Hard Times: Significant passage

Page 149 -

"But he had not spoken out of his own will and desire; and he felt it in his heart a noble return for his late injurious treatment to be faithful to the last to those who had repudiated him. He stayed to finish what was in his mind.
‘Sir, I canna, wi’ my little learning an my common way, tell the genelman what will better aw this — though some working-men o’ this town could, above my powers — but I can tell him what I know will never do ’t. The strong hand will never do ’t. Vict’ry and triumph will never do ’t. Agreeing fur to mak one side unnat’rally awlus and for ever right, and toother side unnat’rally awlus and for ever wrong, will never, never do ’t. Nor yet lettin alone will never do ’t. Let thousands upon thousands alone, aw leading the like lives and aw faw’en into the like muddle, and they will be as one, and yo will be as anoother, wi’ a black unpassable world betwixt yo, just as long or short a time as sitch-like misery can last. Not drawin nigh to fok, wi’ kindness and patience an cheery ways, that so draws nigh to one another in their monny troubles, and so cherishes one another in their distresses wi’ what they need themseln — like, I humbly believe, as no people the genelman ha seen in aw his travels can beat — will never do ’t till th’ Sun turns t’ ice. Most o’ aw, rating ’em as so much Power, and reg’latin ’em as if they was figures in a soom, or machines: wi’out loves and likens, wi’out memories and inclinations, wi’out souls to weary and souls to hope — when aw goes quiet, draggin on wi’ ’em as if they’d nowt o’ th’ kind, and when aw goes onquiet, reproachin ’em for their want o’ sitch humanly feelins in their dealins wi’ yo — this will never do ’t, sir, till God’s work is onmade.’"

Dicken's suggests that labor institutions can and must foster a positive morale within their employees. In order to do this there must be a far greater rapport between employer and employee than there is at Bounderby's factory. If a labor institution fails to do so, there will be severe repercussions. Dicken's conveys this message through Stephens disconnect between those both equal and superior to him. Stephen's humble faithfulness to his fellow laborers is contrasted sharply here with his disdain for the do-nothing attitudes of those who actually hold potential to produce some positive benefit to society. In the beginning of this passage it is acknowledged that Stephen had indeed been "repudiated" by his fellow Hands for his refusal to join the union, yet his altruistic heart felt a "noble" obligation to defend to the last those same Hands who had ostracized him. This unwavering loyalty epitomizes Stephen's relation with the Hands. The steadfast devotion expressed by Stephen is taken further when he openly criticizes, to very great lengths, the efforts - or lack thereof - of men like his boss and James Harthouse in alleviating the woes shared by people like him. Stephen seems to be caught in the middle of a "black unpassable world betwixt" the workers and Bounderby. Stephen can sympathize for the workers because of their similar plight but realizes the corruption and counter production of Slackbridge's proposed regulations. At the same time, however, Stephen does not agree with Bounderby's one-dimensional and single-minded approach to all those less fortunate than he. Thus, the Hands and Bounderby are perpetually separated by an insurmountable discrepancy of which Stephen is stuck in the middle.