Fire is used both as a symbol of destruction and as a source
of new life. In Hard Times, is fire more frequently portrayed as destructive or
as enlightening?
I think that fire, or rather ash, is more frequently used to show negative or destructive elements of Coketown itself, as well as its inhabitants. When Dickens talks about fire, ashes are almost always mentioned in conjunction with the fire. Louisa specifically finds herself staring into ashes quite often. The combination of ashes being remains of fires/enlightenment that might have already passed Coketown and Louisa’s Gradgrindian education that leaves her unfulfilled are evidence of the ashes’ negative implication that the town once was great but died out, and that Louisa’s fire ran out in her early childhood because of her fruitless education.
Though I completely agree with Marisa that fire is frequently portrayed as destruction in the text, I also think that there is some aspect of enlightenment associated with it. Louisa is found staring at the fire when all else seems to be going wrong and it’s as if the fire provides her some sort of hope of a better tomorrow. It allows her to escape the robotic world and think to herself, without having to worry about expectations: almost like a prayer. Thus, I believe that Dickens intended to portray fire as enlightenment - particularly from Louisa’s point of view.
Throughout the book, I believe that there is a more reocurring them as fire being an enlightenment as well as destruction. In the second book when it says "A dull anger that she should be seen in her distress, and that the involuntary look she had so resented should come to this fulfilment, smouldered within her like an unwholesome fire" (218-219. This shows fire as being a destructive element. That she resented that look and that her own self realization smothered her, which shows it as a negative aspect. However, it could be seen as an enlightening thing. But in book one, Louisa is seen looking at the ashes which represents her own thought of thinking imaginitively.
I like the ideas of fire being destructive that Marisa and Renjitha both talked about. I do agree that fire can often be seen as something destructive, a force that burns the hopes and dreams of residents to nothing but a memory of something they had once hoped for but I think that there in lies one of the concepts of the fire that is neither destructive or enlightening: hope. As they both stated and Renjitha talked more about, Louisa is often found staring into the fire, a sign that she is looking off into the horizon for hope in the future. The repetition of Louisa looking into the fire shows that it can often be interpreted as a sign for the hope that the characters have in the future.
Personally, I think that the ashes, which are the products of fire, are destructive, while the fire itself ties more into the enlightening theme. The ashes are what build up when the fire is tamed-take Coketown for example. It was built of enlightened thinking, but that thinking has been controlled in such a way that it is only used to produce, thus stifling the flames and creating a town choked by ash. The flames are within each person and when controlled and tamed, turn to ash. It is those like Sissy whose flames burn freely and allow for enlightened, free thought.
I think that fire, or rather ash, is more frequently used to show negative or destructive elements of Coketown itself, as well as its inhabitants. When Dickens talks about fire, ashes are almost always mentioned in conjunction with the fire. Louisa specifically finds herself staring into ashes quite often. The combination of ashes being remains of fires/enlightenment that might have already passed Coketown and Louisa’s Gradgrindian education that leaves her unfulfilled are evidence of the ashes’ negative implication that the town once was great but died out, and that Louisa’s fire ran out in her early childhood because of her fruitless education.
ReplyDeleteThough I completely agree with Marisa that fire is frequently portrayed as destruction in the text, I also think that there is some aspect of enlightenment associated with it. Louisa is found staring at the fire when all else seems to be going wrong and it’s as if the fire provides her some sort of hope of a better tomorrow. It allows her to escape the robotic world and think to herself, without having to worry about expectations: almost like a prayer. Thus, I believe that Dickens intended to portray fire as enlightenment - particularly from Louisa’s point of view.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book, I believe that there is a more reocurring them as fire being an enlightenment as well as destruction. In the second book when it says "A dull anger that she should be seen in her distress, and that the involuntary look she had so resented should come to this fulfilment, smouldered within her like an unwholesome fire" (218-219. This shows fire as being a destructive element. That she resented that look and that her own self realization smothered her, which shows it as a negative aspect. However, it could be seen as an enlightening thing. But in book one, Louisa is seen looking at the ashes which represents her own thought of thinking imaginitively.
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas of fire being destructive that Marisa and Renjitha both talked about. I do agree that fire can often be seen as something destructive, a force that burns the hopes and dreams of residents to nothing but a memory of something they had once hoped for but I think that there in lies one of the concepts of the fire that is neither destructive or enlightening: hope. As they both stated and Renjitha talked more about, Louisa is often found staring into the fire, a sign that she is looking off into the horizon for hope in the future. The repetition of Louisa looking into the fire shows that it can often be interpreted as a sign for the hope that the characters have in the future.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that the ashes, which are the products of fire, are destructive, while the fire itself ties more into the enlightening theme. The ashes are what build up when the fire is tamed-take Coketown for example. It was built of enlightened thinking, but that thinking has been controlled in such a way that it is only used to produce, thus stifling the flames and creating a town choked by ash. The flames are within each person and when controlled and tamed, turn to ash. It is those like Sissy whose flames burn freely and allow for enlightened, free thought.
ReplyDelete