Charles Dickens' “Hard Times”

Charles Dickens’ “Hard Times”
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1- Dickens was a strong champion for children’s rights in a time when children were treated as property. Research and discuss some of the abuses of children during Victorian Times.
Charles Dickens is one of the famous authors who have written about the Victorian era. There were so many deplorable conditions that people faced during this period. Children were the most affected category of people in the Victorian times. As a strong champion for children’s rights in a time when children were treated as property, Charles Dickens has highlighted how children were abused in many of his books. Consequently, among the issues addressed in the book “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens, is the plight of nineteenth-century children, in Victoria England. There were more children during this era than adults. In addition, during this period, there was rapid industrialization and urbanization. There were also massive disparities in the economic standards among the people in victoria. In this novel, Charles dickens reveals to the reader how vulnerable the children were during the Victorian era due to effects of industrialization and urbanization. Children were exploited and lived under deplorable conditions during this era. Children were also exploited both physically and emotionally.
Child labour was one of the forms how children were abused during this ear. Rapid industrialization meant that factories needed a huge labour force. Since the Victorian era was dominated by children under the age of fifteen, it meant that factories had no choice but to recruit children as factory workers. Children from lower social class (the poor) were forced to work in the factories in order to make ends meet and survive in urban areas. For instance, Charles dickens is forced to work in a factory in order to survive(Dickens, 2004). From a personal account; Charles dickens is haunted from the years he spent working in a blacking factory after the imprisonment of his father for a debt. Life in urban centers was tough, especially for the poor families. Charles dickens shows how some poor children were forced to work as chimney cleaners in the factories, some of which were as high as fifteen inches, while others were forced to work all day as rat catchers and messengers walkin...