Characters of different genders in various novels encounter one another in public spaces, and in these interactions, the author evokes certain political, social, and economic aspirations, differences, and conflicts. This can be illustrated by reference to a number of novels in which different urban settings become characters in their own right, characters that shape the attitudes and destinies of the human characters who inhabit these areas.
Dickens in Hard Times offers a social message which he brings to life through character and setting. Coketown in Hard Times is a representation of the sort of world that was being created because the Industrial Revolution centered entirely on promoting the economy through increased profits while ignoring the human element that makes the whole thing operate. Coketown is an example of what results when society ignores the consequences of change--it is a dark and dirty place where ignorance prevails and any human happiness is stamped out by the sheer sameness of the surroundings. The characters are affected by living in this milieu:
It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but, as matters stood it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage (Dickens 30).
It should be apparent that Coketown is being depicted here as an example of something from a less civilized age, though something that still exists. The streets are all the same; the people are all the same; life is always the same. Each year is the same as the last. The sameness of the brick on the buildings emphasizes the fact that the buildings are not differentiated and that an observer cannot tell from the outside what kind of building he or she is observing, whether it is a school or a jail or an infirmary.
An early encounter suggests the way competing social classes react to one another and some of the underlying social realities...