Mr. Bounderby – Textual Analysis

1. List all the words and phrases describing Mr. Bounderby

“... a man perfectly devoid of sentiment...”;  “... rich man banker, merchant, manufacturer...”; “... A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh...”; “... made out of a coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him...”; “... A man with a great puffed head and forehead, swelled veins in his temples ... a strained skin...”; “... 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...” “... brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice..”; “... old ignorance and his old poverty...”: “... A man who was the Bully of humility...”; “...  Mr. Bounderby looked older...”; “... He had not much hair”; “all standing up in disorder, was in that condition from being constantly blown about by his windy boastfulness”; “... he thus took up a commanding position, from which to subdue Mrs. Gradgrind...”

2. Collect the 4 phrases which explicitly convey the narrator’s opinion of Mr. Bounderby’s character and find in a dictionary adjectives of the same meaning.

A man perfectly devoid of sentiment: insensitive, soulless, callous.

Made out of a coarse material: rough, tough.

A man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon: snooty, big-headed, uppish, egotist.

A man who was the Bully of humility: conceited, arrogant.

3. Now go back to the list you made for exercise 1. Which of the other items on it are connected with one or more of the author’s comments?

“... man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man...”

4. 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?

“A man who behaves badly or in a way that is not moral, especially in his relationships with women”

he thus took up a commanding position, from which to subdue Mrs. Gradgrind

5. Mr. Bounderby is described as coming from a poor family, without , without education and self-made. In other contexts these attributes might be presented as worthy of sympathy and/or admiration. Why aren’t they here?

In the extract Mr. Bounderby from Dickens’ Hard Times being a self-made man is not positive nor admired because Charles Dickens wants to criticize the bourgeois attitude. That is Dickens criticizes Mr. Bounderby by saying he is insensitive, snooty and conceited, psychological characteristic more important than being self-made.

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

Bounderby says he was determined and that he has to be thankful only to him. Also, saying about his difficult childhood makes him appear snooty, like the narrator has previously told.

7. Which aspect/s of Bounderby’s character is/are emphasised in what he says?

Bounderby emphasises his snooty and conceited attitude. Indeed he puts stress on his capability of becoming an important figure. Another aspect emphasised is his bounder attitude toward Mrs. Gradgrind, to whom explains annoyed that he was used to such difficult conditions.

8. Does what he says confirm or modify his portrait in the previous text?

9. Consider the way Bounderby speaks.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a)      <!--[endif]-->Underline any repetition of pronouns, words or sentence pattern in the extract you have read .

<!--[if !supportLists]-->b)      <!--[endif]-->How would you define his way of talking

<!--[if !supportLists]-->c)      <!--[endif]-->How does his way of talking fit in with his character as described by the narrator?

I would say he talks like a teacher: he must explain everything about his difficult childhood to Mrs. Gradgrind.

His way of talking fits him perfectly because it shows to the reader what the narrator told previously.