Dragging up the Stairs

"Much watching of Louisa, and much consequent observation of her impenetrable demeanour, which keenly whetted and sharpened Mrs Sparsit's edge, must have given her as it were a lift, in the way of inspiration.  She erected in her mind a mighty Staircase, with a dark pit of shame and ruin at the bottom; and down those stairs, from day to day and hour to hour, she saw Louisa coming"(195).  The symbol of Mrs. Sparsit's staircase represents Louisa's "climb" from what is perceived by Coketown society as being rebellious and barbaric "a dark pit of shame", her individuality.   As time goes on, "day to day" and "hour to hour" Louisa makes her way out of the dark pit, and becomes more and more tame and acceptable to the status quo conformity of Coketown.  For this reason, she turns into a viable threat to Mrs. Sparsit's easy and effortless life, because Louisa is now turning into a model citizen of Coketown, and Bounderby no longer needs Mrs. Sparsit to be present in his home, using her reputation as a platform on which he builds his rags-to-riches, my mother abandoned me in a ditch, story that he so often uses to justify his actions in focusing on work and facts in Coketown's production driven society.     

Women's role in society, 1850

It is clear that the men in Hard Times do not hold women in high esteem. This is because of the context in which Dickens grew up, he observed the expectations and roles of the women around him. During this time period men expected women to fill a largely inferior role. Women were not allowed to enter professions, and to sum up their role completely, 'married life is a woman's profession'. Women had to take care of their children, and most had at least five to take care of. Women were not encouraged to form their own aspirations, which is ironic, as Louisa and Sissy are the ones who have the most aspirations, and do not enjoy the factual society in which they live.



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Connecting the Downward Spiral to other works (Limitless)

Quotes from the Movie Limitless:
Eddie Mora is the main character, dependent on a drug called NZT to function, and Gennady is a Russian mobster who is also after the intellegence enhancing properties of NZT.

[standing at the edge of his apartment balcony as Gennady and his men are trying to break into his apartment]
Eddie Morra: [voice over] And so, here I am. I knew they would kill me slowly and horribly. But this choice would at least be mine. 
[as he's about to jump he stops himself]
Eddie Morra: [voice over] But we're instinctive creatures. We want to live. So m foggy brain tried to remember where one tablet of NZT might be. It was possible. And possible was enough.
[to Eddie after he's broken into Eddie's apartment]
Gennady: Now you know I want more. So why would you upset me? I don't like being down to this last one. You don't even know how to use it. You don't appreciate it. You see, I dissolve it in solution and shoot it. It goes straight up into the blood and brain. Lasts longer.

---

[to Eddie after he's set his men to look for the pills in Eddie's apartment]
Gennady: You know, these guys are gonna find it. Or I'm gonna make you tell me. Question is, which is gonna come first? I guess we're gonna find out, huh? It's a waste of my time, you know? I'm getting out of this side of the business. I'm branching out. I'm starting import, export company. Very exciting stuff. I got a lot on my plate. You're lucky I'm here.

---

[to Eddie as as his men are breaking into Eddie's safe]

Gennady: Back in the old times, I...I might peel your skin back. Flay you. Flay. It's a nice word. I didn't know this before. Oh, I had such a poor vocabulary. But then I discovered this thing, Google. Did you know the small and large intestine is twenty foot long? I had no idea. I don't believe it. I gotta see this for myself. I'm dubious. It's another nice word. Anyway, I'm sure you're curious too.
[he walks towards Eddie with a torture knife]
Gennady: But don't worry, everything's sterilized. We're gonna keep you alive through the whole shebang. You're gonna get a front row seat, Eddie.
[suddenly Eddie stabs Gennady with a knife he'd kept hidden round his back, killing him]

---

Eddie Morra: [voice over] Not much of a triumph was it. Because I would die here too. Only NZT could help me and the last of it was in this thugs blood stream.

Link to the Movie trailer (even though it isn't this exact scene):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THE_hhk1Gzc

The Decit of a Fact Based "Love"

Before her mother’s death, Louisa was always distant and indifferent; she knew that she was unhappy but she never knew why or how to fix it. The repetition of the symbol of fire emphasizes that she has the potential of vitality inside of her has not died out yet, but she cannot figure out how to access it because she has been “programmed” by her father to be rational and unfeeling. When Harthouse comes along, Louisa begins to feel something; this is not necessarily love, but flattery. This important distinction goes over Louisa’s head because her feelings have been manipulated by her father’s fact-based education and in reality Louisa is just flattered by the attention she is getting because she doesn’t receive that from Bounderby and never saw that in her mother and father. When Mrs. Gradgrind is dying she says “… your father has missed, or forgotten [something], Louisa. I don’t know what it is. I have often sat with Sissy near me and thought about it” (194). Mrs. Gradgrind’s death is a turning point for Louisa because she sees her future self and she knows she needs a change. The use of Sissy serves as a contrast to the other Gradgrind women: Sissy is full of vitality and imagination, while they are passive and apathetic. The recognition that she doesn’t want to be on her death bed like her mother and regret that her life had been missing something completely changes her. This confusion sparks anger and passion and pushes her to confront her father, “But if you ask me whether I have loved him or do love him, I tell you plainly father that may be so. I don’t know!...All that I know is, your philosophy and your teaching will not save me…Save me by some other means!” (211). The introduction of Harthouse questions Louisa’s feelings on love and life, and coupled with her mother’s anguish over the missing piece of her life Louisa finds that she cannot stay the person that she is. Harthouse’s deception of Louisa starts off as merely a game, but as it continues it has unintended consequences on the Gradgrind household-the divorce of Louisa and Bounderby, Louisa’s change in dynamics, and finally the relationship between Louisa and her father.    

