Analysis of chapter 4: “Mr. Bounderby” from C. Dickens’ Hard Times

The extract belongs to the 4th chapter of the novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens. The novel Hard Times is the best expression of the philosophy of utilitarianism. It has been the most discussed novel of the 19^th Century because it teaches a moral lesson more than being only a novel.

The title is a name: Mr Bounderby. Analysing the name in the title the intelligent reader can see it has the word “bounder” in it: it means a man with a double face, an ungentleman. It explains the negative nature of the character described below. Mr Bounderby is one of the two main characters of the novel. He is an industrialist and he represent the 19^th Century industrialism.

Looking at the extract there is an omniscient and intrusive third person narrator. There is a predilection in the use of the telling technique that doesn’t allow any personal thought of the reader because there is the narrator’s filter. Actually the intelligent reader can convey to some thoughts doesn’t expressed by the narrator.

Analysing the first sentence its function is to involve the reader into the story. It creates some expectations and it suggests the reader to search the answer to the question making the reader go on with the story.

The first sentence “NOT being Mrs. Grundy, who was Mr. Bounderby?”, through the word “not” in capital letters, underlines the difference between the two mentioned character: Mr Grundy and Mr Bounderby.

The second sentence “Why, Mr. Bounderby was as near being Mr. Gradgrind's bosom friend, as a man perfectly devoid of sentiment can approach that spiritual relationship towards another man perfectly devoid of sentiment” reveals some features of the two main characters of the novel. Both characters are “devoid of sentiment” and so they are friends: they both symbolize the Victorian Society of the 19^th Century focused only on facts and marketing without expressing their feelings. Even if the two main characters are both without any feeling, they are actually very different: Mr Gradgrind favours the facts and symbolizes the principle of Utilitarianism, on the contrary Mr Bounderby represents the industrialists of the 19^th Century.

There is a large use of irony and a rhetorical use of the language through the exaggeration and the hyperbolic use of language: the irony prevents the criticism of the character. Also the use of simile, for example in the sentence “inflated like a balloon”, helps the reader convey to the use of irony by the writer. These devices lead to two main purposes: the first one is to convince the reader of what the narrator is telling and the second one is to prevent any critical thought of the reader.

In the first few sentences the narrator starts Mr Bounderby’s characterization with a judgment that underlines the character’s social status: he is an industrialist. The writer Charles Dickens is famous for his great characterizations and so for his ability on creating characters. The intelligent reader can so convey to the idea of the creation of great descriptions during the novel and the analysed extract.

The use of repetition goes on with the proverb “repetita iuvant” and it’s used to convince the reader of what the narrator is telling: it helps to stick the concepts in the readers’ mind.  

Reputation has an essential role in the novel because in the Victorian age the Puritanism, based on the principle of Utilitarianism, was the main people’s thought. Mr Bounderby is the typical self-made man who lives with the idea of the competition and the principle of utility. We can see these features in the sentence “A man made out of a coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him”. We can also see these features in the list of nouns the narrator uses to describe Mr Bounderby’s work and life: the intelligent reader can convey to the idea of competition, utility and survival in the environment of the Victorian Age. The intelligent reader can understand that reputation has a main role in the extract and so in the whole novel. The highest form of irony connected to Mr Bounderby’s reputation is the Puritan idea of the development: Mr Bounderby has been able to develop from a low class where he was born to an upper one. We can see this feature in the sentence “I hadn't a shoe to my foot. As to a stocking, I didn't know such a thing by name. I passed the day in a ditch, and the night in a pigsty. That's the way I spent my tenth birthday. Not that a ditch was new to me, for I was born in a ditch” that is a sentence said by Mr Bounderby. The intelligent reader can convey to Mr Bounderby’s conviction of the “bully of humility”: Mr Bounderby praises himself to humiliate the ones that are in a lower class compared to his.

Concluding I think Mr Bounderby is the best representation of a man from the middle class of the Industrial society of the Victorian Age, whose thoughts are based on the convictions of Puritanism and Utilitarianism.