Mr. Bounderby

The extract taken by Charles Dickens' Hard Times the reader can see the use of the narrative techniques of the grotesque and pathos.

Mr. Bounder’s characterization is caricatured by the use of the grotesque: his age is exaggerated, he looks very ugly and he perfectly corresponds to the exaggerated stereotype of the capitalist and of the self-made man.

There are many expressions that give the idea of an arrogant man: the simile “inflated like a balloon”, the ironical phrase “a man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man” (who is also a hide critique to the myth of the middle class who is composed by self-made men), the ironical expression “the Bully of humility” and the analogy “constantly blown about by his windy boastfulness”.

The same name “Bounderby” recalls the word “bounder”, therefore it gives the idea of an immoral person.

The figure of Mrs. Gradgrind is made nice by the use of pathos. The description of the extreme situation of poverty she lives makes the reader feel sad for her. The feeling of pity is increased by the fact that she was just a child and she is describing her tenth birthday: she stays alone in a ditch.

In Mr. Bounderby’s words the Protestant mentality is clear: the poor man must work hard to become rich, therefore to be poor is guilt, because a poor person is one who not works enough.