MAJOR CHARACTERS IN HARD TIMES: -

Mr. Thomas Gradgrind

Thomas Gradgrind is a wealthy, retired merchant in Coke town,
England; he later becomes a Member of Parliament. Mr. Gradgrind espouses a philosophy of
rationalism, self-interest, and cold, hard fact. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind represents the Utilitarian
philosophy of the nineteenth century. He describes himself as an “eminently practical” man, and
he tries to raise his children—Louisa, Tom, Jane, Adam Smith, and Malthus—to be equally
practical by forbidding the development of their imaginations and emotions. Mr. Gradgrind is the
intellectual founder of the Gradgrind educational system and he is also a member of Parliament.
He represents the rigor of "hard facts" and statistics. It is only after Louisa's emotional
breakdown that he has a change of heart and becomes more intellectually accepting of
enterprises that are not exclusively dedicated to profit and fact. Thomas Gradgrind is the first
character we meet in Hard Times, and one of the central figures through whom Dickens weaves
a web of intricately connected plotlines and characters. Dickens introduces us to this character
with a description of his most central feature: his mechanized, monotone attitude and
appearance.
The opening scene in the novel describes Mr. Gradgrind’s speech to a group of young students,
and it is appropriate that Gradgrind physically embodies the dry, hard facts that he crams into his
students’ heads. The narrator calls attention to Gradgrind’s “square coat, square legs, square
shoulders,” all of which suggest Gradgrind’s unrelenting rigidity. In the first few chapters of the
novel, Mr. Gradgrind expounds his philosophy of calculating, rational self-interest. He believes
that human nature can be governed by completely rational rules, and he is “ready to weigh and
measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you what it comes to.” This philosophy has brought
Mr. Gradgrind much financial and social success. He has made his fortune as a hardware
merchant, a trade that, appropriately, deals in hard, material reality. Later, he becomes a Member
of Parliament, a position that allows him to indulge his interest in tabulating data about the
people of England. Although he is not a factory owner, Mr. Gradgrind represents the spirit of the
Industrial Revolution insofar as he treats people like machines that can be reduced to a number
of scientific principles.
While the narrator’s tone toward him is initially mocking and ironic, Gradgrind undergoes a
significant change in the course of the novel, thereby earning the narrator’s sympathy. When
Louisa confesses that she feels something important is missing in her life and 1 that she is
desperately unhappy with her marriage, Gradgrind begins to realize that his system of education
may not be perfect. This intuition is confirmed when he learns that Tom has robbed Bounderby’s
bank. Faced with these failures of his system, Gradgrind admits, “The ground on which I stand
has ceased to be solid under my feet.” His children’s problems teach him to feel love and sorrow,
and Gradgrind becomes a wiser and humbler man, ultimately “making his facts and figures
subservient to Faith, Hope and Charity.” As the book progresses, however, Thomas Gradgrind
begins to doubt his own teachings. In the first book (Sowing), he takes into his home a young girl
whose father, a circus clown, has abandoned her. He undertakes her education but fails since she
is the product of another environment.
In this book, he presents Bounderby's proposal for marriage to Louisa and is pleased when she
recognizes that wealth is important. In the second book (Reaping), Gradgrind emerges as a
loving father for the first time. He takes Louisa back into his home after she leaves Bounderby.
Having lived with Sissy in his home, he has come to recognize that there are emotions such as
love and compassion. When his daughter comes to him as a daughter looking for help and
sanction, he reacts as a father. In the last book (Garnering), Gradgrind abandons his philosophy
of facts again to help Tom, his wayward son, to flee from England so that he will not be
imprisoned for theft. Gradgrind also vows to clear the name of an accused worker, Stephen
Blackpool. Here he learns — much to his regret — that Bitzer, one of his former students, has
learned his lesson well; Bitzer refuses to help young Tom escape and gives his reasons based on
facts and data as Thomas Gradgrind had taught him.

