Getting Oriented What does Gradgrind mean by 'Facts alone are wanted in life,' and how does his school put that philosophy into practice? Who are Louisa and Tom Gradgrind, and how has their upbringing shaped each of them differently? What is Coketown like, and what does Dickens's description of it suggest about industrial life? Why does Sissy Jupe end up in the Gradgrind household, and how does she fit — or not fit — into it?
Reading Deeper How does Dickens use Bounderby's self-made-man story to satirize a certain kind of Victorian self-mythology? What is Stephen Blackpool's dilemma with the union, and what does it say about Dickens's own view of organized labor? Why does Dickens divide the novel into 'Sowing,' 'Reaping,' and 'Garnering' — what does that agricultural structure argue? What early signs suggest that Gradgrind's philosophy will eventually cost him something?