Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Mr. Gradgrind is a man of "facts and calculations." He

identifies a student, called Girl number twenty, who
replies that her name is Sissy Jupe. Gradgrind corrects
her that her name is Cecilia regardless of what her
father calls her. Jupe's father is involved in a horse-
riding circus and this is not respectable‹in Gradgrind's
opinion. He advises Cecilia to refer to her father as a
"farrier" (the person who shoes a horse) or perhaps, a
"veterinary surgeon." Sissy Jupe is a slow learner, among
the group of stragglers who admit that they would dare
to carpet a room with representations of flowers because
she is "fond" of them. Sissy is taught that she must not
"fancy" and that she is "to be in all things regulated and
governed by fact."

Mr. Josiah Bounderby is Mr. Gradgrind's closest friend,

and just like Gradgrind he is a man "perfectly devoid of
sentiment." Bounderby is very wealthy from his trade as
a banker, a merchant and a manufacturer among other
things. He has an imposing figure and his entire body
is oversized, swelled and overweight. He calls himself a
"self-made man" and he always tells his friends (the
Gradgrinds, primarily) stories of how he grew up in the
most wretched conditions. Mrs. Gradgrind has a very
emotional temperament and she usually faints whenever
Mr. Bounderby tells his horror stories of being born in a
ditch or having lived the first ten years of his life as a
vagabond.
Mr. Gradgrind is at first hesitant but he soon agrees
with Bounderby that Cecilia must be removed from the
school so that she might not infect the other students
with her ideas. He and Bounderby find Sissy and proceed
towards the public-house where she lives to deliver the
news. Looking through the room, Sissy finds that the
trunk is empty and she is suddenly fearful. The other
members of the performing group also live in the public
house and they try to explain to Sissy that her father has
abandoned her. He has not left out of ill will, but because
he thinks that she will have a better life without him
as her guardian. It was with this intention that he had
her enrolled in Mr. Gradgrind's school. Mr. Bounderby is
morally enraged that a man would actually desert his own
daughter. She has no other family in the world.

This certainly changes Mr. Gradgrind's plans‹as he had

originally come to the public house with the intention of
dismissing Jupe from the school. Despite Bounderby's
opinion, Gradgrind does not think it is in good taste to
abandon Sissy after she has already been abandoned.
Gradgrind gives her a choice to make on the spot: either
she can stay with the Sleary performing group, remain
in Pegasus's Arms and never return to his school, or she
can leave Sleary's company, live with the Gradgrinds
and attend school. If she chooses this option, of course,
she is forbidden to have extended contact with the
performers‹though they are the only people that she
knows. It is a difficult decision for Sissy to make but at
the urging of Josephine Sleary, Sissy chooses to leave
the urging of Josephine Sleary, Sissy chooses to leave
Pegasus's Arms and join the Gradgrinds.

The town library was sometimes the source of Gradgrind's

dismay‹when readers opted for literature rather than
geometry and drama instead of statistics. This sort
of existence has become unbearable for the young
Gradgrinds. Tom tells his sister: "I am sick of my life, Loo.
I hate it altogether." He and Louisa are both sulking in
their room and Tom insists that Louisa is the only person
in his life who is capable of making him happy. Everyone
else has fallen under the sway of dullness but Louisa has
managed to keep a spark of the interesting alive.

The story turns to the workers of Coketown, a group

of laborers known as "the Hands." Among them lived a
decent man named Stephen Blackpool. He is forty but he
looks much older and has had a hard life. In fact, those
who know him have nicknamed him "Old Stephen." Stephen
has very little as far as intelligence or social graces and
he is very simply defined as "good power-loom weaver, and
a man of perfect integrity." After his long hours in the
factory, once the lights and bells are shut down, he looks
for his friend Rachael. On this night, he cannot find her
but just when he is convinced that he has missed her, she
appears.

Rachael is also a laborer, she is thirty-five years old and

she is a gentle, caring person. They have been friends
for many years and Stephen takes consolation in this.
Whenever his life seems unbearable, Stephen knows that
Whenever his life seems unbearable, Stephen knows that
Rachael will make him feel better. She repeatedly advises
him that when life is as unpleasant as theirs, it is better
not to think about it at all. They walk together towards
the part of town where they both live. Here, the houses
are extremely small and dirty. Stephen does not even live
in a house‹he lives in a small room above a shop. He tries
best to keep things as orderly as possible and he is always
courteous in regards to the woman who rents the small
room to him.

It seems that this night is full of bad luck for Stephen.

He enters his room and he stumbles against a wretched
figure that frightens him. A drunk and disabled woman is
in his room and she is apparently someone that he knows.
As the chapter ends, she laughs at Stephen scornfully.
She has returned from some part of the past to ruin his
life and give him even more to worry about. She passes
out in a drunken stupor and Stephen is left to his misery.

Mr. Gradgrind prepares to have his serious discussion

with Louisa, who insists upon remaining dispassionate
throughout the entire encounter. Gradgrind tells
his daughter that she is the subject of a marriage
proposal‹and Louisa does not respond. Gradgrind expects
Louisa to convey some emotion, but she is entirely
stoic and reminds Gradgrind that her upbringing has
prevented her from knowing what emotions to express.

Gradgrind explains that it is Mr. Bounderby who has

made the marriage proposal and Louisa refrains from
made the marriage proposal and Louisa refrains from
registering any emotional response. When her father
asks her what she intends to do, Louisa turns the question
back to him and asks him what he thinks she ought to do.
Gradgrind looks at the situation analytically and dismisses
the fact of Bounderby being fifty years old. The
marriage has little to do with love and is simply a matter
of "tangible Fact." In the end, the decision is for Louisa
to make. But as she does not see that any opportunity will
bring her happiness she realizes that it does not matter
what she does. She continually repeats the phrase "what
does it matter?" and this frustrates Mr. Gradgrind.

