Great Expectations: And, Hard Times

Great Expectations (1861) tells the story of Pip, whose life becomes forever linked with that of an escaped convict whom he helps to escape one fateful night. Overwhelmed by Pip's kindness the convict, unbeknownst to Pip, vows to make a fortune to finance Pip's rise to the upper classes. When, after several years, the convict returns to Pip to secure his help to escape England, their lives once again intertwine with tragic consequences. In Hard Times (1854) Dickens questions the materialism of the 'Age of Machinery' in the scathing story of Thomas Gradgrind in the industrial nightmare of Coketown. Gradgrind teaches his children, Tom and Louisa, to stifle emotion and eschew frivolity and imagination, but unable to contain their natural instincts, Gradgrind is forced to accept the injustice of his philosophy, and the blame for their wasted lives.