The end to the reign of the STALKER

Finally, reaching the last step of the staircase, Louisa has finally hit the metaphorical bottom and will no longer get back to the top. Harthouse's intentions of seduction and satisfaction have taken their toll. As harthouse drives Louisa to a state of stressed confusion and guilt,  taking more than she can handle she explodes to her father before Sissy and falls helplessly to the ground; breaking the chains of  restraint the factial life she has lived down with her and freeing herself. Finally realizing her dilema that she can only seek affection and love and emotion from a bad and vile being, she influences Sissy to take it upon herself to Visit Mr. Harthouse and confront him. With Harthouse's already " positively agitated" attitude for being ditched and alone, he goes about in  "so much state of hurry" (221) that Dickens forshadow's Harthouse's reign is ending and his loose grip on Louisa. Finally confronting Sissy she defeats Harthouse's efforts to stay interfere with Louisa any longer, concluding her visit with a proclamation of " the only reparation that remains with you, is to leave here immediately and finally" (227). Harthouse being cast out of Coketown and never to return, can be metaphorically related to the Sparsit Staircase and its metaphorical reference to the realization that finally reaching groud floor for the last time, Louisa has finally come to the heart breaking realization that she had to search through bad influences and suppression in order to seek affection and the emotions she needed in order to suffice; than at home from the people whose job it was to teach her that.

The Introduction of Harthouse (129-131)

Harthouse's intentions become clear after he meet Louisa. He is extremely interested in her, and he makes sure to attempt to impress her. He mentions that he wants to learn of (Louisa's) "respected father's opinions- really because I have no choice of opinions, and may as well back them as anything else." Harthouse obviously wants to establish a connection to her father, so that he can gain her admiration. One can assume that if she acknowledges his mentioning of the knowledgeable opinions of her father, it will draw her toward him because he is respectful to her family. However, Louisa's relationship with her father has been a rocky one, so this attempt seems futile in the grand scheme of his plan as she responds, "Have you none of your own?". Louisa values having an opinion, it is clear that she is against the fact driven society in which she lives. This statement by Harthouse causes her to question his ability to think for himself, as this is what attracts her. Harthouse realizes this it seems, and he responds by saying "The result of the varieties of boredom I have undergone, is a conviction that... any set of ideas will do just as good as any other set" Harthouse explains his boredom with the ideas that he has been presented, offering that learning of her father's ideas wouldn't hurt. He is open to anything, and thus he wants to learn of every style of thinking. It is obvious that he wants to impress her because he has a response to everything she says. He must prove her view of him wrong, so that he can make a lasting impression on her. By arguing her original thought, he wants to create a sense of wonder in Louisa. He wants for her to try to find out more about him. It is evident that he is definitely interested in her when the text states, "A beautiful smile. Mr James Harthouse might not have thought so much of it, but that he had wondered so long at her impassive face." Harthouse is amazed by Louisa's smile, he finds it to be beautiful. The fact that he was focusing so long on her face, and observing her for so long that this smile means so much to him, validates the claim of his extreme interest in her. For one to take so much time to observe a woman, obviously prove that he finds her appealing and attractive. If he was not interested he would not have put forth so much effort in impressing her with his views and opinions, and studying her. This interest causes Harthouse to pursue her, or even stalk her, later on in the book.

When the Reader Discovers Harthouse is a Stalker.

When reading "Hard Times", the audience has to slowly piece together society and how the different characters react. The audience doesn't figure out that Harthouse is truly "going" for Louisa until they first meet alone in the garden. When Harthouse finds Louisa he says, "'Mrs Bounderby, I esteem it a most fortunate accident that I find you alone here. I have for some time had a particular wish to speak to you.' It was not by any wonderful accident that he fouind her, the time of day being that at which she was always alone, and the place being her favorite resort. It was an opening in a dark wood, where some felled trees lay, and where she would sit watching the fallen leaves of last year, as she had watched the falling ashes at home" (Dickens 165-6). Alright, there's a lot to process here. First, Harthouse is a creep. Just throwing this out there. He finds Louisa in her secret hiding place where no one else would think to look. He seeks out a married woman just for the fun of it. He puts off his success of finding whom he was looking for as a "most fortunate accident". I can assure you, this guy had this very carefully planned out. Louisa must have felt very confused during this meeting. If I were in her position, I'd feel like someone had intruded my favorite place, especially if I wasn't expecting anyone, and hadn't told anybody where that place was. How else would someone find me in such a hidden spot, unless the followed me? I'd be weirded out. It makes sense though that Lousia would find a place like this in her new situation. The falling leaves and falling ashes make the same motion, giving them somewhat of a resemblence. This falling motion gives her the hope that she can rise above the emptiness she feels in her life. If ashes and leaves fall, she is higher than something in this world. Louisa needs something to give her that support, especially when she's married to a man she can't stand. What is interesting to watch is how despite her relationship status, Lousia manages to fall for the wrong man who knows how to say all the right things. Louisa gets the excitement and unexpectedness that she wants in her world from Harthouse and how he comes at her. If only she could see that Harthouse is a player, and is only in it for the game, not the love she wishes to share with him.