Hard Times
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 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 The town library was sometimes the source of Gradgrind's dismay 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
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 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 Gradgrind explains that it is Mr. Bounderby who has 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 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.' 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 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
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.
