Nineteenth Century Thought Read Online Free Page A

it
that patriarchy had dug itself deep in society and also that the ordinary
notion of male superiority, "wrong in itself and ... one of the chief
hindrances to human improvement," suited the community of men?
    Mill's attitude was similar to
Darwin's. Mill, too, picked up significant details from life to ascertain their
intellectual validity and analysed them in the
context of social reality. At the same time, Millsought to
mould contemporary thought along concerns of freedom, equality, happiness and
productivity. Mill emphasized the importance of clearly demarcating the
tangible and proven from that which was uncritically accepted in life. In the
process of doing so, he must have ruffled a few feathers and angered entrenched
social interests. A courageous thinker, Mill projected the idea of utility
(through wrong adherence to self-denial and sacrifice, people had been
effectively kept away from 'utility' all along, something that Mill would
strongly disapprove of) and production of labour .
This way, Mill wished to transform human environmt-nt into a systematized and rationally-governed world.
    Mill's attack on man-made myths is
worthy of emulation in that it compelled people to introspect and question. We
can ignore Mill's materialist thought at our own peril. He brought the human
discourse at the doorstep of collective usefulness, as against individual (or
narrow sectional) preference for a popularly-held idea, whatever its true merit
or worth. His reference to the interests of common masses can scarcely be
missed.
    We hear that Dickens critiqued in Hard
Times Mill's emphasis on facts and Mill's overall doctrine of
utilitarianism. This apparently seems to be the case. Through the character of Gradgrind , Dickens projected the attitude of bourgeois
utility and let the reader   know that
more   important   than   increased   productivity   in   society   was the deeper affections   and   sentiments   of   human   beings.   We can't for instance
overlook the aridity and vacuity present in Gradgrind's life. Dickens is quite right in representing a paradigm of human alliance,
emotional interchange and pursuit of common goals as an alternative to
competitiveness in the bourgeois world. Dickens talked of humanist ideals and
chose to see in their light the goings on in contemporary life. The strength of Hard Times lies in its humanist assertion .of the loving and caring
masses.
    At the same time, however, it has to
be noted that Gradgrind is a caricature. Obviously,
in order to meet the requirements of caricature, Dickens only shows the cold
calculations of a manufacturer out to offer a rationale of his endeavour. But
does Dickens love the life of scarcity and destitution and glorify poverty?
    Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Dickens hates poverty and knows its demeaning impact on men and women as
well as the suffering it causes to innocent children.
    Interestingly, Dickens offers in Hard
Times a binary opposition between material good and human sentiment. In the
body of the novel, this becomes an ideological position suited, as we see, to
provide an answer to inequality and misery. Dickens apparently presents the
idea that in times of misery and hardship, ordinary masses should stick to
honesty, sweetness and togetherness. We note that from this angle, the trade
union activity of the workers in the novel is found to be narrow and
hypocritical. Add to this the fact that Dickens's own sentimental-Christian
preference for the wretched of the earth and the purer values of kindness,
self-sacrifice, etc. imply a critique of utilitarianism. That is how things are
portrayed in the novel. But we should not overlook the general anguish, marginalisation of the hardworking honest masses together with
the deviousness of the privileged. The structure of the novel suggests a
different answer than the sentimental-Christian one by showing that good honest
people deserve to win in the battle against greed. Thus, the novel and