# Mr. Bounderby explained — Hard Times

> Chapter companion for Hard Times by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

This chapter introduces Mr. Josiah Bounderby, a wealthy banker and manufacturer who is a close friend of Mr. Gradgrind. Bounderby boasts about his harsh, self-made upbringing, claiming he was born in a ditch and raised by a wicked grandmother. The chapter also reveals that Louisa and Thomas Gradgrind have been caught peeping at a circus, which disturbs Mr. Gradgrind's rational philosophy. Bounderby advises Gradgrind to expel Sissy Jupe from the school, blaming her for the children's curiosity.

## Themes in this chapter

### Fact vs. Fancy

Gradgrind's distress over his children's interest in the circus highlights the conflict between his fact-based education and the natural human attraction to imagination and fancy.

### Hypocrisy and Self-Deception

Bounderby's constant self-aggrandizement about his humble origins is a form of hypocrisy, as he uses his past to claim moral superiority while ignoring the systemic issues of poverty.

### Social Class and Inequality

Bounderby's pride in being a 'self-made man' reinforces class distinctions, as he dismisses the circus performers as 'vagabonds' and advocates for Sissy's expulsion based on her background.

## Character check-ins

### Josiah Bounderby

Introduced as a loud, boastful self-made man who constantly vaunts his humble origins and lack of refinement.

### Thomas Gradgrind

Vexed by his children's interest in the circus, he discusses the matter with Bounderby and agrees to expel Sissy Jupe.

### Louisa Gradgrind

Caught peeping at the circus with her brother, she shows haughty defiance when confronted.

### Mrs. Gradgrind

A feeble, passive woman who is easily stunned by facts and offers little resistance to her husband's decisions.

### Tom Gradgrind Junior

Caught with Louisa at the circus, he is in the dumps and is briefly mentioned.

### Sissy Jupe

Mentioned as the stroller's child who applied to the school; Bounderby and Gradgrind decide to expel her.

## Key lines

> 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.

Bounderby constantly brags about being self-made and loudly boasts about his past ignorance and poverty, using his humble origins to dominate others.

_This passage establishes Bounderby's character as a boastful, self-aggrandizing figure who weaponizes his past._

> I hadn't a shoe to my foot. As to a stocking, I didn't know such a thing by name. I passed the day in a ditch, and the night in a pigsty. That's the way I spent my tenth birthday.

Bounderby claims he was so poor as a child that he had no shoes or stockings, and spent his tenth birthday in a ditch and a pigsty.

_This quote exemplifies Bounderby's habit of exaggerating his childhood hardships to emphasize his self-made success._

> Turn this girl to the right about, and there's an end of it.

Bounderby advises Gradgrind to expel Sissy Jupe immediately and be done with the matter.

_This shows Bounderby's decisive, no-nonsense attitude and his influence over Gradgrind's decisions._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/hard_times_se/chapters/iv-mr-bounderby
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/hard_times_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/hard_times_se/chapters