHard Timesis its failure- or
oftheproblemsof theworking
refusal- to offerin itssteada knowledgeablerepresentation
classes. As Charles Kingsleycommentedin a reviewof ElizabethGaskell's 1848 novel
MaryBarton,"in spiteof blue-booksand commissions,in spiteof newspaperhorrorsand
speeches,Manchesterriotsandthe10thofApril,themassofthehigherorders
parliamentary
districts."27
But
cannotyetbe awareof whata workman'shomeis likein themanufacturing
ifa readerof MaryBartoncould claim betterknowledge,as Kingsleybelieved,a readerof
Hard Timescould not.Dickens nevershowsus whatwe mightwantto see, by delineating
thereallivesof laborers.28
Overand over,Hard Timesprefersa critiqueofthenewmodesof governing
knowledge
oftheconditionsthereportssoughtto describe.In thefirstandonlyscene
to a representation
of laborersworkingin themill,forexample,all we see is that"Stephenbentoverhis loom,
thenarrator
quiet,watchfuland steady"(56; bk. 1, ch. 11). Fromthislaconic observation,
to Stephen'sclaimthatthesituationis a "muddle"(115;
goes on to pose his owncounterpart
bk. 2, ch. 5):
574
So manyhundreds
of Handsin thisMill; so manyhundred
horseSteamPower.It is known,to the
of theNational
forceof a singlepoundweight,whattheenginewilldo; but,notall thecalculators
forthe
or discontent,
Debtcan tellmethecapacityforgoodorevil,forloveorhatred,
forpatriotism
its
of
these
or
moment
in
the
soul
of
one
virtue
into
the
at
vice,
reverse,
decomposition
of
anysingle
in it;thereis
withthecomposedfacesandtheregulated
actions.Thereis no mystery
quietservants,
an unfathomable
inthemeanestofthem,forever.(56; bk. 1,ch. 11,myemphasis)
mystery
for
Thisverbalshrugis a direct
tothebluebooks.After
all,theworkers'
capacity
response
what
blue
book
or
as
virtue
or
is
construed
discontent,
vice,
compilers
precisely
patriotism
aimedto discover.
tablesof illiteracy
forone,hopedto provethrough
Kay-Shuttleworth,
ratesamongprisoners
that"education
or restrains
crime,eitherbytheoperation
prevents
of thosegood andreligiousprinciples
whichshouldbe itsgreatobjectto communicate,
orat theleast,bygivinga tasteanda capacityforpursuits
withthelowand
incompatible
and sensual"(Kaywhichopenthedoorto crimefortheignorant
debasingpropensities
Shuttleworth
of an "unfathomable
198). Yet Dickens'sassertion
mystery"
suggeststhat
of
numbers
intovice.Noris closeobservation
cannotpredict
the"decomposition"
ofvirtue
intheirfaceswhatKay-Shuttleworth
workers
Farfromdiscerning
"composed"
anybetter.
dubbedthe"volcanicelements"
of "misery,
vice and prejudice"(Kay-Shuttleworth
74),
stillness:
actions"is a watery
whatDickens'snarrator
observesin theweavers'"regulated
an enigmafiguratively
so deep thatit cannotbe measured.
Dubbingtheweavers"quiet
and
from
minister
Dickensinvokes
theetymology
of"mystery"
servants,"
(thatis,servant)
theirwork:theguild
frommystos
thattheir"mystery"
concerns
silence),hinting
(keeping
secrets
oftheweavingcraft.29
It is truethatthenarrator
towarda better
"Supposing
governing
knowledge:
gestures
we weretoreserve
ourarithmetic
formaterial
objects,andtogoverntheseawfulunknown
is more
quantities
by othermeans!"(56; bk. 1, ch. 9, myemphasis).Yetthissuggestion
means
remarkable
foritsadoption
ofa parliamentary
authorial
voicethanforthealternative
ofgovernance
itconjures.
thenarrator
For,likeLordStanley,
speakshereto fellowrulers
Moreover,
("we") aboutthosewhomtheycollectively
govern(the"unknown
quantities").
this
likethebluebookthatrelayedStanley's
conveys
speech,Dickens'sbookparadoxically
intramural
address
to"unknown
of(poor)readers.
HardTimessharesthepeculiar
quantities"
ofthegovernment
itmocks.On theonehand,itspeakstoandfor
positioning
publications
thegoverning
of
thedangers
andesoteric
classes,withtheprescient
projectofexamining
modern
On theotherhand,it speaksto andforthegoverned
classes,
publicknowledge.
withthecontradictory
ofrendering
itselfavailabletoa newlyliterate
project
publicthrough
condensation
andcompression.30
The strangeness
of Hard Timesderivesin partfromthisself-consciously
doubled,
Itis a novelwritten
address.
tofellowgovernors
about"anabstraction
pseudo-governmental,
calleda People,"andthensoldtoanother
calledtheReader(221;bk.3, ch.9).
abstraction,
In a timeof politicaltransition,
and new
as newkindsof votersobtainedthefranchise
kindsofpeoplelearnedtoread,Dickens'snovelexpresses
uneasiness
abouttheseshifting
itsnarrative
oftwofailedmarriages.
Theimpossibility
oflumping
politicalunionsthrough
withhisdrunken
withJosiahBounderby,
