In the present text I’m going to analyze an extract taken from chapter four of “Hard Times”, a novel by Charles Dickens.

The extract focuses on Mr. Bounderby, one of the main characters of the novel, and it is told by a third person omniscient narrator, that is a narrator who knows everything about everything and everyone.
The choice of the name helps to decode the personality of the man, indeed “bounder” refers to an extremely unpleasant man,who behaves badly or in a way that it is not moral.
The reader’s initial idea of the type of man who is Mr. Bounderby is immediately confirmed in the introductory part. Indeed, in the introduction the narrator makes a judgment on Mr. Bounderby, setting the characterization. He is described as a man devoid of sentiment who is unable to have good relationship, except that with another man devoid of sentiment, who is Mr. Gradgrind.
Moving on, the narrator resorts to a catalogue to create the characterization and it sets the protagonist in the middle class: he is the epitome of that class since he is very attached to money (he is a baker, a merchant and a manufacturer). Moreover he is a self-made man, as he always tend to underline (he is not an humble man), which is another important quality for the middle class. Indeed, being a self-made man means that you have been able to progress on the social ladder.
Continuing the characterization, the narrator focuses the attention on Mr. Bounderdy’s laugh, which is metallic. It is a metonymic description used to underline that Mr. Bounderby is annoying.
The attention shift to his head, which is “inflated like a balloon”. Thanks to the hyperbolic language the narrator ridicules the character and makes the reader unable to identify with him.
He is ridiculed for looking older and being quite bald as well.
In the second part of the extract, the narrator resorts to the narrative technique of showing. Thanks to the dialogues between Mr. Bounderby and Mrs. Gradgrind (his friend’s wife) the reader hears their precise words. As the reader already understood in the introductory part, Mr. Bounderby is a self-made man and he is very proud of it. In the dialogue Mr. Bounderby continues to underline his poor origin and his lack of education. These attributes might be considered as worthy of sympathy and admiration, but in that context become negative attributes due to the conceited and pretentious way they are exhibited by Mr. Bounderby. Indeed, Mr. Bounderby’s way of talking is extremely focused on himself, as the repetition of the pronoun ‘I’ reveals. He is self-assured and confident in exhibiting his life. His words perfectly fit in with the character’s description made by the narrator: a selfish, arrogant and vain self-made man. However, his way of talking his very simple, probably due to his lack of education. So, even if he has became rich he continues to be ignorant.

The language used by the narrator is ripetitive and rhetorical and it helps to make the narrration very heavy, like the character himself. Thanks to exaggeration the narrator ridicules Mr. Bounderby who is used to criticize the middle class, a selfish class attached to money and focused on gain profit.