CHARLES DICKENS AND WOMEN IN "HARD TIMES" :
"Very well, said Bounderby,.
I was born in a ditch and my mother ran away from me.
Do I excuse her for it ?
No.
Have I ever excused her for it ?
Not I.
What do I call her for it ?
I call her probably the very worst woman that ever lived in the world, except my drunken grandmother" (p.39)
*********************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************
"Such a woman.
A disabled, drunken creature...
A creature so foul to look at, in her tatters, stains and splashes...
that it was shameful thing even to see her..." (p.73)
*********************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************
"You observe, Mr Harthouse,
that my wife is my junior.
I don't know what she saw in me to marry me,
but she saw something in me,
I suppose,
or she wouldn't have married me" (p.134)
*********************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************
"If Romulus and Remus could wait,
Josiah Bounderby can wait.
They were better off in their youth than I was, however.
They had a she-wolf for a nurse;
I had only a she-wolf for a grandmother. She didn't give any milk, ma'am; she gave bruises..." (p.205)
*********************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************
CHARLES DICKENS AND THE GOSPEL IN "HARD TIMES" :
"He sat writing in the room with the deadly statistical clock,
proving something no doubt - probably,
in the main,
that the Good Samaritan was a Bad Economist..."
********************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
CHARLES DICKENS AND THE HEART IN "HARD TIMES" :
"Bitzer, said Mr.Gradgrind,
broken down and miserably submissive to him,
HAVE YOU A HEART ?"
"The circulation, sir, returned Bitser,
smiling at the oddity of the question,
couldn't be carried on without one.
No man, sir, acquainted with the facts established by HARVEY
relating to the circulation of the blood
can dout that i have a heart" (p.288)
*********************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************