andthebizarre
wife,orLouisaGradgrind
Stephen
thatresult,
belietheapparent
ofmarital
andpoliticalunionsand
seamlessness
composites
exposesthegenuine
"disparities"
theymask.
Addressing
575
forboththebluebookandthenovel.
ofknowledge"
arethusa problem
The "pitfalls
reformers'
forworking-class
Dickensusesthisphraseas he explores
readers.
prescriptions
of
their
efforts
their
as
theinfantilizing
He stresses
bydescribing targets grown-up
quality
babies:
There happenedto be in Coketown a considerablepopulationof babies who had been walkingagainst
time towardsthe infiniteworld,twenty,thirty,
forty,fiftyyears and more. These portentousinfants
being alarmingcreaturesto stalkabout in any human society,theeighteendenominationsincessantly
scratchedone another'sfaces and pulled one another'shair,by way of agreeing on the steps to be
takenfortheirimprovement.(41; bk. 1, ch. 8)
onthecustomary
Dickenspits"Bodies"againsttheseBabies,drawing
governmental
figure
tolose"(Stanley16).Whatthe
ofspeech,as inLordStanley's
"we,as a body,havenothing
furnishes
thenovel'scharacter
recommend
"Bodies"ofCoketown
system.
"Bodynumber
the"self-made
on trust":henceJosiahBounderby,
one,said theymusttakeeverything
is"built. . . uponlies"(196;bk.3,ch.5).
viewofself-improvement
whosesanguine
Humbug"
on
henceGradgrind.
two,saidtheymusttakeeverythingpolitical
economy":
"Bodynumber
from
derive
The dolefultalesof Stephen,
three,"
Tom,andLouisamight
"Bodynumber
how
the
leadenlittlebooksforthem,
which"wrote
babyinvariably
showing
goodgrown-up
andthebadgrown-up
(42;bk.1,ch.
gottransported"
babyinvariably
gottotheSavings-bank,
comic
it
Dickens
case:like
four"is another
himself,produces
seemingly
8). "Bodynumber
was
it
of
droll
"Underdreary
stories.
indeed),"it
(when
verymelancholy
pretences being
into
which
itwas the
of
"madetheshallowest
pitfallsofknowledge,
pretences concealing
Such
and
(42, myemphasis).
"pretences"
dutyofthesebabiesto be smuggled inveigled"
a trap"shallow"humor
withtheir
atfirst,
barelycamouflaging
mayappearanti-Dickensian
Hard
Times,by contrast,
exposes
knowledge intowhichreadersareblindlyconveyed.
in thesenseofitshiddendangers.(Dickensactuatestheterm
ofknowledge"
the"pitfalls
Blackpoolfalltohisdeathin a hiddencoal pit.)In so doing,however,
Stephen
bymaking
order:
of another
fashion- trapsus in knowledge
Dickens'staleitself- in melancholy
of
the
of
its
weakness
and
the
of\htpitfalls
"People."
grasp
ofpublicknowledge
knowledge
fromthe
novelsis thusneverexempt
obtained
Thesocialknowledge
through
typically
of
and
fears
the
cultivates
While
it
(abstract
openly
edgeofHardTimes'*critique.
cutting
Times
also
Hard
of
anxiety
deterministic)
expresses
economy,
knowledge political
potentially
aboutthe(sexualand possiblyimmoral)
knowledge
typicalof novels.As MaryPoovey
whose"curiousreserve""baffle[s],
thisanxietycenterson Louisa Gradgrind,
suggests,
and
butalso thenarrator
and
James
Mrs.
notonly
whileitstimulate^]"
Harthouse,
Sparsit
habitual
absence
Louisa's
benefits
from
novel
The
ch.
reader{HardTimes156;bk.2,
11).
aboutherdesires
an ambiguity
"abstraction"
of mind,sincehercharacteristic
generates
the
"Structure"
thereader'sattention"
that"rivetfs]
163)."Byrepeatedly
blocking
(Poovey,
will
Louisa
about
whether
us
Dickens
accesstoLouisa'sfeelings,"
reader's
"keeps guessing
liketheeconomists
fall"intoadultery
(Poovey163).Towardtheendofthenovel,however,
for
Louisa'sblocked
abstraction"
"an
substitutes explanatory
he mocks,Dickenssuddenly
allureofanxiety"
the
from
this
"retreat
's estimation,
imaginative
( 164-65).InPoovey
feelings
his
that
the
the
criticism
toanticipate
onDickens'spart"sought
produced
knowledge writing
wassuspect"
(167).
lessaboutitsrhetorical
we mustthusthink
To graspwhatis atstakeinDickens'ssatire,
andmore
tend
discourses
and
the
thetwokindsof"figures"
between
they toadorn,
opposition
576
ANDCULTURE
VICTORIANLITERATURE
aboutwhattheyhaveincommon.
It'sall a muddle,
after
all.Thebizarre
results
ofstatistical
ofwitnessing,
thespecialpurview
ofMr.Gradgrind,
Buttheeffects
arewellknown.
analysis,
are
retained
mostlyby Mrs.Sparsit,theimpoverished
gentlewoman
by Mr.Bounderby,
equallytragicomic.
favored
to regainherplace as Bounderby's
Take,forexample,Mrs.Sparsit'sefforts
"female"by anticipating
his wife'sadultery.
Louisa
Hiddenin theshrubbery,
watching
speakwithHarthouse,
Mrs. Sparsit saw him detain her with his encirclingarm, and heard him thenand there,withinher
