2. Chapter Seven: Mrs. Sparsit
This chapter is one of character portrayal. The next day, Bounderby discusses
Louisa with his housekeeper, Mrs. Sparsit, who is connected to the prominent
aristocratic Powler family. After falling on hard times, the aristocratic Mrs. Sparsit
has accepted employment with Mr. Bounderby, but she constantly reminds him
of her family connections. Depicted as a contrast to her employer, she does not
contradict Bounderby to his face; however, she despises him for the uncouth
person that he is. Bounderby worries that the fanciful Sissy will be a bad
influence on Louisa, whom he already regards as his future wife. Here, too, the
reader sees being planted the seeds of Bounderby's intentions of marrying
Louisa. Gradgrind informs Sissy that she may continue to attend his school and
that she will care for Mrs. Gradgrind in her free time. The chapter concludes with
Sissy's being told that she is ignorant and must forget the stories of Fairies and
Fancy that she has read to her father.
3. Chapter Seven: Mrs. Sparsit (Analysis)
The interest that Bounderby again shows in Louisa hints at the marital intentions
he will have towards her later on. Mrs. Sparsit's relationship to Bounderby is
never fully described but she clearly dislikes Bounderby's interest in Louisa, as it
threatens her own comfortable position in Bounderby's rich house. Her secret
facial expressions imply that her agreement with Bounderby is for show only.
Sissy has clearly had the imagination of fancy that Mr. Gradgrind is so opposed
to, and seems to be a nice girl for it. Louisa's initial coldness shows how her own
education of facts is affecting her, though her kinder reaction when Sissy begins
to weep shows that she may still have a little sympathy in her.
4. Chapter Eight: Never Wonder
"Never Wonder," the keynote of the Gradgrind educational system, is discussed by Louisa and
Tom Gradgrind. Dickens' satire on the educational system is expounded through young Tom's
dissatisfaction with his own education and Louisa's desire to do and to learn more. Both
Louisa and Tom are depressed by the colorless monotony of life at Stone Lodge, but Louisa,
attempting to cheer up Tom, reminds him of her affection for him. She feels that there is
something missing — although she does not know what — or lacking in her life. Tom, calling
himself a "donkey," vows to take revenge on his father and the whole educational system. He
wishes that he could take gunpowder and blow up the doctrine of Facts. His revenge is that he
will enjoy life when he leaves home. He has completed his "cramming'' and will soon enter
Bounderby's bank. Tom later reveals the secret of his future enjoyment: he tells his sister that,
since Bounderby is so fond of her, she can make his life easier by playing up to Bounderby. As
they gaze into the fire and "wonder," they are interrupted and scolded for their wondering by
their mother, as wondering contradicts the philosophy of fact.
5. Chapter Eight: Never Wonder (Analysis)
Here is a testament of how unhappy an education of facts makes children.
Here also, is another hint at the possible marriage of Louisa and Mr.
Bounderby, young though she is. This chapter also captures the relationship
between Louisa and Tom: she clearly loves Tom, as her open affection shows.
But he seems more interesting in using Louisa to get what he wants. Louisa's
expressionless reaction to the mention of Bounderby forebodes the nature of
her future relationship to him, in which she passively allows herself, despite a
lack of love or even like, to be married to him.
6. Chapter Nine: Sissy’s Progress
After a lot of time spent with Mr. Gradgrind's education of facts, Sissy hasn't
made much "progress.” She — reared to wonder, to think, to love, and to believe
in Fancy — cannot digest the volumes of Facts and figures given her. Even
though Sissy cannot be educated into the ways of the Gradgrinds, she becomes
a partial educator of Louisa and young Jane. When she talks with Louisa, Sissy
reveals her mother was a dancer and her father was a clown, who read her
many wonderful fairy tales and made her very happy. She defends her runaway
father; in doing so and in repeating some of the stories of the circus, she adds
nourishment to the tiny seeds of doubt that have been implanted in Louisa's mind
about the training she has received. Daily she inquires of Mr. Gradgrind if a letter
for her has arrived. She does not lose hope of hearing from or about her father.
Gradually Sissy teaches Louisa the first lesson of compassion and
understanding. Louisa, raised to never feel strong emotion, finds herself very
moved by Sissy’s deep feelings.
7. Chapter Nine: Sissy’s Progress (Analysis)
Sissy's education of fancy apparently cannot be altered. Gradgrind's education
is not looking for answers that are honest and sensible—it's looking for facts,
pure facts.
Sissy's story reveals the depth of her education in and connection to "fancy".
Her parents are devoted to art and beauty and humor—to connecting with
audiences and making them feel. And Sissy clearly has similar power, as her
story makes Louisa feel for Sissy and to hope for the things that Sissy hopes
for. Again, though, this incident shows that Louisa does have the capacity to
feel.
8. Chapter Ten: Stephen Blackpool
One night, in the most hardworking, grimy district of Coketown, a simple and
brutally poor man named Stephen Blackpool goes home from his job as a power
loom operator in Mr. Bounderby’s factory. Stephen is a Hand, one of the lowest
menial laborers in Coketown. Representative of Dickens' picture of the Hands,
Stephen, a man of integrity, is forty years of age. Even though he has been
married for many years, his wife had left him long ago.He talks briefly in the
street to Rachael, the pure, honest woman he loves, then goes home, where he
is stunned to find his wayward, immoral, and generally absent wife lying in his
bed. In this chapter, the seeds of Stephen's discontent are revealed when he
returns to his lonely apartment after walking his beloved Rachael home and finds
that his drunken wife has returned. In order to soothe the misery of poverty, his
wife has become an alcoholic, and although Stephen wishes to divorce her, he
nevertheless pities her.
