Who Thomas Gradgrind is
Thomas Gradgrind lives in Coketown, the industrial town where the novel takes place. A retired hardware merchant, he sits on the school board and brings firm convictions into the classroom. He values what can be weighed, measured or counted, and dismisses what cannot.
What Thomas Gradgrind wants
Gradgrind wants education to produce sensible, useful people through facts and figures alone. He is not cruel by nature, but sincerely believes that his rules help children. At Stone Lodge, his own children grow up without fairy tales, nursery rhymes or idle wondering.
Thomas Gradgrind and the others in the story
His daughter Louisa and son Tom feel the lack of play in their upbringing. When he discovers them watching the circus, he cannot understand their interest in it.
Gradgrind takes Sissy Jupe into his home after her father disappears from the circus. She struggles with his lessons, yet her warmth offers something his system leaves out. His close friend Josiah Bounderby shares his practical outlook, linking the household to Coketown's world of banking and mills.
Pytania
Who is Thomas Gradgrind?
Thomas Gradgrind is a father and school board man whose belief in facts shapes his children's upbringing.
Is Thomas Gradgrind cruel?
He is not naturally cruel, and he believes he is doing right. His certainty nevertheless leaves little space for his children's feelings.
How is Thomas Gradgrind connected to Sissy Jupe?
He takes Sissy into his household and offers her an education, provided she leaves the circus behind.
