Femininity in "Hard Times"

Hard Times is about facts, and how the emphasis that Victorian society placed on them can be detrimental to overall happiness, which is why as I read the novel I focused on the two main female characters; Sissy and Louisa and how their gender affected various aspects of the novel. In the age when Dickens was writing (just as they still are today) woman were put into little boxes and expected to display only feminine traits. This meant they were compassionate, pure, sensitive, docile, and more.  But just to be clear: it is not a bad thing if a woman has these characteristics, the problem comes from men assuming and forcing that all women to fit into their fatly preconception of what a woman “should” be.

These characteristics are all in stark contrast to what the main male characters of the novel stand for, which is what makes Hard Times interesting. In the beginning of the novel when Gradgrind is lecturing the students on facts and fancy, it is not just the boys he is trying to make accept his narrow vision of the world, but the girls as well. In the second chapter when discussing “proper” ways to paper walls and carpet a house Sissy sands up for what she likes, and tells Gradgrind “It wouldn't hurt them, Sit. They wouldn't crush and wither, if you please Sir. They would be pictures of what was very pretty and pleasant, and I would fancy—“ (5). Here Sissy is not just speaking her mind and declaring her love for something, but the object that she fancies (flowers) are something that are associated with femininity. In response to this Gradgrind says “Ay, ay, ay! But you mustn’t fancy…That’s it! You are never to fancy” (5). By placing this exchange at the beginning of the novel, Dickens is both setting up the theme of the opposition between fact and fancy and firmly rooting these two characters on either side, but he is also really setting up Sissy as an interesting character, who brings in that stereotypical female side into a novel whose main characters are utterly devoid of emotion.  

Because this novel is critiquing society I saw that Sissy’s ability to feel emotions is meant to be seen as a positive trait. The message Dickens is trying to send through this novel is that a sole reliance on facts will lead to a miserable life. This is demonstrated through Stephen Blackpool and Rachael, Stephen is tired and worn down with the monotony of his life as a mill worker, and it is not facts that help him with this, it is the gentle way Rachael’s treats him. Additionally it is Sissy that brings love into the Gradgrind house, and is the one who, through the love of her children and the family she makes for herself, teaches Louisa how to feel sympathy and to recognize the emotions her father tried so hard to suppress in her. So despite the negativity that society has always placed on woman and the characteristics associated with them, is femininity, not facts, that saves (some of) the characters of Hard Times.