(Mrs. Sparsit)'s greedyhearing,tell her how much he loved her. ... All this,and more,in his hurry,
and in hers,in the whirlof her own gratifiedmalice, in the dread of being discovered,in the rapidly
increasing noise of heavy rain among the leaves, and a thunder-storm
rolling up - Mrs. Sparsit
received into her mind, set offwith such an unavoidable halo of confusionand indistinctness,that
when at lengthhe climbed thefence . . . she was not sure wheretheywere to meet,or when. (160-61 ;
bk. 2,ch. 11)
Thisis anultra-novelistic
thewordsofillicitloveoverheard
scene,as itforegrounds
through
theeavesdropping
of witnessing
here
witness'senvyand malice.Yet theconsequences
coincidewiththoseofBounderby's
Bothresult
ofthedialoguewithStephen.
dryexhibition
inpremature
Justas
conviction.
(Stephen's
compelled
testimony,
tragically,
getshimfired.)
Mrs.Sparsit's
forlurking
innocent
inquiring
eyescondemn
Stephen
bythebankontheday
ofa theft,
so,too,withLouisa:
andstealingaway.Sheelopes!She
Lo, Louisacomingoutofthehouse!Hastilycloakedandmuffled,
fallsfromthelowermost
inher
stair,andis swallowedup in thegulf!. . . Thoughherteethchattered
headfromwetandcold,Mrs.Sparsitexultedhugely.Thefigure
hadplungeddowntheprecipice,
and
shefeltherself,
as itwere,attending
on thebody
But,Mrs.Sparsitwas wronginhercalculation.
(161-162; bk.2, ch. 11)
Blindedbyherdesires,
thewitness
ofCoketown
neverknowsjustwhatshe
par excellence
haspersonally
seenandheard.
CouldMrs.Sparsit,
theremnant
ofa goodfamily,
fallenon hardtimesandreducedto
the
intheHouseofLords,
beingpaidfortheworkofbeingaristocratic,
represent politicians
as grimandludicrous
intheir
rolesas thecircusperformers?31
hergreedy
Certainly,
hearing
callsto mindall thedeaf,dumbandblindpoliticians
whohearwhattheydesire.Yether
ofLouisa'sillicitromance
also makesheroneofus,raisinga prospect
even
eagerpursuit
moreaggravating
forthenovelist
thana deafpolitician:
thebadreader's
torushto
inclination
conclusions
andlosetrack
ofthenovel'splot.Mrs.Sparsit
thusbecomesa figure
forprurient
readers
whodesireLouisato"fall"orwhofailtonoticehersurvival,
andwe areaccordingly
inherperson.
punished
Inthefinalanalysis,
Mrs.Sparsit
is a keyallegorical
inthestory
Dickens
however,
figure
tellsaboutmodern
In
this
"Mrs.
a
residual
of
knowledge.
story,
parse-it"
represents
regime
(or theLonginusto Gradgrind's
Cocker).In thekeysceneof herwitnessing
knowledge
whensheproves"wrongin hercalculation"
aboutLouisa,Mrs.Sparsitfindsher
failure,
andclassicalairsreducedto theliteral"connections"
of
formerly
highsocialconnections
buttons
andstrings,
as sheis caughteavesdropping
intherain:
Addressing
577
Wet throughand through:withher feetsquelching and squashing in her shoes whenevershe moved;
witha rash of rain upon her classical visage; witha bonnetlike an overripefig;withall her clothes
spoiled; withdamp impressionsof everybutton,string,and hook-and-eyeshe wore,printedoffupon
her highly-connectedback; witha stagnantverdureon her general exterior,such as accumulates on
an old park fence in a mouldy lane; Mrs. Sparsithad no resourcebut to burstinto tearsof bitterness
and say, 'I have lost her!' (162; bk. 2, ch. 11)
Inthismoment
ofdispossession,
Mrs.Sparsit's
and
formerly
upper-class
bodydegenerates,
the
Nature
to
which
it
cease to signify.
her
bonnet
itsconnections
returns,
Ravagedby
becomesa smellyfig,andheroldbodyis coveredwithmold.
Mrs. Sparsit'sclassical truthsand high connectionsforma
Decommissioned,
to
on
her
decayedbody.Thisis whathappensto language,according
meaningless
print
...
onward:
as
the
of
fromthenineteenth
MichelFoucault,
century
"language
primary
grid
andthings,
is eclipsed Language
linkbetween
as anindispensable
representation
things,
formcoherent
withthe
losesitsprivileged
positionandbecomes,in itsturn,a historical
"at
her
but
Mrs.
own
of
its
is,
likewise,
end,"
journey's
nothing
Sparsit
past"(xxiii).
density
shecanneither
"a classicalruin"{HardTimes178;bk.2, ch.3). Hencebythefinalvolume,
muteexpressions:
butmerely
witness
nortestify,
annoyswithviolent
That unfortunatelady hereupon essaying to offertestimony,withoutany voice and with painful
gestures expressive of an inflamedthroat,became so aggravatingand underwentso many facial
contortions,thatMr. Bounderby,unable to bear it, seized her by the arm and shook her.
"If you can't get it out ma'am," said Bounderby,"leave me to get it out. This is not a time fora
lady,howeverhighlyconnected,to be totallyinaudible, and seeminglyswallowing marbles." (178;
bk. 2, ch. 3)
