The characters in Charles Dickens' fictional English town, Coketown, reflect cross-class relationships and understandings in mid-nineteenth-century England. The influence of both the Enlightenment and Romantic tendencies is evidently represented in the upper and lower classes of Coketown and speaks to the characters' respective interpretations of their view of society in relation to their own position within society. Coketown's social identity is revealed through the restrictions and advantages of different levels of society and how they contribute to the relationships and understandings between the upper and lower classes. The upper level of society, although it holds power and influence, experiences various forms of restriction relevant to its position within the social hierarchy. Falling prey to the suffocating tendencies of obligation and expectation, its participants exhibit an inability to relate to issues concerning the underclass. The cause of the disconnection between social circles stems from a general lack of common understanding. The world Mr. Grandgrind occupies is one of mathematics and “facts.” A man associated with the mass production of square children of facts and his “square” and “inflexible” nature, Grandgrind is disadvantaged by his inability to see beyond his own doctrine. He lives in a cold, overly symmetrical house, Stonelodge, with a doormat of wife and children who possess "an air of threadbare surliness" having been brought up single-mindedly in his unbalanced curriculum, devoid of creativity and life (p.17) . There are many flaws in an all-done upbringing, manifested in her daughter Louisa's overly obedient and confused existence and her son Tom's disorderly lifestyle. Tom is harmfully dra...... middle of paper ...... attracts the superior to identify with the inferior's daily life while also making it impossible for the superior to understand the anger that sustains the motivations of the men in the factory. The Hands of Coketown seek to overcome their class's notions of mechanization, industrialization, and dehumanization and to recognize themselves as victims of an unbalanced system. The men and women of all classes present in Coketown are instruments through which Charles Dickens documents the social and industrial situation. interpretations of mid-19th century England. The text clearly shows the direct correlation between the limitations and freedoms of each class and the additional social understanding of the upper and lower classes. The marked trend in both classes is inadequate knowledge of how the other half lives, and in both cases the gap in understanding perpetuates the gap in society..