What do you consider the major moral lesson in Hard Times by Charles Dickens?

For me, the major moral lesson that Charles Dickens hopes readers take away from Hard Times is that Utilitarian values are not only impractical, but are also immoral and calloused. Utilitarianism is a philosophy that was especially prominent at the time Dickens wrote the tale, and it is centered on practically and methodically calculating what does the most people the most good, while disregarding the human component of their felicitous calculus. Dickens exaggerates the tenets of Utilitarianism through iconic characters such as Mr. Gradgrind and the loathsome Bounderby.

Gradgrind specifically best represents the moral lesson that Utilitarianism is a narrow, restrictive philosophy after he grows to appreciate the human condition. Initially, Gradgrind harps on about facts and statistics, and ignores others’ thoughts and emotions. He finds his children's use of imagination to be a sign of weakness and mental deficiency. One striking instance is when his daughter Louisa asks if she should marry Bounderby, another Utilitarian caricature:

“I would advise you (since you ask me) to consider this question, as you have been accustomed to consider every other question, simply as one of tangible Fact.... You are, we will say in round numbers, twenty years of age; Mr. Bounderby is, we will say in round numbers, fifty.... In considering this question, it is not unimportant to take into account the statistics of marriage, so far as they have yet been obtained in England and Wales. I find, on reference to the figures, that a large proportion of these marriages are contracted between parties of very unequal ages, and that the elder of these contracting parties is, in rather more than three-fourths of these instances, the bridegroom.... The disparity I have mentioned, therefore, almost ceases to be disparity, and (virtually) all but disappears” (77).

Gradgrind emphasizes the facts of the potential relationship, but overlooks how his daughter actually feels toward Bounderby. He treats the marriage as a business transaction. The marriage is a bitter affair for Louisa, and she eventually leaves him a broken woman. It is only after Mr. Gradgrind witnesses the depth of his daughter’s agony that he understands that his Utilitarian values have failed. This experience changes his perspective:

“Aged and bent he looked, and quite bowed down; and yet he looked a wiser man, and a better man, than in the days when in this life he wanted nothing but Facts” (205).

Thus, through the character of Mr. Gradgrind, Dickens shows the ineffectiveness of Utilitarian values, and provides readers with a blunt moral lesson on treating others as humans rather than numbers or statistics.

All textual evidence is pulled from the Norton Critical Edition of Hard Times, 3rd Ed.