Hard Times Student Guide Sample Hard Times Teacher Guide Sample From the publisher: Charles Dickens’ Hard Times is set in Coketown, where school owner Mr. Thomas Gradgrind dominates as a model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and his family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder from young minds. As a cons Memoria Press product: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/hard-times-set/