Louisa Gradgrind/Louisa Bounderby

Louisa is one of the central characters of the novel.
She is the eldest of the Gradgrind children and the prize pupil of the educational system. When
she grows older, her father arranges her marriage to Mr. Bounderby. Throughout her life, Louisa
is very unfulfilled because she has been forced to deny her emotions. She is brought up in the
school and philosophy of facts, and she reacts and performs in a manner in keeping with her
training until she faces a situation (the situation being James Harthouse seducing her) for which
her education has left her unprepared. She has an emotional breakdown after being tempted into
infidelity by Mr. James Harthouse. Her marriage with Mr. Bounderby is soon dissolved and she
never remarries. Confused by her coldhearted upbringing, Louisa feels disconnected from her
emotions and alienated from other people. While she vaguely recognizes that her father’s system
of education has deprived her childhood of all joy, Louisa cannot actively invoke her emotions or
connect with others.
Thus she marries Bounderby to please her father and her brother, even though she does not love
her husband. Indeed, the only person she loves completely is her brother Tom. The only emotion
that fills her barren life is her love for Tom, her younger brother. Although Louisa is the novel’s
principal female character, she is distinctive from the novel’s other women, particularly her
counterparts, Sissy Jupe and Rachael. While these other two women, Sissy and Rachael represent
the Victorian ideal of femininity—sensitivity, compassion, and gentleness—Louisa’s education
has prevented her from developing such traits. Instead, Louisa is silent, cold, and seemingly
unfeeling. However, Dickens may not be implying that Louisa is really unfeeling, but rather that
she simply does not know how to recognize and express her emotions. For instance, when her
father tries to convince her that it would be rational for her to marry Bounderby, Louisa looks out
of the window at the factory chimneys and observes: “There seems to be nothing there but
languid and monotonous smoke.
Yet when the night comes, Fire bursts out.” Unable to convey the tumultuous feelings that lie
beneath her own 2 languid and monotonous exterior, Louisa can only state a fact about her
surroundings. Yet this fact, by a similarity, also describes the emotions repressed within her.
Even though she does not conform to the Victorian ideals of femininity, Louisa does her best to
be a model daughter, wife, and sister. Her decision to return to her father’s house rather than
elope with Harthouse demonstrates that while she may be unfeeling, she does not lack virtue.
Indeed, Louisa, though unemotional, still has the ability to recognize goodness and distinguish
between right and wrong, even when it does not fall within the strict rules of her father’s
teachings.
While at first Louisa lacks the ability to understand and function within the gray matter of
emotions, she can at least recognize that they exist and are more powerful than her father or
Bounderby believe, even without any factual basis. Moreover, under Sissy’s guidance, Louisa
shows great promise in learning to express her feelings. Similarly, through her acquaintance with
Rachael and Stephen, Louisa learns to respond charitably to suffering and to not view suffering
simply as a temporary state that is easily overcome by effort, as her father and Bounderby do.
She is still young when she realizes that her father's system of education has failed her, she then
begins to discover the warmth and compassion of life. Only after her emotional conflict with
Harthouse does she start her complete re-education.

