Francesco Floritto

MR. BOUNDERBY

The extract belongs to the novel “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens.

The text describes the character Mr. Bounderby physically and psychologically. Dickens focuses on the behavior and on the personal experience of Mr. Bounderby who is presented as a caricature of human’s nature in the period of the Victorian Age.

In the first sentence the reader can notice the use of the question point that allows who reads to take part to the narration and make him reflect on the character of Mr.Bounderby. The use of metaphors and similes conveys a deep emotional involvement of the reader in the story but also to make the reader focus with particular attention on this character.

In the first paragraph Dickens presents Mr.Bounderby from a social point of view, in particular the role he had in the society (another device to make the reader reflect on the society of the time). Mr. Bounderby is the best friend of Mr.Gradgrind and he is the owner of a factory in Coketown. Just like the other rich and powerful man, Mr.Bounderby is a men who completely lacks the emotional part and only cares about profit and to maintain his social status. This character perfectly embodies the social changes during the period of industrialization and the rise of capitalism. The Middle Class represented the well-off class during the Victorian Age and it was composed by bankers, merchants and manufacturers.

In the second paragraph Mr. Bounderby is now described from a physical point of view. The character is presented as a rough man with a very imposing physical structure. From an accurate analysis of the character the well-read reader immediately notices that physical features provides a picture of his personality. It follows that Mr. Bounderby results a very attentive man who wants to know and control everything. In his own opinion his control means power and leads to money. Even if he’s not good-looking his clothes clearly define the social class Mr.Bounderby belongs to.

One of the main points of the extract is the narration of the story about Mr.Bounderby’s childhood. Mr. Bounderby narrates to Mrs.Gradgrind the story of his childhood and the way through he reaches a high social importance. The story is very sad because Mr.Bounderby tells to his friend that he was a poor boy who must live in the suburbs of the city spending his young life in diches and in pigsties . Only his “good” attitude and his determination allow him to fulfill his goals.

This concept recalls the Talents’ parable according to which anyone who can use well his talent would be rewarded by God and he can also satisfied his dreams.

Then Dickens provides the reader a psychological description of Mrs.Gradgrind. She is sitting and listening carefully to Mr.Bounderby’s words, she looks worried and suffering. All this creates typical concepts during the Victorian Age: pathos and philanthropy. The rich bourgeoisie sometimes felt guilty because of the horrible conditions of life for the rest of the population. So they used puritan’s expression to justify these shameful conditions. In conclusion, the narrator creates the grotesque through the character of Mr.Bounderby who represents all the bad things the Industrial Revolution has brought. In this extract the intelligent reader can realize that Dickens indirectly criticizes the society of his own time.