In the extract taken from chapter four, the narrator gives information about Mr Bounderby, a rich man deprived of sentiment who works in the commercial sector. Charles Dickens uses the technique of the grotesque in order to make a parody of him and provoke laughter. In addition, the use of metaphors deforms the shape of Mr Bounderby's body and helps to create a caricature. He often brags to be a self-made man, but the narrator ridicules him and reduces the importance of his condition using irony which creates a pathetic effect. Mr Bounderby defines himself as the Bully of humilty though he isn't humble. Furthermore he is an ugly and unattractive man who look older then he was. After Mr Bounderby's description, the narrator introduces a new character, Mrs Gradgrid, a feeble and fragile woman and gives a clear example of the different position between man and woman in the Victoria age. The narrator presents her with the aim to create a pathetic effect to involve the reader. Mr Bounderby is in a house called Stone Lodge together with Mrs Gradgrind and tells her about his childhood and the difficoulties he had to face and he is proud of what he has achieved on his own. In this way his life represents the parabola of progress praised by Calvinism and Puritanism.