In the end, Louisa is still emotionless and she replies: "I

am satisfied to accept his proposal." Mr. Gradgrind is very
pleased and he kisses his daughter on the forehead. When
Mrs. Gradgrind hears the news she is happy but then she
works herself into a fit and soon passes out. Sissy Jupe
is present and she is, perhaps, the only one who is able to
sense the difference in Louisa. Louisa keeps herself at a
distance and is "impassive, proud and cold." Sissy feels a
mixture of wonder, pity and sorrow for Louisa.

Mr. Gradgrind is hiring the stranger, Mr. James

Harthouse, as an instructor in his school. He will be one
of many who are trained in logic and statistics and
eager to help relieve children of their imaginations.
James Harthouse is the younger brother of a member of
Parliament and as he has become an adult, he has failed
to find a vocation or even a steady hobby to fill his hours.
After trying several other things, Harthouse decided
After trying several other things, Harthouse decided
that he might as well give statistics a try and so he had
himself coached and instructed in various philosophies.

Meanwhile, Tom Gradgrind has become quite wayward

despite the rigors of his education and he is incredibly
hypocritical and disrespectful. He makes no effort to
hide his disdain for Mr. Bounderby even as he fascinated
by Mr. Harthouse's flashy clothes and he befriends him
for this largely superficial reason. Tom very quickly
becomes a pawn of Mr. Harthouse. After a little alcohol
and some tobacco, Tom is loose-lipped and uninhibited in
his criticism of Mr. Bounderby. At one point, Tom goes
as far as to say that he is the only person that Louisa
cares about and that it is only for his well-being that
she agreed to marry Mr. Bounderby. Without realizing it,
Tom is laying the seeds for a potential affair between
Harthouse and his sister. As Harthouse becomes more
enrapt with Louisa, Tom offers more and more secrets
until he finally falls into a stupor.

Stephen Blackpool is in the company of Mr. Bounderby,

Louisa, Mr. Harthouse and Tom. Mr. Bounderby intends
to make an example of Stephen and present him to Mr.
Harthouse as a sort of specimen of the lower classes.
Bounderby does not appreciate Stephen's criticism
and on a whim he decides to repay Stephen's loyalty by
accusing him of being disloyal. He goes as far as to say
that Stephen has betrayed both his employer and his
fellow employees and he caps his argument off by firing
Stephen "for a novelty."
Stephen "for a novelty."

Mrs. Sparsit watches from her post at the bank and then

when the timing is right she hastily makes her way to
the country-house and sure enough she finds Louisa and
James sitting in a garden together. He confesses his love
but Louisa remains resistant. He implores her to at least
commit to seeing him but she refuses. He suggests a
change of venue and the entire time, Mrs. Sparsit, hidden
behind the shrubs, gloats to herself that the two young
people have no idea that they are being watched.

Harthouse leaves and Louisa soon follows. Mrs. Sparsit

assumes that Louisa has eloped and that they have a
planned meeting-place and so she trails Louisa as best
as she can. It is raining and Mrs. Sparsit is already dirty
and muddy from hiding and crawling through the bush.
Sparsit follows Louisa to the train station and thinks
that Louisa has hired a coachman to get her to Coketown
faster but after a few moments Sparsit sees that she is
incorrect. Louisa has boarded some train. "I have lost her"
is Mrs. Sparsit's exclamation of defeat and frustration.

Mrs. Sparsit is still stirring up trouble. All of her running

back and forth in the nighttime rain has caused her
to get a violent cold but this does not stop her from
completing her mission. She went as far as London to
find Mr. Bounderby and confront him with the news of
Louisa's conversation in the garden, and her flight from
the country house‹presumably, to continue her romantic
affair. After giving the news, Mrs. Sparsit collapses in
affair. After giving the news, Mrs. Sparsit collapses in
an incredibly theatrical display. Bounderby brings her
back to Coketown and he carries her along with him to
Stone Lodge, where he intends to confront Mr. Gradgrind
(unaware that Louisa is also at Stone Lodge).

Mrs. Sparsit's story is presented and Mr. Gradgrind

confesses that he is already aware of these details and
that Louisa has preserved her honor by returning to her
father's house when she did not know how to defend
herself from temptation on her own. Mrs. Sparsit is now
considered in the worst light for she has cast aspersions
and criticized Louisa without due cause. She can do little
more than utter an apology and begin crying profusely as
she is sent back to town.

Louisa and her father are both convinced that Tom is

involved in a bank theft and Louisa correctly suspects
that after she left Stephen's room, Tom made some sort
of false offer to Stephen, in her name, encouraging him
to loiter outside of the bank. Mr. Gradgrind agrees that
Tom has probably done this, knowing that Stephen planned
to leave town and would be the most logical suspect.

In this moment of despair, again it is Sissy who has

orchestrated a plan for deliverance and rescue. She could
easily see that Tom was guilty and she sent him to Mr.
Sleary and her old friends who were only a few towns
away. Tom said that he had very little money and did not
know who could hide him and this was the most reasonable
solution as Sissy had read of the circus in the paper just
solution as Sissy had read of the circus in the paper just
the day before. It is also favorable that the town is only a
few hours from the port of Liverpool and Mr. Gradgrind
hopes that he might be able to get his son passage on
a ship that will send him far away from shame and
punishment.
Last modified: 12 Jul 2023