Mr. Josiah Bounderby

Mr. Bounderby is one of the central characters of the novel. He is a
business acquaintance of Mr. Thomas Gradgrind. He employs many of the characters in the
novel and he is very wealthy. He marries Louisa Gradgrind (several decades his junior) and the
marriage eventually ends unhappily. In the tumult of a bank robbery investigation, Bounderby's
true identity is revealed much to his shame. Throughout the novel, Bounderby is an symbol of
lies and hypocrisy. Although he is Mr. Gradgrind’s best friend, Josiah Bounderby is more
interested in money and power than in facts. Indeed, he is himself a fiction, or a fraud; he has
made upo lies about his life, his past and his family. Bounderby’s inflated sense of pride is
illustrated by his oftrepeated declaration, “I am Josiah Bounderby of Coketown.” This statement
generally prefaces the story of Bounderby’s childhood poverty and suffering, a story designed
to impress its listeners with a sense of the young Josiah Bounderby’s determination and self-
discipline.
Bounderby takes pride in being able to overcome poverty and he always states that it was his
determination and intelligence and hard work that helped him to rise above poverty. He
generally uses this story about his poor upbringing to look down upon the lower classes and
always states that if they are poor then it is because they are lazy. However, Dickens destroys
the myth of the self-made man when Bounderby’s mother, Mrs. Pegler, reveals that her son
had a decent, loving childhood and a good education, and that he was not abandoned, after all.
His true upbringing, by caring and devoted parents, indicates that his social mobility, his rise in
society is a lie and calls into question the whole idea of social mobility in nineteenth-century
England. Social mobility refers to how the lower and middle class can improve their situation
and rise to the upper class. Bounderby’s attitude represents the social changes created by
industrialization and capitalism. Whereas birth or bloodline (aristocracy) formerly determined
the social position/ power, in an industrialized, capitalist society, wealth determines who holds
the most power.
Thus, Bounderby takes great delight in the fact that Mrs. Sparsit, an aristocrat who has fallen
on hard times, has become his servant, while his own ambition has enabled him to rise from
humble beginnings to become the wealthy owner of a factory and a bank. In the first book, as a
friend of Thomas Gradgrind, he is intent upon having Louisa, Gradgrind's older daughter, for his
wife. In 3 the conclusion of book one he succeeds — by taking Gradgrind's son into the bank —
in marrying Louisa, who does not love him, for she has never been taught to love or dream,
only to learn facts. True to his boasting nature, Bounderby adds to the story of his miserable
rise to wealth by letting everyone know that he has married the daughter of a wealthy,
respectable man. However, in depicting Bounderby, the capitalist, as a vulgar, rude, proud, self-
interested hypocrite, Dickens implies that Bounderby uses his wealth and power irresponsibly
and thus adds to the muddled (confused) relations between rich and poor, especially in his
treatment of Stephen after the Hands cast Stephen out to form a union.
An opinionated man, he regards the workers in his factories as "Hands," for they are only that
— not people to him. The only truth to him is his own version of truth. He prides himself on
being a so-called self-made man. Fabricating a story of his childhood, he has built himself a
legend of the abandoned orphan who has risen from the gutter to his present position. To add
to his "self-made" station in life, this blustering, bragging loud person has told the story of his
miserable childhood so long and so loud that he believes it himself. The story is simple: he says
that after being abandoned by his mother, he was brought up by a drunken grandmother, who
took his shoes to buy liquor; he relates often and long how he was on his own as a mere child of
seven and how he educated himself in the streets.
In the final book, when his story is proved false by the appearance of his mother, who had not
abandoned him but who had reared and educated him, he is revealed as a fraud who had, in
reality, rejected his own mother, because he was ashamed of her poor and illiterate
background. Book two (Reaping) reveals him more fully as a proud, loud and rude man;
however, he is a dull and ignorant — he does not know that his young wife has found a younger
man to whom she is attracted. In the final book, when she leaves him and returns home, his
ego cannot stand the blow. He does not change, even though almost everyone and everything
around him changes. With this truth being revealed and other events came his downfall and
eventual death.