thusservesas a striking
Mrs. "parse-it"
prestigeof language
figureforthedwindling
of newformsof
as Hard Timesmarksthecommissioning
andeducation,
in governance
within
loss
of
whilenoting
togovernment
inrelation
privilege
language's
power,
knowledge
formation.
thisshifting
as a literary
of his publicinfluence
At thesummit
man,Dickensthusparadoxically
But
in an age beforemasspublication.
theloss of literary
mourns
language'sprivileges
in
the
of thissatire?Does Dickens,
effect
statistics,
whatis theultimate
end,repudiate
is no
thatcomesfromthem?No; thismourning
andtheknowledge
inquiries,
government
the
is
not
to
To trainus to spotthedangersin government
melancholia.
repudiate
reports
teach
us
to
It
matter.
ofgovernment
is,rather,
reports orofnovels,forthat
knowledge
As
them
better.
read
us
to
andtheSparsits,
among
Blackpools,Jupes,andGradgrinds
toward
hostileattitude
D. A. Millerhas argued,"despiteor by meansof itssuperficially
to
train
us
concerned
Dickens'snovelBleakHouse"isprofoundly
as,atleast
bureaucracy,"
for
in
the
work
us for
sincetheeighteenth
sensibility inhabiting
playusuallytrains
century,
at
effective
structures"
administrative
thenewbureaucratic,
(89). HardTimesis remarkably
as
their
as
well
ofgovernment
thetablesandfigures
us towadethrough
reports,
preparing
must
thatsomething
ofMrs.Sparsitthusindicates
The downfall
digestsin newspapers.32
reader
this
to
more
Morecuriousanddoubtful, given wonder,
reader.
takeherplace:a better
moment.33
celebrated
thinker"
willbe thesortof"critical
Braving
byourownpedagogical
and
readerofnovelistic
shewillbe a perceptive
ofa wetandpitted
thedangers
landscape,
578
texts.Hard Timesthusteachesitsrecalcitrant
and greedyreadersto navigate
governmental
theworldof modernpublicknowledgein novels,government
reports,and theperiodicals
thatrelay(and "digest")themboth.
butwhenwe look
his socialfactswrong,34
ReadershavelongblamedDickensforgetting
we maydiscoverour own error:Dickens's novelreactsnotto VictorianEngland's
further,
social ills per se, but to theavailable representations
of them.Dickens's pointin "Frauds
on theFairies"and "GaslightFairies"was notthatgas-lampsdo notbelongin stories,but
thatfictionaltexts- includingthePeople's own - shouldbe as sacredand inviolateas any
of fictionalrepresentations,
"fact."More so, even: Dickenshighlighted
thespecial facticity
His concernforthe
and theirpowerto endurebeyondparticularformsof transmission.
extendedfarbeyondtheliterary
text,as we see in Hard Times.But
powerof representation
his legacyhas been lopsided.On theone hand,his concernforthesanctityof theliterary
noteall thecharacteristics
has prevailed,as we dutifully
text,linkedto authors'copyright,
and variationsof literarytextsin our scholarlyeditions,reproducingwithexactitudethe
characteristics
of earlypublications.On theotherhand,theearlypublicationof "facts"has
oftenbeenobscuredand de-materialized.
Blue book reportsmustbe todaysoughtin digests,
in microform,
or in on-linedatabases.This fateof government
"facts,"ironically,
presages
the(on-line)rabbithole intowhichliterarytexts,like all books, seem to be fallingtoday.
Dickens's anxietyabout his readership,and his meditationson the addressof governing
thusspeaktous withrenewedforcetoday.Grasping
knowledgein theage ofcascadingprint,
at old volumesin a topsy-turvy
world,we riskrelyingon thefindingsof Gradgrind'sblue
once
. . . withoutanywindows"whereastronomers
chamber,that"astronomical
observatory
universesolelybypen,inkand paper"(Hard Times75; bk. 1, ch. 15).
"arrange[d]thestarry
in short,
In itstroubledapproachto a complexreadershipavailableonlythrough
abstraction,
Hard Timesexposesa historyofpowerandknowledgethatwe, too,paperover- or "wiki"at ourperil.
TheNewSchool
NOTES
1. "CharlesDickensandDavid Copperfield"
109.
700; see Poovey,UnevenDevelopments
2. "The Hero as Man of Letters:Johnson,
Rousseau,Burns,"152; see Poovey,UnevenDevelopments
107.
3. To ask thisquestionis to remainwithinDickens'stext,ratherthanventuring
out intothehistory
of actualreaders'readingsof Dickens.My essayis meantto complement
workon the
illuminating
ofworking-class
Flint
and
others.
Rose,
history
readingby
among
4. "I haveconstructed
itpatiently,
witha viewto itspublication
in a compactcheapform."
altogether
(LettertoThomasCarlyle,13 July1854;rpt.in KaplanandMonod283.)
5. HouseholdWords,
reissueofHouseholdWordswas cheaper
April1854.At9-11 pence,themonthly
thantheshillingnumbersof otherVictoriannovels.Viewedat The MorganLibraryand Museum;
