1)

• a man perfectly devoid of sentiment

• a rich man: banker, merchant, manufacturer, and what not. A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man 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, and such a strained skin to his face that it seemed to hold his eyes open, and lift his eyebrows up. 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. A man who was always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty. A man who was the Bully of humility.

• his seven or eight and forty might have had the seven or eight added to it again, without surprising anybody. He had not much hair. One might have fancied he had talked it off; and that what was left, all standing up in disorder, was in that condition from being constantly blown about by his windy boastfulness.

• 'I was determined, I suppose. I have been a determined character in later life, and I suppose I was then

   

2)

• partly because he thus took up a commanding position, from which to subdue Mrs. Gradgrind ------ COMMANDING= dominant, controlling

• A man who was the Bully of humility-----BULLY= tyrant, tormentor

• A man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon, and ready to start-----INFLATED = exaggerated, pretentious, pompous

• And that what was left, all standing up in disorder, was in that condition from being constantly blown about by his windy boastfulness-----BOASTFUL = pretentious, egotistic

   

3)

Everything helps giving the portrait of a proud, arrogant, selfish man; the third person intrusive narrator conveys Mr Dickens' thoughts

4)

BOUNDER= canaglia, furfante, farabutto, mascalzone

Bounder refers to an extremely unpleasant, dishonest man. The phrase that more reinforces the meaning of the surname is “he was the bully of humility”.

5)

They would be something of honorable if only he didn't praise his achievments costantly and in an annoying way; nobody loves arrogant and proud people

6)

He only talks about how poor he was in the past, and how glorious he is now; he complains too much, and puts too much emphasis on himself; he has a great consideration of his person.

7)

His own words mark his being selfish, mournful, proud, arrogant

8)

No, maybe it just reinforces it

9)

He continues to repeat "I", he uses three times the word "ditch" because he doesn't know other words for it, he uses two times the word "inflammation", or "determination" for the same reason.

He talks in a very simple way, and this can be justified by his lack in education.

This shows how Mr Bounderby, even if rich, powerful etc. on the surface, will always be poor in his soul: he's ignorant, and his way of talking confirms it; he's too superficial to understand all this, and just tries to appear "important" using words as "ma'am" and "stocking" to hide his real being