SGiannangeli - Activities on Mr. Bounderby

1. List all the words and phrases describing Mr. Bounderby.

Mr. Bounderby is described as “a man perfectly devoid of sentiment”, he’s also an incredibly rich man, to emphasize this connotation, the writer states that he’s a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and “what not”. He’s also described as “A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh” and as a man made out of a coarse material, in order to underline his roughness. The narrator also claims that he looked like a “inflated balloon”, just like he was going to explode at any moment: as a matter of facts, he had “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”. Mr. Bounderby is defined as “the bully of Humility”, as a man who is always “proclaiming” “through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty”. He is also arrogant and vain, indeed, he “could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man”. He’s described as a not good-looking man and he looks older than he actually is.

2. Collect the 4 phrases which explicitly convey the narrator’s opinion of Mr. Bounderby’s character and find in a dictionary, adjectives of the same meaning.

- “as a man perfectly devoid of sentiment can approach that spiritual relationship towards another man perfectly devoid of sentiment”: Mr. Bounderby is insensitive.

- “A man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man”: according to the narrator, Mr. Bounderby is conceited and self-regarding.

- “being constantly blown about by his windy boastfulness”: Mr. Bounderby is also arrogant.

- “A man made out of a coarse material”: Mr. Bounderby is rough.

3. Now go back to the list you made for exercise 1. which of the other items on it are connected with one or more of the author’s comments?

As regards Mr. Bounderby vanity and boastfulness, the narrator describes him as an inflated balloon that is going to explode, and that could be because he’s full of himself and he’s also compared to a bully that ignores humility.

4. The surname of the character contains the word bounder on purpose. Look it up in the dictionary. Which of the phrases you have listed reinforces the meaning of the surname?
The word “bounder” stands for a person who is not honest and humble, a person who is able to commit bad actions in order to achieve is goals. The phrases that underline this side of the character in the extract are: “a man perfectly devoid of sentiment”; “A man made out of a coarse material”; “he thus took up a commanding position, from which to subdue Mrs. Gradgrind”.

5. Mr. Bounderby is described as coming from a poor family, without education and self-made. In other contexts, these attributes might be presented as worthy of sympathy and/or admiration. Why aren’t they here?

Because Mr. Bounderby has become, with time, an arrogant and superb man, he’s full of himself, so that the reader can not feel empathic towards him.

6. Now go on reading and see if what Bounderby says is consistent with the description of his character. /
7. Which aspect/s of Bounderby’s character is/are emphasised in what he says?
Bounderby talks about his tenth birthday and his condition of poverty in the past. At the end of the dialogue, he states that he has nobody to thanks for him being there but himself: as the narrator had previously underlined, Mr. Bounderby keeps stating that he’s a self-made man and keeps talking about his origins in order to appear more powerful and skilful, and to catch other’s empathy and sympathy towards him.

8. Does what he says confirm or modify his portrait in the previous text?

I think his way of talking to the others and his behaviour confirm his roughness, arrogance and pride, his commanding and despotic attitude. Indeed, the writer tells the reader that he “took up a commanding position” and he demonstrates his superiority when he brags for being a “self-made man”.

9. Consider the way Bounderby speaks.

a)       Underline any repetition of pronouns, words or sentence pattern in the extract you have read.

Mr. Bounderby always uses the pronoun “I”, which appears frequently in his dialogues. He also uses some images to better convey what he wants to say, for example similes and quantity references “as wet as a sop”, “a foot of water in it”. He also uses adverbs that emphasize concepts, such as “so”, “most”, “always”. Plus, he utilises a hyperbolic language: “you wouldn't have touched me with a pair of tongs”, “I was one of the most miserable little wretches ever seen”.

b)      How would you define his way of talking?

I would say his way of talking is exaggerate and hyperbolic.

c)       How does his way of talking fit in with his character as described by the narrator?

The repetition of the pronoun “I” underlines his egocentrism and his selfish personality, whereas the use of a hyperbolic language and the exaggeration convey his arrogance, his boastfulness and his need to feel superior than others.