JohnBidwell;see also Drew,"HouseholdWords."(Butwin
priceinformation
provided
bythecurator,
erroneously
suggeststhat"HouseholdWordsincludedno commercialadvertisement
beyondthe
announcement
ofitsownfuture
173.)
publication,"
- 'society,''humannature,'or
6. Politicaleconomy,
as Pooveyexplains,hadto "generate
an abstraction
'themarket'- thatsomehowstoodin for,butdid notreferto,whatever
it was
materialphenomena
Addressing
579
is an obviousthemeof Dickens's
said to represent"
("Structure"
151). This problemof abstraction
ofanxietiesabouttheabstraction
and
novel.Pooveycomparespoliticaleconomists'acknowledgment
ofanxiety
inpoliticaleconomywithDickens'scultivation
aboutfemalesexuality
andthe
determinism
incitements
novel'scapacityforimmoral
("Structure"
165).
inHardTimeswithout
theprevalence
ofscenesofwitnessing
ofAnxiety"
stresses
7. Poovey's "Structure
a
link
theknowledge
of
The
blue
books
between
the
provide missing
stage.
mentioning parliamentary
ofpoliticaleconomy,
whichshestudiesinparallel.
thenovelandtheknowledge
withthe
shownhow Dickens'snovelconvergessurprisingly
8. Pooveyand Gallagherhave recently
and
discourseofhissupposedenemies.As Gallagherasks,"GivenDickens'sneedtodistancehimself,
he
would
stress
its
fromthedynamicsof industrial
his novelistic
endeavor,
capitalism,
why
futility
is partly
as
mode?"(72). I wouldsuggestthatthemimicry
andthenmimicitinhisnarrative
intended,
Dickenscreatesa pasticheofbluebooklanguagethroughout.
8-9.
StatesofInquiry,
9. See Frankel,
toCocker"(KaplanandMonod227).
10. One ofDickens'sproposedtitlesforthenovelwas "According
thetaleof
noveltoinvokethequestionofgoverning
11. HardTimeswas notthefirst
through
knowledges
a
amusedmyselfwithtracing
Bluebeard.As WilliamGodwinexplainedin an 1832preface,"I rather
betweenthestoryofCaleb Williamsandthetaleof Bluebeard"(Godwin352). In
certainsimilitude
manis framedforthecrimesof his "better"and finds
Caleb Williamsas in Hard Times,a working
master"was myBluebeard,who had
no justicein a legal systemriggedagainsthim.The corrupt
in
atrociouscrimes Caleb Williamswas thewife,whoin spiteof warning
persisted
perpetrated
to
as fruitlessly
todiscovertheforbidden
hisattempts
secret;and,when,he hadsucceeded,struggled
the
escape consequences"(Godwin353).
12. The quoteis fromDickens,OurMutualFriend(198; ch. 16). See Miller,chapter3, "Disciplinein
Voices."
Different
andpart
in Britainwereoffactories,
13. See RobertsandEdmonds."The first
governmental
inspections
was
in
which
some
instruction
the
was
to
task
of thefactory
schools,
supervise factory
inspectors'
and
with
were
schools
from
1802.
1833,
inspectors,
paid,
professional
provided
factory
By
required
Schools werearmedwitha 150-pagequestionnaire,
Inspectorsof Voluntary
by 1844 government
schoolbuildingandplans,'meansofinstruction,'
'organization
covering'mechanicalarrangements,'
anddiscipline,'andreligiousinstruction"
(Shuman48).
. . . intotheStateof Educationin WalesI:
14. GreatBritain,Parliament,
Reportof theCommissioners
338-9.
. . . intotheStateofEducationin WalesIII,
15. GreatBritain,Parliament,
ReportoftheCommissioners
153:
160-61.
App.
16. See Roberts130.
17. Report. . . intothestateofEducationin WalesI: 421-2.
18. This is Foucault'sobjectof studyin The Orderof Things:notthe"negativeside of science- that
of
a levelthateludestheconsciousness
ofknowledge:
whichresistsit,"butthe"positiveunconscious
discourse"(xi).
andyetis partofscientific
thescientist
torDickenss teacher(Foovey, structure
was also an inspiration
19. J.R. McCulloch,theeconomist,
Officecomptroller
the
was
John
McCulloch,
responsible
Stationery
RamsayMcCulloch,
161).A third
thebluebooks;he arguedinthe1849bluebookrecordagainsta proposaltoissuethemin
forprinting
nottomagazinesandworksofliterature
thattheywerecomparable
thanfolio,suggesting
octavorather
andencyclopedias
buttodictionaries
(Frankel,"Blue Books"314).
20. Roberts78. See Report. . . intotheStateofEducationin WalesIII, 68.
21. GreatBritain,
Parliament,
Report. . . intotheStateofEducationin WalesI, iv.
of HannahGoode" 1100. Previouslyanthologizedin Hellerstein,
Hume,and Often,
22. "Testimony
Women.
Victorian
thebenefitsof "practicaleducation"and its capacityfor
23. Gradgrind
bringsherhometo illustrate
contrasted
toher(re-)education,
ch.
But
bk.
conversion
1, 6).
(33;
Sissy'simperviousness
ideological
580
withTom and Louisa Gradgrind'sdangeroussusceptibilityto it,reveals its impracticalityas a panacea

