- How does the relationship between Harthouse and Louisa transform as they make their way down the staircase? Does Louisa ever go into the “dark pit of shame and ruin at the bottom” like Sparsit imagined?
- How do the characteristics of the characters and their attitudes influence the relationship between Harthouse and Louisa?
- How does Dickens use imagery to convey his views towards the mismatch relationships in Hard Times?
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
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1) The relationship between Louisa and Harthouse grows stronger as she approaches the bottom of Mrs. Sparsit's staircase, at the same time her relationship with Bounderby grows weaker. However just when Louisa reaches the precipice of the "dark pit of shame and ruin", represented by a serious relationship with Harthouse, she stops her descent. In never committing to having serious feelings for James, Louisa avoids a scandal that would have plunged her into the pit of shame.
ReplyDelete-Drew xox
1. As Louisa progresses further down the staircase, she falls more and more for Harthouse, and finally realizes that she is capable of love; but Harthouse never changes from his initial stance, and views her more as a trophy than a person. Louisa never quit reaches the pit at the bottom, but instead stops just short and turns to her father, the wisest person she knows, as the only way out of her situation. She realizes the great shame and ruin that awaits her isn't something she can do, and so instead she runs away and hides from the situation.
ReplyDelete2. The entire development of the relationship is dependent on Harthouse's predatory boredom, as he seeks Louisa only because he wants something new. And the only reason the Louisa falls for him is because she is so emotionally stunted and had never before experienced any kind of love, leaving her open to his attempts.
-Matt Bindeman
2.The relationship between Louisa and Harthouse is solely influenced by their attitudes of each other. On page 127, Harthouse sees Louisa for the first time, and becomes completely infatuated by her. Her characteristics were amplified by his newfound attitudes of her. He marvels at her, that she is: "Utterly indifferent, perfectly self-reliant, never at a loss, and yet never at her ease, with her figure in company with them there, and her mind apparently quite alone". This obsessing leads Harthouse to begin a relationship with Louisa. Nick mentions that "(Hart house) sees it as is opportunity -- his duty -- to express his open, curious attitude", and that this ultimately leads to him "liberating Louisa from her factual upbringings" and sprouting their "intimate relationship to come". I agree with Nick completely in his analysis: Harthouse's feelings for Louisa (because of her characteristics) start, and thus completely influence, Harthouse and Louisa's relationship. - Pat Howard
ReplyDeleteAs Harthouse and Louisa become closer Ms. Spartis sees Louisa decending farther and farther into the dark pit. On page 196 Sparcit made it her "life, to look up at herstaircase, and watch Louisa coming down. Sometines slowlyy, sometimes quickly, sometimes several steps at one bout, sometimes stopping, never turning back" When ever Louisa changes pace in her decent it mirors how quickly her and Harthouse are becoming attached to each other. However I do not believe that Lousia ever fell into the “dark pit of shame”. Sparcit did think that Louisa was about to fall, when Sparcit realized that Harthouse had tricked Tom into being out of the house and found them (Harthouse and Louisa). But then, I think, instead of truly falling Louisa turned back like she never had before and went to her father for help. When Louisa goes to her father she confesses her love for Harthouse and how much she hates Bounderby (210-212). Even though she was unloyal to her husband she stopped before anything actually happened. She also turned her life around when she went on a search to learn how to love anf feel emotions not related to facts with the help of Sissy and Gradgrind.
ReplyDeleteEW
DeleteEW
As Louisa makes her way down Mrs. Sparsit's staircase, she continues to rely more on Harthouse's company and become more independent from Bounderby. Mrs. Sparsit, a lady who was brought up properly, fears the "dark shame of and ruin at the bottom" will be reached when Louisa cheats on her husband by meeting with Harthouse. For Mrs. Sparsit, this failure of reputation would be the ultimate doom. However, the staircase that Louisa is actually on is one that leads her away from the cold hard factual life of Bounderby, and closer to a free life that is represented by Harthouse's "open, curious attitude" (127)-Rachel Iverson
ReplyDeleteWhile Mrs. Sparsit rubs her hands in glee as Louisa goes down the staircase, Louisa is driven farther and farther from Bounderby and more into the arms of Harthouse. Mrs. Sparsit's meddling only increases this, as after once of her passive-agressive comments "the Sparsit action upon Mr. Bounderby threw Louisa and James Harthouse more together, and strengthened the dangerous alienation from her husband" (190). As time wears on, their bond only becomes stronger and stronger. However, it never does become strong enough for Louisa to enter that "dark pit of shame and ruin", because Louisa flees rather than subject herself to that.
