Who was Stephen Blackpool?
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Answer:
Stephen is a power loom operator in Bounderby's factory. He married young, and his wife has since become a raging alcoholic. Stephen is in love with Rachael, another factory worker, but can't be with her because he can't get a divorce.
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Stephen Blackpool in Hard Times
By Charles Dickens
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Stephen Blackpool
Stephen is a power loom operator in Bounderby's factory. He married young, and his wife has since become a raging alcoholic. Stephen is in love with Rachael, another factory worker, but can't be with her because he can't get a divorce. After being framed for bank robbery, Stephen ends up dying from falling into a giant hole in the ground.
All Pain, No Gain: Stephen and Factory Work
Most of the time in this novel, the factory workers are talked about as a large group. Dickens describes them living their difficult lives in Coketown, while Bounderby rants and raves about how they're all lazy and greedy. Louisa, on the other hand, is taught to see them as "Hands" – basically a mass of parts indistinguishable from the factory's actual machinery. Stephen counters all that by helping us find a face in the crowd. He's not just a "Hand," he is an individual and a human being. So much so, in fact, that he is willing to not join the union like the rest of the workers. In response, they completely shun and ignore him, making Stephen actually – and not just figuratively – entirely independent and alone