The story of "Hard Times" is set in the North of England, in an industry city called Coketown, an epitome and symbol of the English society after the Industrial Revolution, about 1854, when the reactionary bourgeoisie had suppressed the Chartism and the class-contradiction had became severer and severer. It is the historic background of "Hard Times".
In"Hard Times" Dickens shows a genuine sympathy for the workers in Coketown, including Stephen Blackpool, an honest and hardworking man who lives in misery due to his unfortunate marriage, his kind-hearted and hardworking girlfriend Rachael,…