ReplyDeleteAnna O'Donnell
Question 1 Response: I think that as Harthouse and Louisa make their way down Mrs. Sparsit's staircase, the relationship begins to get more serious, at least for Louisa. Louisa goes to her father at the end of Book 2 confused about her feelings for Harthouse. "But if you ask me whether I have loved him, or do love him, I tell you plainly, father, that it may be so. I don't know!"(211). For Louisa, Her feelings for Harthouse seem to increase as she descends the staircase, but for Harthouse himself, while he declares himself her lover, he never really commits to anything. He has always acted out of boredom, he become a politician because he is bored, he comes to Coketown because he is bored, he likes Louisa because she is pretty…and he is bored. For Mrs. Sparsit, she pictures Louisa cheating on her husband with Harthouse and becoming an outcast filled only with a dark pit of shame. I saw the "ruin at the bottom" of the staircase to mean something different for Louisa. In Book 2 Mrs. Sparsit "saw her staircase, with the figure coming down. Very near the bottom now. Upon the brink of the abyss" (203). I took this to mean that Louisa is getting closer and closer to the edge, and she falls over at the end of Book 2 when she goes to her father asking for help. Louisa breaks down and falls over the edge as her father watches”the pride of his heart and the triumph of his system, lying, an insensible heap, at his feet” (212). Her complete breakdown shows Louisa falling off the cliff into the abyss, but it also allows her to start anew. Louisa needed to fall to be able to rise up again.
ReplyDeleteNiki Budgell
Question 3: Dickens uses harshly contrasting imagery to describe the mismatched relationshib between the concrete Mr. Gradgrind and the wispy Mrs. Gradgrind. From the beginning, Mr. Gradgrind is a solid man who is set in his ways and confident in his command of facts: "Thomas Gradgrind, sir. A man of realities. A man of fact and calculations." (10) He is described as the least fanciful of all shapes, a square. "The speaker's obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders -- nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a stubborn fact, as it was -- all helped his emphasis." (9) Physically and ideologically, he seems as unyielding as a boulder. On the other hand, "Mrs. Gradgrind, a little, thin, white, pink-eye bundle of shawls, of surpassing feebleness, mental and bodily" (21) might be blown over by a gust of wind. None of the imagery used to describe this couple matches. If Mrs. Gradgrind weren't so no-nonsense and unimaginative, they wouldn't be married at all: "In truth, Mrs Gardgrind's stock facts in genral was woefully defective; but Mr. Gradgrind in raising her to her high matrimonial position, had been influenced by two reasons."
ReplyDeleteKirsty Warren
Question 1: Louisa doesn't quite reach the "dark pit of shame and ruin", but she becomes very close. By the end of Book 2, James and Louisa have become much closer and James confesses his love for Louisa. It is at this point when Louisa has the choice to step over the edge and fall into the pit, or crawl back up the staircase. She chooses to go to her father and tell him what happened. She tells him "I have done no worse, I have not disgraced you" (211). If Louisa had taken things further with James, she would have fallen into the pit and disgraced her family. However, by the end of the chapter, Mr. Gradgrind "saw the pride of his heart and the triumph of his system, lying, an insensible heap, at his feet" (212). Although she doesn't fall into disgrace, Louisa dangles her feet into the pit as she shows her father what her upbringing has brought her to.
ReplyDeleteIn response to question 3 (How does Dickens use imagery to convey his views towards the mismatch relationships in Hard Times?): I found a really great example of this on page 99 (Chapter 15 of Book 1) when Louisa and her father are discussing the prospect of marriage. Louisa ponders whether she should marry Bounderby and says "There seems to be nothing there, but languid and monotonous smoke. Yet when the night comes, Fire bursts out". This imagery of a Coketown chimney acts as a foreshadowing symbol of the Louisa-Bounderby relationship which was to be like the smoke ("monotonous" without love), but end like fire due to the Louisa-Harthouse quasi-relationship. Although it may not be apparent to readers during Book 1, by the end of the novel one can see how it shows Dickens' disapproval of the marriage. Personally, I think this quote also deserves to be in the category of beautiful Dickens quotes.
ReplyDelete-Colleen
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ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: I disagree with the other responses to Question 1 - I wholeheartedly feel that Louisa reaches this "dark pit of shame and ruin" in her relationship with Harthouse. At the end of Book 2 Louisa experiences her ultimate breakdown: "he laid her down there, and saw the pride of his heart and triumph of his system lying, an insensible heap, at his feet" (Dickens 212). How better could Dickens portray the ultimate ruin of Louisa then stripping her of her humanistic qualities and referring to her only as "pride" or "triumph" of her father? By referring to her only as idealistic values, Dickens is emphasizing the ruinous state Louisa is in at the end of Book 2. Because her inability to manage her feelings towards Harthouse lead her to this breakdown, it is clear Louisa indeed reached the bottom of the figurative staircase.
ReplyDelete-Meg Grasse