forworking-classconversionand its hidden dangersforthose who govern.
24. 1838 report on "Negro" education, qtd. in Roberts 64. In the parliamentarytestimonyof child
mineworkersfrom the widely-read 1842 report on Children's Employment(Mines), this sort of
response is ventriloquized:"The men do not insult the girls with us, but I thinkthey do in some.
I have neverheard thata good man came into the world who was God's Son to save sinners.I never
heard of Christat all" ("Testimonyof Ann and Elizabeth Eggley,Child Mineworkers"1101).
25. Many workingmen agreed: 272 petitionsto Westminster,
appended by 15,281 signatures,requested
thefreedistribution
of parliamentary
buttheMembersof Parliament
papers to Mechanics' Institutions,
could not agree on the selection of blue books forallocation (Frankel,"Blue Books" 315).
26. Stanley's formulationdraws attentionto the manufactureof printpublications,and to Dickens's own
industrialentanglements.Dickens lashes back by describingthe "ratherdirtymachinery"in a mill
forthe "manufactureof the human fabric,"where Gradgrindwas "made Member of Parliamentfor
Coketown" (73; bk. 1, ch. 14). But novels and newspaperswere manufacturedin (printing)factories,
requiringcapital investmentand the prospectof profitsto secure and sustainthem.Hard limes began
as a marketingploy drivenby the machineryof Dickens's printingbusiness. As he explained in early
1854, "thereis such a fixedidea on the partof my printersand copartnersin Household Words,that
a storyby me, continuedfromweek to week, would make some unheard-of-effect
withit, thatI am
going to writeone" (Kaplan and Monod 279). To understandhow thematerialand economic realityof
article"in
printmanufacturing
preoccupied Dickens, see "A PAPER-MILL," the"firstfactory-tourism
Household Words,published in August 1850 (Farina 43). The paper-millis a miracle of rejuvenation,
"like theMill of thechild's storythatgroundold people young" (Dickens and Lemon, "A Paper-Mill"
529).
27. "Recent Novels," in Eraser's Magazine, April 1849: 429; qtd. in Butwin 169. Dickens solicitedGaskell
to writeforHousehold Wordswiththeclaim that"There is no livingEnglish writerwhose aid I would
desire to enlist in preferenceto the authoressof Mary Barton (a book thatmost profoundlyaffected
and impressedme)" (Butwin 170).
28. As Spector maintains,Dickens lets his industrialworkers"fade intothe colorless anonymityof moral
personificationswhile quietlyrelinquishingthe projectof presentingthe truthabout them"(380-81).
29. This emphasis is in keepingwiththe tone of wonderof Household Wordsreportson factorytours;see
Farina.
30. "Why I foundmyselfso 'used up,' afterHard Times,I scarcelyknow,"Dickens wrotelater."Perhaps
because I had intendedto do nothing... fora year,when theidea laid hold of me by thethroatin a very
violent manner; and because the compression and close condensation necessary for thatdisjointed
formof publication,gave me perpetualtrouble"(Kaplan and Monod 284).
31. In Gallagher's most recent reading, Hard Times "imagines the melancholy confluence" of the
"theoreticalexpansion of the category of labor," and the "affectiveimplications of the theoryof
value" in mid-Victorianpolitical economy (72-73). Signaling the expansion of the categoryof labor,
