Hard Times

banker joseph bounderby is the epitome of this world a self made self important industrialist propped up by the well born but equally well widowed mrs sparsit local mp and school master thomas gradgrind has raised his children louisa and tom according to an educational system that supports this economic regime one of fact not fancy as a result louisa has grown cold and distant while tom forced to work for bounderby adopts a secret life of drink and gambling in order to be nearer to tom louisa accepts an offer of marriage from bounderby a man for whom she feels neither love nor respect consequently mrs sparsit is enraged at her relegation in the bounderby household and longs for louisa s downfall she does not wait long as the drama unfolds before us the thin veneer of aloof respectability is stripped away to reveal a society in which everything is valued by price