Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Karbala
College of Education for Humanities
English Department
Evening Study

The Conflict between Fact and Fancy in HARD TIMES

Prepared by
‫صباح جاسم عبيد‬
‫ المسائية‬:‫الدراسة‬
D: ‫شعبة‬
‫بأشراف األستاذ‬
‫أزهر محمد حسن حمود‬
Table of contents

-Introducation
-The Struggle between Fact and Fancy
-Discussion: The Conflict between Fact and Fancy
-Conclusion
-References

Introducation

During Victorian age, industrialization widely affected people's life, especially lower classes.
That was the time when “Facts” ruled the society. Facts that ruined lives of the poor. Because
people (men, women, and children) were all working in the huge factories just like machines, or
more accurately, they had became parts of machines.
Dickens was aware of that, and he knew that people need more than mere facts, so he cleverly
showed its negative consequences in Hard Times.

-The Struggle between “Fact” and “Fancy”: No doubt, this is the most important and the
most intended theme in Hard Times. Dickens seems to have planned to develop this idea
very carefully, to show how each of them (fact and fancy) works and influences the life of
individuals and the progression of society. Meanwhile, he examines how could they be used
effectively in the right way, and in what cases they could be destructive. As the novel
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advances, the necessity of “Fancy” becomes more and more, for Dickens sees fancy more
accessible than fact, and fact being harsh without the help of fancy. Despite, exploring the
importance of fancy in education. The next section gives details about this.

Discussion
The Conflict between Fact and Fancy:
Fact, being something which is true and unchangeable, opposes with Fancy, something
changeable that can not be proved with figures, is the most important idea in Hard Times. A
novel written in Victorian civilization which cared only about industrialization to a degree
that caused disappointment and unhappy life to most of the people of that time. Dickens, for
that same reason suggests that there is something else needed beside fact to achieve “the
greatest happiness for the greatest number”, which is the spiritual side that Dickens calls
“Fancy”.
In Hard Times, we can see that ‘headless heart is pitted against heartless. And this opposition
is continued almost till the end of the novel. At the very beginning we see Mr. Gradgrind
states that nothing except Facts should be studied, Facts are the only thing needful in this life.
‘In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir; nothing but Facts!
Fancy was not the only victim of that age. But all that were unseen or untouched, were
regarded as non-existing. ‘Religion had put under question. The significance of ‘Faith’ had
reduced a lot, and there was no room left for ‘Metaphysics’, ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Imagination’.
Instead, the emphasis was given to ‘Facts’, ‘Figures’ and ‘Logic’. Man’s thought was

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occupied by: 1- The Industrial Revolution, and 2-Darwinism’ That was the hard times when
Hard Times written.
Dickens seems to support Fancy rather than Fact. ‘He illustrates that Fancy is more pleasant
and appropriate than Gradgrind’s Facts’ One reason for this may be because Fancy is under
attack in Coketown and is resisted by the high class. A man like Mr. Gradgrind only sticks to
Facts, but even he, is not perfectly free from Fancy. It seems that imagination involved in his
speech ‘Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can form the minds of
reasoning animals upon Facts’ As this speech contains metaphoric expressions, it is very
close to be mixed up with imagination. Mr. Bounderby, although pretends to believe in the
same principles as Mr. Gradgrind does, he is not away from imagining. He imagines that he
hasn’t received a regular upbringing and has brought up in a ditch, which is deceiving people
with something that is absolutely not Fact. ‘Dickens doesn’t indicate that ‘Fact’ is terrible
and ‘Fancy” is fine. Because with the help of ‘Fact’ steam engines are invented to create
industrial cities, which apart from their bad effects, they benefit people economically.
Regarding ‘Fancy’, it could be either imagination or deceitfulness. It made Mr. Bounderby, a
rich merchant and banker, to proclaim to be a self made man, which is creating deception out
of imagination’ So what makes Gradgrind’s Facts to be unsuccessful is his exaggeration and
excessive use of them.
One very obvious victim of ‘Fact’ is Louisa Gradgrind. Her unlucky life begins at the point
when her father hears her saying ‘I wonder’, and her father replies:’ Louisa, never wonder’
.This few words make Louisa experience an unhappy life, unsuccessful marriage
Bounderby), and unreal love (with Mr. Harthouse), till later in the novel she becomes weary
in her life. She thus speaks to her father about her upbringing: ‘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!’ After Louisa falls senseless on the ground, Mr.Gradgrind understands

