岐阜市立女子短期大学研究紀要第57輯（平成20年3月）
抄録
A Study of Hard Times
| 吉田恒義 |
| Tsuneyoshi Yoshida |
Abstract
Hard Times (1854) is a novel full of Dickens’s critical comments on the Victorian society. Two worlds are depicted in this
novel. One is the world which attaches great importance to facts. The other is the world which regards fancy and imagination
as important. The former is the world of Thomas Gradgrind who is a retired wholesale hardware merchant and Josiah Bounderby
who is a boastful and wealthy manufacturer. The latter is the world of a circus troupe.
Dickens indicates the harmful effects on the people, especially children caused by the strict rule of facts, contrasting the world of
facts with the world of imagination. The aim of this paper is to make clear Dickens’s attitude towards the social problems,
especially educational problems, with reference to the world of facts.
Key words : fact fancy imagination Gradgrind Bounderby