9. Chapter Ten: Stephen Blackpool
(Analysis)
With Stephen the novel introduces the workers at Bounderby's factory. That
these workers are called "hands" indicates the degree to which they aren't
treated as real, full people. From the point of view of Bounderby, their sole
purpose is to do the things he wants him to do—to be his hands. Stephen's
physical indication signals the difficult life of a worker, but it is clear that the
greater cause of his unhappiness lies with these two women in his life: sweet
Rachael and the drunk hag, who is actually his wife. Two greater opposites
could not be imagined.
10. Chapter Eleven: No Way Out
Disturbed by his wife’s sudden reappearance, Stephen visits Mr. Bounderby the
next day to ask humbly if he has any legal recourse and any possibility of
obtaining a divorce. Arrogantly, and with many references to his own
impoverished childhood, Bounderby explains that only the wealthy can obtain
divorces and that Stephen would be better off accepting his miserable situation.
Analysis
The title of the eleventh chapter, "No Way Out," is significant in that it
characterizes Stephen's hopeless marriage and the seemingly futile struggles of
the working class. This chapter also contains imagery that adds to the tone of
the story. Dickens satirizes the Industrial Revolution as he compares the roaring
furnace to Fairy Palaces and the factories to elephants from which belch forth
the serpents of death-giving smoke. The people must breathe this poison daily
as they struggle with the monstrous machines in order to earn a pittance.
11. Chapter Eleven: No Way Out (Analysis)
Further, one sees Stephen going to his employer to seek help with his marriage.
Bounderby's title could well be "Bully of Humanity" for the manner in which he
deals with this worker. Stephen learns only one thing: the laws are truly for the
benefit of the rich. If he leaves his drunken wife or if he harms her or if he marries
Rachael or if he just lives with Rachael without the sanction of marriage, Stephen
will be punished, for the laws are thus arranged; on the other hand, if he seeks a
divorce, he cannot obtain one, for money is the only key that opens the doors of
the courts of justice in England. During the entire discussion, Mrs. Sparsit listens
and seems to agree with her boasting employer. Bounderby terminates the
interview with his favorite comment: "I see traces of turtle soup, and venison, and
gold spoon in this." In other words, he regards the Hands as people desiring the
best of life without working for it. It's worth also noting that Dickens was unhappily
married and in love with other women, so his seeming bitterness against marriage
in the novel is not unsurprising.
12. Chapter Twelve: The Old Woman
Outside Bounderby’s house, Stephen meets a strange old woman who has
traveled into the city from the country. She tells Stephen that every year she
saves enough money to make the long journey into Coketown for a single day,
just long enough to catch a glimpse of Mr. Bounderby. She fears that Bounderby
will not come out of his house that day and says that seeing Stephen just after he
saw Bounderby must satisfy her for this year. The old woman follows him to
Bounderby’s grim factory and inexplicably praises its beauty. After work is over for
the day, Stephen wanders the streets, trying to avoid going home to his drunken
wife. As he wanders, Stephen imagines the pleasant, happy home he could share
with Rachael if only he were free to remarry.
13. Chapter Twelve: The Old Woman (Analysis)
The twelfth chapter introduces mystery into the novel. The woman's belief that the
factory must be marvelous is a testament to the middle class's (not to mention
upper class's) blindness regarding the awful conditions for workers during
industrialization. The woman's awe of the factory also hints at a deeper
connection that she has to Bounderby himself that will come out later in the novel.
Stephen dwells excessively on this topic; the fact that his marriage cannot be
dissolved seems unjust in the face of his misery. It is worth noting that Dickens
has been criticized by some critics for depicting Stephen's misery in this way, as it
might have been more accurate to actually locate his misery as a function of the
awfulness of factory life.
14. Chapter Thirteen: Rachael
In Chapter 13, Dickens enters the story again as he draws a portrait of Rachael,
the thirty-five-year-old Hand, as a ministering angel.When Stephen finally returns
to his room, he is shocked to find Rachael sitting next to his bedridden wife,
tending to what appears to be a serious illness. Rachael tells Stephen to go to
sleep in the chair. Stephen falls asleep, but wakes up just in time to see his wife
about to swallow a lethal amount of one of her medicines. Stephen is unable to
act, but Rachael awakens suddenly and grabs the bottle from the sick woman,
thereby preventing her death. Ashamed of his inability to bring himself to stop his
wife’s attempted suicide, Stephen looks upon Rachael as an angel.
15. Chapter Thirteen: Rachael (Analysis)
Rachael's tenderness in caring for Stephen's wife and her old friend show what
great good one loving woman can do. Rachael is depicted as a kind of saint. The
clear implication in Rachel's story of growing up with Stephen's wife is that
Stephen could have picked Rachael, but didn't, thus dooming himself. Why
Stephen picked as he did, or why his wife became a drunk and a prostitute, is
never explained.
Stephen's hesitation in preventing his wife from committing suicide shows just
how much he wishes he could escape from his marriage. That Rachael acts
immediately despite her own clear love for Stephen shows what an incredibly
good and unselfish person she is.