everyonein the novel works (even Mrs. Sparsit,at being aristocraticfora wage; even Harthouse,at
ennui',even the circus entertainers),and everyoneis miserableworking.
32. In a similar spirit,Household Wordsprefaced a summaryof the 1851 census by picturing"many
a nervous reader preferring
... a month at the treadmillto the thoroughperusal of a blue book"
{Household Words21 October 1854: 221-28; qtd. in Coles 160). This alluded not only to the blue
book containingthe census, but also to Captain Pringle's "Report on Prisons in the West Indies,"
which provoked outrage at the prevalentusage of the treadmillfor punishmentin the West Indian
colonies.
33. Shuman notes the compatibilityof Dickens's pedagogical ideals with recent feministpedagogy
favoringa "midwife"over a "bank deposit" model of instruction(158-59).
34. See, for example, Williams's comment that ''''Hard Times is more a symptomof the confusion of
industrialsocietythanan understandingof it" (96).
Addressing
581
WORKS CITED
and Dickens's Hard
Alton,AnneHiebert."Educationin VictorianFact and Fiction:Kay-Shuttleworth
9.2 (June1992):67-80.
Times"DickensQuarterly
Fiction32 (1977): 166-87.
Butwin,Joseph."HardTimes:The NewsandtheNovel."Nineteenth-Century
and
Rousseau,Burns."On Heroes,Hero-Worship
Carlyle,Thomas."TheHeroas Man ofLetters:Johnson,
London:Chapman,1840. 143-180.
theHeroicinHistory.
Fraser'sMagazine42.252 (December1850):698-710.
"CharlesDickensandDavid Copperfield."
Dickens
Coles,Nicholas."ThePoliticsofHard Times:DickenstheNovelistversusDickenstheReformer."
StudiesAnnual15 (1986): 145-79.
2001.
Dickens,Charles.Hard Times.1854.New York:Norton,
1850-1870. Ed. David Pascoe. London:
. "Fraudson the Fairies." 1853. SelectedJournalism,
Penguin,1977.566-72.
1850-1870. Ed. David Pascoe. London:
. "GaslightFairies"(1855). 1855. SelectedJournalism,
573-78.
1977.
Penguin,
. OurMutualFriend.London:Penguin,1997.
HouseholdWords6 (13 November1852):529-31.
Dickens,Charles,andMarkLemon."A Paper-Mill."
Drew,John."HouseholdWords."OxfordReader's Companionto Dickens.Ed. Paul Schlicke.Oxford:
OxfordUP, 1999.
London:Routledge,1962.
Edmonds,E. L. TheSchoolInspector.
Victorian
inHouseholdWords."
theFactory
V."Characterizing
Farina,Jonathan
Subjectivity
System:Factory
and Culture35 (2007): 41-56.
Literature
Reader1837-1914.Oxford:Clarendon,1993.
Flint,Kate.TheWoman
NewYork:Random,
Michel.DisciplineandPunish:TheBirthofthePrison.Trans.AlanSheridan.
Foucault,
1979.
. TheOrderofThings:AnArchaeology
oftheHumanSciences.New York:Random,1994.Trans.
ofLes Motsetles choses.
Studies46.2 (Winter
Reader."Victorian
Oz. "Blue BooksandtheVictorian
2004): 308-18.
Frankel,
Britainand the
and PrintCulturein Nineteenth
. StatesofInquiry:Social Investigations
Century
2006.
JohnsHopkinsUP,
UnitedStates.Baltimore:
andtheVictorian
TheBodyEconomic:Life,Death,andSensationinPoliticalEconomy
Catherine.
Gallagher,
Princeton
Novel.Princeton:
UP, 2005.
Ed.
Novels"EditionofFleetwood.Rpt.in Caleb Williams.
Godwin,William.Prefacetothe1832"Standard
347-54.
1998.
MauriceHindle.London:Penguin,
Children'sEmployment
London,1842.
GreatBritain.Parliament.
(Mines).ReportsfromCommissioners.
17:3.
and LeewardIslands.London,
. ReportfromC. J. Latrobeon Negroeducationin theWindward
1838.48:101.
. ReportfromR. J.Sanderson theEstablishment

