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Analysis of Hard Times By Charles Dickens Hypocrisy, pompousness and immorality, these are a few of the notions that Dickens successfully adresses and criticizes in his novel Hard Times. Yet Dickens’ main point of critique is undoubtedly the upcoming idea of utilitarianism. He brilliantly plays out the two opposites of ‘hard fact’ and ‘feeling’ and leads the reader to the inevitable conclusion that sentiment is more important than factual knowledge. Aiding him in this idea are the characters of this moral fable, each personified in such a way that they represent, or symbolize, a particular positive or negative notion that Dickens encourages or criticizes. One of these characters is the city of Coketown, based on the city of Preston, which seems to have a personality of its own. The city represents the typical manufacturing town of the English midlands around the 1850s, the time in which the novel is set, and plays one of the most important roles. These factors put together the novel Hard Times is a brilliant work of social criticism, not to mention a fascinating read. The place in which the story is set is the manufacturing city of Coketown, based on the city of Preston. Coketown is described as being a very dan