Hard Times

Hard Times opens with Thomas Gradgrind giving a speech extolling the importance of facts. This introduction is an important part of Gradgrind’s character, as it establishes the baseline for his character arc. At the beginning of the novel, he’s utterly convinced of his own brilliance. He’s completely invested in his personal philosophy and insists that everyone else should adhere to these principles. In the battle of Sentimentality Versus Practicality, Gradgrind veers so dramatically toward the latter that he sets up a school in Coketown to pass his utilitarian views on to the next generation. Furthermore, Gradgrind is so convinced that his beliefs are correct that his two most important students are his eldest children, Tom and Louisa. They receive the strictest, most thorough education, and their father’s influence molds their personalities. The degree to which Gradgrind is convinced that his—and only his—worldview is correct is essential to his character. Unlike Bounderby, however, Gradgrind’s will is tested. The self-interested, rational, and thoroughly unsentimental view of the world must be established before it’s challenged and then broken down.

While Gradgrind is completely sincere in his beliefs, they’re largely self-serving. He has spent his life developing a personal philosophy that happens to justify his wealth and privilege—and the existence of a poor underclass who are exploited for his benefit.