1) List all the words and phrases describing MR. Bounderby:
• A man perfectly devoid of sentiment;
• A rich man: banker, merchant, manufacturer;
• A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh;
• A man made out of a coarse material;
• A man with a great puffed head and forehead, swelled veins in his temples, and such a strained skin to his face that it seemed to hold his eyes open, and lift his eyebrows up;
• A man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon, and ready to start;
• A man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man;
• A man who was always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty;
• A man who was the Bully of humility;
• A man whit not much hair.

2) Ring the four phrases which explicitly convey the narrator's opinion of Mr. Bounderby and find in a dictionary adjectives with the same meaning.
• A man perfectly devoid of sentiment: insensitive
• A man made out of a coarse material: crude
• A man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man: ineffective
• A man who was the Bully of humility: vain

3) The surname of the character contains the word "bounder" on purpose. Look it up in the dictionary. Which of the phrases you have listed reinforces the meaning of the surname?
Bounder: a man who behaves badly or in a way that is not moral, especially in his relationships with women
• A man perfectly devoid of sentiment;
• He was a rich man: banker, merchant, manufacturer, and what not;
• A man made out of a coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him.

4) Mr. Bounderby is described as coming from a poor family, without education and self-made. In other contexts these attributes might represent him as worthy of sympathy and/ or admiration. Why aren't they here?
These attributes don't represent him as a worthy of sympathy or admiration because they are used in an ironically way in order to make the reader understand that Mr. Bounderby is only a bounder man.

5) Now go on reading and see if what Bounderby says is consistent with the description of his character.

What Mr. Bounderby says doesn't correspond to the description of the character: he tries to show himself as a poor man, determines who managed to reach his aim, that is becoming a self-made man. But Dickens reveals that he is a bounder, thanks to the surname that he adopted.

6) Which aspect or aspects of Bounderby's character is or are emphasized in what he says?
Bounderby emphasizes his poor condition and the situation in which he was obliged to live as a child.

7) Does what he say confirm or modify his portrait?
It modifies his portrait.

8) Underline any repetition of pronounce words or sentences in the extract

• A man...a man...
• Ditch...ditch...ditch
• Inflammation...inflammation
• I was....I was...I was...I was
• Determined...determined

9) How would you define his way of talking? See how does his way of talking fit in with his character as he is described by the narrator.
Mr. Bounderby talks through exaggeration in order to emphasize his condition. It fits well with the description of the narrator: he is a bully of humility.