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what a failure was his system of education, and what harms he had done to his children. ‘And
he laid her down there, and saw the pride of his heart and the triumph of his system, lying, an
insensible heap.
After that happened, Mr. Gradgrind began to relent for Fancy slowly and reflected on the
subject to guess what was missing in their life. He concluded that there is a Fact missed to be
included in his system which can be expressed in his words: ‘that what the Head had left
undone and could not do, the Heart may have been doing silently’ Head representing reason
and Heart representing compassion, Mr. Gradgrind means that Fact and Fancy shall
cooperate to create a successful system in life. Compare Mr. Gradgrind’s voice in this two
different situations, first; ‘The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s voice, which was
inflexible, dry, dictatorial.’ second, ‘He spoke in a subdued and troubled voice, very different
from his usual dictatorial manner; and was often at a loss for words. the impact of Fancy can
be easily seen on the latter while the former is produced purely in Reason.
Bitzer, a model student in Gradgrind’s Fact school, is restricted to Fact more than any other
characters in the novel did. He was free of everything that couldn’t be proved with statistics;
anything that is called feeling was outside of his life. His heart was nothing more than a
device for circulating blood. Thus, it has almost become like a stone or a piece of iron.
‘Bitzer,’ said Mr. Gradgrind, broken down, and miserably submissive to him, ‘have you a
heart?’
‘The circulation, sir,’ returned Bitzer, smiling at the oddity of the question, ‘couldn’t be
carried on without one._
‘Is it accessible to any compassionate influence?’
‘It is accessible to Reason, sir,’ returned the excellent young man. ‘And to nothing else.’
Sissy is completely different to Bitzer. She owns a very soft heart which is full of sweet
feelings, compassion, sympathy, and kindness. She functions as an angelic character that
helps the Gradgrinds, Rachel, and Stephen. It was she who helped Tom run away, and helped
Louisa in her distress. She also was beside Mrs.Gradgrind till she made her notice the

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absence of Fancy in Stone Lodge, so-called the Gradgrinds’ house, whose name was as rigid
as the hard facts of Mr.Gradgrind. But Sissy herself was a symbol of Fancy, so she managed
to influence even a woman like Mrs. Gradgrind who was admired by Mr. Gradgrind for two
reasons. ‘Firstly, she was most satisfactory as a question of figures; and secondly, she had
‘no nonsense’ about her.’ (p.16, Italics added). Accompanied by Sissy, Mrs. Gradgrind
finally made her imperfect confession about her need of Fancy saying ‘But there is
something –not Ology at all– that your father has missed, or forgotten, Louisa. I don’t know
what it is. I have often sat with Sissy near me, and thought about it. However she couldn’t
recognize the exact name of it, but we know that she obviously meant Fancy since the thing
missed was not Ology. Directing these few words and a little more to Louisa, Mrs. Gradgrind
dies.
‘So, Mr. M’choakumchild began in his best manner. He and some one hundred and forty
other school masters, had been lately turned at the same time, in the same factory, on the
same principles, like so many pianoforte legs’. The system of education has a great role in
progressing the country, but still not as great a role as teachers and instructors do have. For
genius teachers can make their students interest in the lectures they deliver, no matter how
boring or how difficult the subjects are. But tough teachers like Mr. M’chokumchild make
the failure of an education system even more.

Conclusion
Hard Times, a great work both as a social critique and as an example of high style and form
with genius descriptions. ‘It was Dickens’ single work which described as ‘a completely
serious work of art’ in F.R.Leavis’ The Great Tradition, 1948, and the most attractive thing
in it is opposition of Fact and Fancy with which Dickens describes the cruel, merciless
Victorian people. He also makes us imagine the consequences of neglecting our spiritual side
which is as important as our physical structure or even more.
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 References

-Dowerah, N. B., 2013.The Critique of Reason In Hard Times,2(5), pp.454-461.