Stephen Blackpool
Stephen is a poor laborer in one of Josiah Bounderby's factories. He is married
to a drunk woman who wanders in and out of his life. After losing his job at the factory, Stephen
is forced to leave Coketown and find work elsewhere. In his absence, Stephen is accused of
committing a crime that he did not actually commit. When returning to Coketown to defend his
honor, Stephen falls into a pit and injures himself. He is rescued but he eventually dies.
He is introduced after we have met the Gradgrind family and Bounderby, and Blackpool
provides a stark contrast to these earlier characters. He is the first character we come across
who is from the lower working class. Stephen lives a life of hard work and poverty. Stephen
loves Rachael, another “Hand” in one of the factories, but he is unable to marry her because he
is already married, albeit to a horrible, drunken woman. A man of great honesty, compassion,
and integrity, Stephen maintains his moral ideals even when he is shunned by his fellow
workers and fired by Bounderby. Stephen’s values are similar to those endorsed by the
narrator. In spite of the hardships of his daily toil and the troubles and harassments he faces,
Stephen strives to maintain his honesty, integrity, faith, and compassion.
Stephen is an important character not only because his poverty and virtue contrast with
Bounderby’s wealth and self-interest, but also because he finds himself in the midst of a labor
dispute that illustrates the strained relations between rich and poor. Stephen is the only Hand
who refuses to join a workers’ union: he believes that striking is not the best way to improve
relations between factory owners and employees, and he also wants to earn an honest living.
As a result, 4 he is cast out of the workers’ group. However, he also refuses to spy on his fellow
workers for Bounderby, who consequently sends him away. Both groups, rich and poor,
respond in the same self-interested, backstabbing way. As Rachael explains, Stephen ends up
with the “masters against him on one hand, the men against him on the other, he only wantin’
to work hard in peace, and do what he felt right.” Through Stephen, Dickens suggests that
industrialization threatens to compromise both the employee’s and employer’s moral integrity,
thereby creating a social muddle/ confusion to which there is no easy solution.
Dickens employs biblical parallels to portray the characters of the struggling working class.
Through his efforts to resist the moral corruption on all sides, Stephen becomes a martyr, or
Christ figure, ultimately dying for Tom’s crime. When he falls into a mine shaft on his way back
to Coketown to clear his name of the charge of robbing Bounderby’s bank, Stephen comforts
himself by gazing at a particularly bright star that seems to shine on him in his “pain and
trouble.” This star not only represents the ideals of virtue for which Stephen strives, but also
the happiness and tranquility that is lacking in his troubled life. Moreover, his ability to find
comfort in the star illustrates the importance of imagination, which enables him to escape the
cold, hard facts of his miserable existence.
Stephen Blackpool, is also the first victim to the labor cause, he is chased out by his fellow
workers and fired by his employer, yet he does not join the workers against Bounderby even
after Bounderby fires him, nor does he spy on his fellow workers after they shun him. He does
not accuse Tom even after he is blamed for Tom’s crime. Stephen bears all that they do to him
with a kind and understanding heart. He is likened unto the biblical St. Stephen, the first
Christian martyr. Just as the biblical Stephen was stoned by his own people, so is Stephen
Blackpool shunned and despised by his own class. Even though he realizes that Bounderby and
the other factory owners are abusing the workers and that something must be done to help
them, he refuses to join the union. He is perceptive enough to know that Slackbridge, the trade-
union agitator, is a false prophet to the people.
Married to a woman who had left him years before the story opens, Stephen finds himself
hopelessly in love with Rachael, also a worker in the factory. Rachael is likened unto the
longsuffering woman of the same name in biblical history. Stephen cannot marry his beloved
because the laws of England are for the rich, not the penniless workman. When he goes to
Bounderby for help to obtain a divorce from his drunken, degenerate wife, he is scorned and
bullied until he speaks up, and replies to Bounderby's insults. On another occasion he defends
the workers against Bounderby's scathing remarks; consequently, he is fired and has to seek a
job in another town. When Stephen learns that he is accused of theft, he starts back to
Coketown to clear his name; however, he does not arrive there. He falls into an abandoned
mine pit and is found and rescued minutes before his death. Although he is just one of the
"Hands" to Bounderby and others of the middle class, Stephen Blackpool is a very sensitive,
religious man who bears no enmity toward those who have hurt him.

