Hard Times

Book 2 is the dramatic peak of the Hard Times plot. During its final chapters, Louisa’s unhappiness culminates in a brief moment of romantic temptation and then an emotional confrontation with her father. Her mother’s death has a dramatic impact on Louisa. In her mother’s final hours, while Gradgrind is away in London and Sissy is caring for the younger children, Louisa visits her family home to see her mother and meet with her younger sister, Jane. The difference in personalities between Louisa and Jane is stark. On an aesthetic level, they look the same, yet on a psychological level, the difference is remarkable. Jane wasn’t raised on her father’s utilitarian philosophy. Gradgrind’s absence and Sissy’s presence has allowed Jane to embrace her emotions and her sentimentality. Louisa looks into her younger sister’s face and sees the reflection of the happy young girl she might have been. The realization horrifies her, clearly illustrating everything she has lost. Louisa confronts her father not because of Harthouse declaring his love for her but because of her internal comprehension of her misery and the role her father played in cultivating her unhappiness.

The relationship between Tom, Louisa, and Harthouse is a complicated triangle of manipulation. As Harthouse correctly deduces early in the novel, Tom is the only person who can stir Louisa’s emotions. She’s willing to do anything for him, from selling her jewelry to marrying Bounderby. In addition, Harthouse recognizes that Tom is a liar and a gambler who has racked up massive debts and manipulated his sister into paying them off on his behalf. As a result, Harthouse manipulates Tom as part of a complex plan to get to Louisa. His friendly interactions with Tom are always conditioned on being able to attract Louisa’s attention, showing her that he’s a kind and caring man. However, Harthouse is amoral. He doesn’t care about Tom’s crimes or his vices—or that Louisa is deeply unhappy and married. He simply wants to be with her, and his complicated manipulation seems to him the most direct way to get what he wants. In this sense, the manipulation is an expression of Gradgrind’s utilitarianism. Harthouse is examining the cold, hard facts and judging his moral choices by the outcome he hopes to achieve. Everything else is irrelevant to him.

During the culminating events of Book 2, Mrs. Sparsit offers an outside, detached perspective to view the actions of the characters. Mrs. Sparsit has disliked Louisa for a long time. She doesn’t consider Louisa worthy of Bounderby, so she passive-aggressively continues to refer to her as Miss Gradgrind. These small sleights continue, and Mrs. Sparsit convinces herself that Louisa and Harthouse are about to conduct an affair. She follows Louisa, spying on the wife of her employer because she can’t deal with her own jealousy and paranoia. Even when she can’t hear the conversation between Harthouse and Louisa, she’s convinced that she’s right. She projects her paranoia onto the conversation, illustrating that she completely misunderstands Louisa as a person. Other parts of the narrative, however, make it clear that Louisa has no real interest in an affair. She abandons Harthouse and goes to her father, completely contrary to Mrs. Sparsit’s expectations. The contrast between Mrs. Sparsit’s suspicions and Louisa’s actions reveals the disconnect between wealth and intelligence. Mrs. Sparsit is from a wealthy family and considers herself to be of a high moral standing in society. Throughout the novel, however, she gets almost everything wrong. The abject failure of her every action completely dispels the notion that the rich and powerful are in any way better or more intelligent than the poor and powerless.