Hard Times: who's who, timeline and places

Everyone in Hard Times, what happens when, and where, without spoilers: tell us how far you have read and we show only what you already know.

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GradgrindHe questions schoolchildren and demands factual answers rather than expressions of imagination.First seen in chapter 2
SissyA schoolgirl who cannot define a horse, she enjoys imagined beauty that officials reject.First seen in chapter 2
BitzerA schoolboy who supplies the detailed factual definition of a horse that Sissy cannot give.First seen in chapter 2
LouisaGradgrind’s daughter feels deeply weary and accepts blame for looking into a horse-riding show.First seen in chapter 3
TomOne of Gradgrind’s children, he joins Louisa in peering into a horse-riding show.First seen in chapter 3
BounderbyHe boasts of overcoming childhood poverty and blames Cecilia Jupe for the Gradgrind children’s curiosity.First seen in chapter 4
Mrs. GradgrindLouisa and Thomas’s mother scolds them for looking at the circus.First seen in chapter 4
Mrs. SparsitBounderby’s employee comes from a privileged background and has fallen short of money.First seen in chapter 7
StephenA power-loom weaver worn by hardship, he finds comfort in his trusted friend Rachael.First seen in chapter 10
RachaelStephen’s trusted friend walks with him after work but worries about gossip.First seen in chapter 10
Mrs. PeglerAn old country woman makes a demanding yearly journey merely to glimpse Bounderby.First seen in chapter 12
James HarthouseA gentleman carrying Gradgrind’s introduction seeks Bounderby’s address and asks about his wife.First seen in chapter 17

Chapter 1
An unnamed speaker orders a schoolmaster to teach children facts and exclude everything else.
Chapter 2
Gradgrind questions Sissy, while Bitzer supplies the factual definition of a horse she cannot give.
Chapter 3
Gradgrind catches Louisa and Thomas watching a horse-riding show and leads them home in disgrace.
Chapter 6
After her father disappears, Sissy accepts Gradgrind’s offer of care and education away from the circus.
Chapter 8
Tom tells Louisa he hates his life and plans to use her influence over Bounderby.
Chapter 10
Stephen walks with Rachael after work, then finds a drunken woman waiting at his lodging.
Chapter 11
Bounderby tells Stephen that ending his marriage legally would cost far beyond his means.
Chapter 13
Rachael nurses Stephen’s wife and prevents her from drinking poison.
Chapter 15
Louisa accepts Bounderby’s marriage proposal after her father answers her concerns with facts and statistics.
Chapter 16
Bounderby marries Louisa after practical preparations and arranges rooms for Mrs. Sparsit at the Bank.
Chapter 18
Harthouse gains Bounderby’s welcome and takes an interest in Louisa and her attachment to Tom.
Chapter 20
Stephen refuses the workers’ proposed regulations and suffers exclusion from their companionship.
Chapter 21
Bounderby dismisses Stephen after he refuses to condemn the workers who have rejected him.
Chapter 22
Louisa lends Stephen money, while Tom privately directs him to wait near the Bank before leaving town.
Chapter 24
Bounderby reports a bank robbery, and Louisa privately begs Tom to reveal anything he hides.
Chapter 28
Louisa confronts her father about her upbringing and unhappy marriage, then collapses.
Chapter 29
Gradgrind questions his teaching, while Louisa accepts Sissy’s affectionate support.
Chapter 30
Sissy visits Harthouse and persuades him to leave Coketown permanently.
Chapter 31
Bounderby demands Louisa’s return and sends her belongings away when she remains at Stone Lodge.
Chapter 33
Mrs. Pegler identifies herself as Bounderby’s mother and exposes his stories of childhood abandonment as false.
Chapter 34
Rescuers raise Stephen from the abandoned shaft, but he dies after asking Gradgrind to question his son.
Chapter 35
Tom admits the bank theft while his family arranges his escape, but Bitzer arrives and seizes him.
Chapter 36
Sleary uses trained animals and Childers’s help to free Tom from Bitzer.
Chapter 37
Bounderby dismisses Mrs. Sparsit, and the narrator describes Gradgrind’s changed beliefs, Tom’s repentance, and Louisa’s continuing care for others.
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