Tom Gradgrind
Tom is also referred to as "the whelp." (the word whelp refers to a young
man or boy- the word is used in an insulting way) He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gradgrind and
an employee of Mr. Bounderby. He is resentful towards his sister, Louisa, though she is only
kind towards him. His ultimate misdeed comes when he steals money from his safe in the bank
and tricks an innocent man, Stephen Blackpool, into taking the blame. He does not speak up
when the blame 5 is put on Stephen Blackpool . In the end, Tom is forced to flee the country to
escape punishment. He dies overseas and full of regret.
Having been brought up never to wonder, never to doubt facts, and never to entertain any
imagination or fancy, he rebels as a young man when he leaves his father's home, Stone Lodge,
to work in Bounderby's bank. Tom reacts to his strict upbringing by becoming a dissipated,
hedonistic, hypocritical young man. Although he appreciates his sister’s affection, Tom cannot
return it entirely—he loves money and gambling even more than he loves Louisa. He uses
Bounderby's affection for Louisa to gain money for gambling and drink. He urges Louisa to
marry Bounderby since it will be to his own benefit if she does. Freed from the strict rule of his
father, Tom (whom Dickens has Harthouse name "the whelp") becomes a "man about town."
He begins to smoke, to drink, and to gamble. When he becomes involved in gambling debts, he
looks to Louisa for help. Finally she becomes unable to help him and denies him further
financial aid. Desperate for money to replace what he has taken from the bank funds, Tom
stages a robbery and frames Stephen Blackpool. Just as he uses others, so is he used by James
Harthouse, who has designs on Louisa. At the last, Tom shows his complete degeneration of
character. When he realizes that exposure is imminent, he runs away. The only redeeming
feature of his character is that he truly loves his sister and ultimately regrets that he has
brought her heartache. Escaping from England, he lives and dies a lonely life as an exile. In his
last illness, he writes to his sister asking her forgiveness and love.

Sissy Jupe
The daughter of a clown in Sleary’s circus. Sissy is taken in by Gradgrind when her
father disappears. Sissy serves as a foil, or contrast, to Louisa: while Sissy is imaginative and
compassionate, Louisa is rational and, for the most part, unfeeling. Sissy embodies the Victorian
femininity that counterbalances mechanization and industry. Through Sissy’s interaction with
her, Louisa is able to explore her more sensitive, feminine sides.
Sissy is abandoned by her father who is a well-meaning circus performer. He feels that she will
have a better life if he is not able to hinder her progress in society. Sissy lives with the
Gradgrind family but she is a poor pupil at their school. In contrast to Mr. Gradgrind, Sissy lives
by the philosophy of emotion, fancy, hope and benevolence. In the end, her kindhearted nature
softens the rough edges of the Gradgrind family and they come to be grateful for what she has
done for them. At the end of the novel, Dickens writes that Sissy grows ever more happy and
she eventually has children of her own to care for. Cecilia "Sissy" Jupe, who is the antithesis
(opposite) of the scholars of Gradgrind's school. She is part of the circus group, the circus
people whose endeavor is to make people happy, is hated by Thomas Gradgrind and Josiah
Bounderby. Sissy, forsaken by her father, who believed that she would have a better life away
from the circus, is a warm, loving individual who brings warmth and understanding to the
Gradgrind home. Because of her influence, the younger girl, Jane Gradgrind, grows up to know
love, to dream, and to wonder.
Sissy is the main force for good in the novel. She is kind, caring, and loving. In the face of being
abandoned by her father and then being forced to learn the Gradgrind philosophy, she never
stops being the only grounding, emotionally positive force in Coke town. Sissy is also a
messenger from the land of imagination, creativity, and selfless actions. For instance, all three
are combined when she cheers up her father after a hard day in the circus ring by reading him
fairy tales about ogres and giants. When chaos and confusion sets into the lives of the other
characters Sissy appears and brings about some resolution, and peace and comfort for those in
6 need; whether it is Mr Thomas Gradgrind, Louisa, Rachael or even Tom. She is calm,
supportive and even confident and proactive when it comes to helping those in need. She
confronts Mr James Harthouse and commands him to leave Louisa alone and she plans Tom’s
escape and helps arrange a rescue party to help Stphen. She is kind in her emotions, confident,
and realistic in her actions. She is obviously tied to the circus, to entertainment, to the life of
the imagination. But she is also clearly one of the more realistic and matter-of-fact characters in
the novel and this can be seen in the way she deals with the problems that come up in the lives
of the people around her. In the conclusion of the book, Sissy can look forward to a life blessed
by a husband and children. The future foretells her happiness.
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