Analysis of the extract Mr Bounderby

The extract opens with a question by which the reader immediately understand that Mr Grundy and Mr Bounderby are completely different and that they haven't got any kind of friendly relationship .

In the second sequence the narrator describes Mr Bounderby , firstly focusing on his economic situation: he was a rich man, and then focusing on his characteristics. His stare and his laugh are compared to metal, so that the idea the reader makes on him is that of a strong and authoritarian person. On the contrary, in describing his consistence, the novelist wrote that he was made out of a coarse material, whose quantity seemed not sufficient for his creation. By this allusion the reader immediately understand that he is not a consistent person; this opinion is reinforced going on reading by the adjective "puffed" referred to his head and by the image of the balloon.

It is impossible to consider him a self-made man, even if he never stopped to vaunt he was. Indeed, using the grotesque the narrator makes his readers understand that Mr Bounderby was everything but modest.

The third sequence provides the reader some information about Mr Bounderby age and appearance and makes the reader understand that his friendship with Mr Grundy was only practical and related to an utilitarian aspect. It underlines again his boast too.

In the fourth sequence the situation is introduced : he is standing in an elegant drawning-room of Stone Lodge with Mrs Gradgring, to whom is delivering some considerations about his birthday. While speaking he stood before the fire, in a dominant position , from which he wanted to subdue the woman. By this consideration, the reader understands that he is an authoritarian and even an egocentric person, who likes to be considered superior and to be always at the centre of the attention.

The following sequence is made up by Mr Bounderby speech: he is describing is tenth birthday. The description gives some information about his childhood situation and because of the use of the pathos technique tried to make the reader feeling piousness towards him.

The sixth sequence is built on a question, which is needed to create an expectation, brought by the following sentences pronounced by Mr Bounderby. Again, he wants to show how miserable were his past living situation, how many difficulties he had to deal with.

The word "imbecility" referred to Mrs Gradgring looking at Mr B. tongs, alludes to the fact that Mr Bounderby is not a credible or sincere person; he seems to exaggerate his difficult situation because he wants his listener faithfulness and then her admiration too.

Indeed, in the last sequence he made up a sort of self- celebration, saying that the only thing that allowed him to survive was his strong determination. He considered himself a self-made man and he asserted he not need to thank to anyone for being there, only to himself.

The intelligent reader can only take the distances from this statement, according to all the warnings planted by Charles Dickens' intelligent use of language he found before in the text.