ofSchoolsin theFactoryDistricts.Reportsfrom
Commissioners.
London,1843.27: 386.
. ReportofCaptainJ.W.PringleonPrisonsintheWestIndies.HouseofCommons.SessionalPapers.
London,1837-38.40: 266.
. ReportsoftheCommissioners
ofInquiryintotheStateofEducationin Wales.London,1847.
EducationintheMiningDistricts
on theStateofElementary
Tremenheere
. ReportofMr.Seymour
of
ofCouncilon Education:AccountsandPapers(12). London,
SouthWales.MinutesoftheCommittee
1840.40:614.
. ReportsoftheCommissioners
forSouthWales.London,1844. lb: //.
ofInquiry
A Documentary
Women:
eds. Victorian
ErnaOlfason,LeslieParkerHume,andKarenM. Offen,
Hellerstein,
Accountof Women'sLivesin Nineteenth-Century
England,France,and theUnitedStates.Stanford:
Stanford
UP, 1981.
582
inIllustration
Jones,Evan(IeuanGwynedd).Facts,Figuresand Statements
oftheDissentandMorality
of
Wales.London:BenjaminL. Green,1849.
Kaplan,Fred,andSylvereMonod,eds.HardTimes.By CharlesDickens.3rdNortonCriticalEd. NewYork:
2001.
Norton,
James.Four Periodsof Public Educationas Reviewedin 1832, 1839, 1846, 1862.
Kay-Shuttleworth,
1973.
Harvester,
Brighton:
Lodge,David. "How Successfulis Hard TimesTHard Times.By CharlesDickens.Ed. FredKaplanand
2001.400-09.
SylvereMonod.New York:Norton,
M'Cullough,J.M. Preface.A SeriesofLessonsinProseand Verse.1831.Rpt.inHard Times.By Charles
Dickens.Ed. FredKaplanandSylvereMonod.New York:Norton,
2001. 325-26.
Miller,D. A. TheNoveland thePolice.Berkeley:U ofCalifornia
P, 1988.
andSociety.
Poovey,Mary.A History
oftheModernFact:ProblemsofKnowledgeintheSciencesofWealth
Chicago:U ofChicagoP, 1998.
. "The Structure
of Anxietyin PoliticalEconomyand Hard Times."KnowingthePast: Victorian
Literature
and Culture.Ed. SuzyAnger.Ithaca:CornellUP, 2001. 151-71.
. UnevenDevelopments:
TheIdeologicalWorkofGenderinMid-Victorian
England.Chicago:U of
ChicagoP, 1988.
"RecentNovels."Eraser'sMagazine39.232(April1849):417-32.
U of
Instrument
Roberts,
ofEmpire.Cardiff:
Gwyneth
Tyson.TheLanguageoftheBlueBooks:ThePerfect
WalesP, 1998.
TheIntellectual
Classes.New Haven:Yale UP, 2001.
Rose,Jonathan.
LifeoftheBritishWorking
and the VictorianLiteraryMan. Stanford:
Shuman,Cathy.PedagogicalEconomies:The Examination
Stanford
UP, 2000.
Jane.ReviewofHard Times.TheWestminster
Review(October1854).Excerptrpt.in Kaplanand
Sinnett,
Monod,Hard Times:331-32.
Novelists."ReviewofEnglishStudies21 (1970): 23-40.
Smith,SheilaM. "Blue Books andVictorian
J."Monsters
ofMetonymy:
HardTimesandKnowingtheWorking
Class."EnglishLiterary
Spector,
Stephen
History51 (1984): 365-84.
EarlofDerby].WhatShall WeDo WithOurBlue Books?or,Parliament
the
Stanley,Lord[EdwardHenry,
NationalSchoolmaster.
London:SavillandEdwards,1854.
Review16
Taylor,WilliamCook. "Objectsand Advantagesof StatisticalScience."ForeignQuarterly
(October1835): 103-16.
ofAnnandElizabethEggley,ChildMineworkers."
"Testimony
ofBritish
Rpt.in TheLongmanAnthology
Literature.
Ed. David Damrosch.New York:Longman,1999.Vol.2. 1101-02.
of HannahGoode,a ChildTextileWorker."1833.Rpt.in TheLongmanAnthology
"Testimony
ofBritish
Literature.
Ed. David Damrosch.New York:Longman,1999.Vol.2. 110O-01.
Williams,Raymond.Cultureand Society1780-1950.London:Chatto& Windus,1958.

Critical Hard Times

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Critical Hard Times

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

"Awful Unknown Quantities": Addressing the Readers in Hard Times

Author(s): Carolyn Vellenga Berman

VictorianLiteratureand Culture(2009), 37, 561-582. Printedin theUnitedStatesof America.

Charles Dickenswas lionized inthe early 1850sforhispolitical

VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE

As thispassage emphasizes,the materialsforDickens's plot derivefromthe politically

We have in thisaccounta succinctprecisof Dickens's dramaticoppositionin Hard Times:

AddressingtheReaders in Hard Times

VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE

focus would,indeed,be unaccountable.But if Hard Timesset out to critiquethecurious

Educationreportsstressedthe efficacyof model schools in counteracting

of Commonsand printedby parliamentin the same year as Hard Times(1854), entitled

VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE

VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE

VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE

withTom and Louisa Gradgrind'sdangeroussusceptibilityto it,reveals its impracticalityas a panacea

. ReportfromR. J.Sanderson theEstablishment

VICTORIAN LITERATUREAND CULTURE

Вам также может понравиться