The extended answer could include something along the lines that the characters in Hard Times example what happened as people left their rural settings and moved into the cities to work in the factories. They came to the cities with ideas of a better way of life and in most cases it was anything but a better life. Disease was rampant, bosses and business owners cared little for worker's conditions or safety. People were expendable. There was a loss of compassion and humanity for hundreds of people. Many people, as some of these characters show, feel trapped in their situations.
