REALISM AS A REFLECTION OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY IN CHARLES DICKENS’S HARD TIMES
Abstract
Abstract
This paper examines the manifestation of literary realism in Charles Dickens’s
Hard Times (1854) and its function as a reflection of the industrial society of
nineteenth-century England. Dickens’s portrayal of Coketown and its inhabitants
provides a realistic depiction of the social, moral, and psychological consequences of
industrialization. Using textual and contextual analysis, this study explores how
realism serves not merely as a descriptive technique but as a powerful instrument of
social criticism. The findings suggest that Dickens’s realism exposes the moral decay
and emotional sterility of industrial capitalism while advocating for compassion,
imagination, and moral integrity.
References
References
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2. Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1854.
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University of California Press, 1957.
4. Williams, Raymond. The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence. Chatto &
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5. Eagleton, Terry. The English Novel: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
