Poetry: The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken By: Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

Hard Times: Significant Passage

"'Your name's Blackpool, an't it?' said the young man.
Stephen coloured to find himself with his hat in his hand, in his gratitude for being spoken to, or in the suddenness of ir, or both.  He made a feint adjusting the lining and said, 'Yes.'
'You are the hand they have sent to Coventry, I mean?' said Bitzer, the very light young man in question.
Stephen answered 'Yes' again.
'I supposed so, from their all appearing to keep away from you.'" (143)
 

To be sent to Coventry  means to exclude someone from their customary society, or to shun them.  In this case, Stephen is shuned away from the other Hands because he doens't agree with their ideas of forming a union. 
Bitzer see be rubbing it in Stephen's face that he has been exiled from the rest of the hands.  Bitzer, who became successful, seems to want to help to drive the wedge between Stephen and the other workers.  Stephen's suprise of being spoken to futher emphasizes his alienation from the pack.  Stephen thought so differently from the rest of the workers, they all felt the need to shun him from the group.  In this quote, Dickens is showing how even the people in authority know about Stephen's exile, and they feel the need to tell him they know.  This futher opens the riff between the authority figures and the hands. 

THIS IS COOL EVERYBODY READ THIS ;)

So, I have noticed in discussions we've been talking about how the book titles/chapter titles have meaning to them.
Well I think the characters names have meaning as well :) I was doing some research on Dickens and I found that he commonly adds meaning to the names of characters.
These are just some inferences right now but I am going to do a little research as well...
Gradgrind - Grinding as in machinery or grinding facts into the brains of small children
Harthouse- I think of HARD- house. Lol
Bounderby- At first glance I saw "Bounded by" and then as I remembered that his first name is Josiah.

Josiah

Hebrew, "Fire of the Lord"

 

So "Fire of the Lord" is "Bounded" 

Kinda cool right? I think this is a comment on how he is a product of coketown.

Cecilia

Latin, "Blind"

I think this is cool- everyone calls her Sissy but Gradgrind insists on calling her Cecilia which means Blind. By imposing the Facts based curriculum on her she is being blinded, but i think her wanting to be called sissy is more rebellious.  

Stephen

Greek, "Crowned" 

When I think of crowned I also think of a Halo, and I think that is befitting of Stephen as he represents sort of a matyr in the story.

Thomas

Greek, Aramaic, "Twin"

I found this interesting as well, since Thomas doesn't exactly act as a twin or as a very good brother for that matter.

What do you guys think???? :) 

Hard Times: Question for Discussion

 Do you think that Louisa's big melt down at the end of book two was the only influence on Mr. Gradgrind's dirastic change of teachings?  Or were Thomas's actions also a big factor?

Hard Times: Connection to Something Else

This book, especially regarding Gradgrind, reminded me of Schindler's List. Gradgrind changes from a strict business man and then turns to give much of his wealth to better conditions for people. Schindler acted similarly, starting as a business man and ending up giving up his wealth to save others.

The youtube link to the trailer is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK0kc2QpL-U

Hard Times: Significant Passage

Book the First

Ch. 11 - No Way Out

Pg. 72

Stephen has approached Mr Bounderby to speak of his marriage and his wishes to dissolve it.

" 'Now, you know,' said Mr. Bounderby, taking some sherry, 'we have never had any difficulty with you, and you have never been one of the unreasonable ones. You don't expect to be set up in a coach and six, and to be fed on turtle soup and venison, with a gold spoon, as a good many of 'em do!' Mr. Bounderby always represented this to be the sole, immediate, and direct object of any Hand who was not entirely satisfied; 'and therefore I know already that you have not come here to make a complaint. Now, you know, I am certain of that, beforehand.' "

This passage further exemplifies the disconnect between employers and employees that I mentioned in my first analysis. Bounderby's equally ignorant and arrogant, single-minded view of his workers being selfish money-whores always seeking to suck from Bounderby's teat of success couldn't be more blatant when we are told that "Bounderdy always represented this to be the sole, immediate, and direct object of any Hand who was not entirely satisfied". It is that unfortunate and unjustifiable cynicism that creates the unrelenting chasm between Hand and boss. Stephen's honest request is therefore manipulated and distorted to appear greedy and will not be considered by Bounderby – forcing Stephen to endure further the marriage that has broken him so much.

Hard Times: Language Appreciation

Pg 125 as Bounderby describes Coketown aristocrat mentality to Harthouse.

"First of all, you see our smoke. That's meat and drink to us. It's the healthiest thing in the world in all respects, and particularly for the lungs. If you are one of those who want us to consume it, I differ from you. We are not going to wear out the bottoms of our boilers any faster than we wear them out now..."

The first part of this quote is a very nice reversal becuase is is directly the opposite of the common belief that smoke should not be breathed in. It empasizes the gap between the beliefs of the hands or outsiders (portrayed as better) and the beliefs of the industrialists (portrayed as rediculous and illogical through reversal).