The extract is taken from the fourth chapter of Hard Times and its function is to introduce Mr Bounderby. Mr Bounderby is Mr Gradgrind's best frend because they are both devoid of sentiment and so they have the same attitude towards the world. The third person intrusive and omniscient narrator enters in the narration and states they are also very different. He is a self-made man who was able to become very rich. The narrator gives informations about the way he looks, his voice and his attitude adopting the grottesque technique. In this way Mr Bounderby is ridiculed and the narraor can criticize indirectly his way of thinking. He usually likes talking about his origins that is when he was poor and he had to face many difficulties on his own without any external help. His interloqutor is Mrs Gradgrind, a feeble woman who seems to be alienated from the world