HT: Discussion

The titles of the three books in Hard Times are "Sowing", "Reaping", and "Garnering".  How might these titles represent different ideas, concepts, metaphors, or themes to different characters, especially to such opposites like Louisa vs. Tom, Blackpool vs. Slackbridge, and Sissy vs. Mr. Gradgrind?

HT: Analysis

     In this passage, Stephen Blackpool is spending his last moments on earth with Rachel; being a victim of the "Old Hell Shaft" adds him to the list of dark stories concerning the area.  In the last monologue before his death, he mentions how the poor "die an no need, one way an another - in a muddle - every day" (263).  Throughout all of Stephen's life, he has had a steady stream of bad luck, however, he has maintained a pure and moral personality in spite of it; his is the "Starlight" in the chapter title whose spirit burns bright and brilliant.

     Stephen's adherence to ethics is Dickens' contrasting of the poor vs. the rich; many of the wealthy characters in the story like Tom and Harthouse imagine themselves as superior to the poor, yet display acts of immorality with impudence.  The religious allusions at the end of the passage reiterates Stephen's sanctity, as his story parallels St. Stephen, widely considered the first Christian martyr.  As such, Stephen's death can be examined to have Christ-like properties; Stephen's final moments before death finds him the "God of the poor" (265) who, through "humility", "sorrow", and "forgiveness" (265), leads him to the "Redeemer's rest" (265).  These religious allusions respectively can be compared to Jesus's journey with God, his spiritual values, and the fact that in Christian theology, Jesus is often referred to as a Redeemer with "rest" (265) representing Stephen's salvation.  Much like how Jesus died for humanity's sins in Christianity, the affluent aristocrats are the ones whose irreligious and hypocritical lives of sin - much of which is spent "sowing", "reaping", and "garnering" money from the poor - condemn Stephen, a man of divine virtue, to a dark end.

HT: Appreciation

"'How could you give me life, and take from me all the inappreciable things that raise it from the state of conscious death?  Where are the graces of my soul?  Where are the sentiments of my heart?  What have you done, O father, what have you done, with the garden that should have bloomed once, in this great wilderness here!'" (208)

Louisa's repetition of questions to her father is truly a sentiment to Dickens' masterful writing.  In demanding the whereabouts of her emotion, passion, and all that gives individuals humanity, each question stabs at the reader with an increase in tension.  In the final sentence where Louisa asks of where her "garden" is, Dickens' exquisitely captures the desperate symbolization of her oppressed self, creating an aura of absolute anguish.

HT: Outside Connection

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_dfjovzvis

This song from Godspell is called All Good Gifts and it is in response to the biblical parable following the story of a sower going to sow seeds.  The "seeds" represent the different people and their moral choices.  This can be related to Hard Times because the characters are faced with decisions that ultimately define themselves.  The seeds or characters are "planted" into the societal lifestyle that influences their individual outcome as adults.  The book titles play a fundamental role in mirroring the character development particulary in characters like Louisa and Tom who's progression is shown through their initial ubringing into the specific lifestyle as well as how they turn out in the end.

HT: Analysis

In the context of Hard Times, as well as harvesting terminology, to garner can be defined as reaping the benefits of a given action.  Although the third book essentially illustrates the outcomes due to societal systems, there are noted "benefits" that can be found in character growth.  At the beginning of book three when Louisa is recouperating from her trauma due to the realization of her upbringing, she finds comfort and relationship bonding though Sissy, "In the innocence of her brave affection, and the brimming up of her old devoted spirit, the once deserted girl shone like a beautiful light upon the darkness of the other. Louisa raised the hand that it might clasp her neck and join its fellow there. She fell upon her knees, and clinging to this stroller's child looked up at her almost with veneration. 'Forgive me, pity me, help me! Have compassion on my great need, and let me lay this head of mine upon a loving heart?' 'O lay it here!' cried Sissy. 'Lay it here, my dear." (220).  Although Louisa is clearly distressed, she is finally able to express her true emotions and relay them to another human truthfully.  Sissy provides love and compassion for Louisa.  This type of character development can be attributed to the title, "Garnering", because it is showing the effects of the societal systems and the way in which characters progress.

HT: Discussion

 How does the students upbringing in the Sowing effect their lives in the Reaping and Garnering and how does Dickinson use literary techniques to show the cause and effect relationship?

HT: Discussion

The title of the books in Hard Times are Sowing, Reaping and Garnering. They all have metaphorical meanings that can be related to peoples development in the text. Which of the characters in the book follow this sort of development though the text cite specific times when they demonstrate their development?