Gradgrind himself is described as having an “inflexible, dry and dictatorial” voice. He is a “square” person and this can be seen not only through Dickens’ description of his personality, but also through the description of his physical appearance, “square coat, square legs, square shoulders”, all of which suggest Gradgrind’s unrelenting rigidity. The first time we see Gradgrind in the novel, he is giving a speech to a group of young students, cramming facts into the children’s heads. Gradgrind says he is “ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you what it comes to”. Gradgrind's name itself evokes the monotonous grind of his children's lives, as well as the grinding of the factory machines.
However, no matter what his opinions are, it was very noble of Mr. Gradgrind to open a non-fee paying school. A lot of Victorian families couldn’t afford to send their children to school and thus, a lot of Victorian children never went to school, and were instead sent out to work, usually to difficult factory work. Dickens himself was forced to work with other children in a nightmarish job in a blacking warehouse, pasting labels on bottles when his father – who was incompetent with his money and frequently piled up large amounts of debt in his life – was sent to prison. Dickens’ mother moved his seven brothers and sisters into prison with their father but arranged for Charles to live alone outside the prison and go to work. The three months he spent apart from his family were highly traumatic for Dickens and his job was miserable. Because of his horrible time working as a child, Dickens wished to campaign for the reform of working conditions. Dickens resolved to “strike the heaviest blow in my power” for those who laboured in horrific conditions.
As stated earlier, Dickens is very opposed to the utilitarian attitude that he gave Gradgrind. For Dickens, Utilitarianism is based upon a false conception of human nature. Their trust in the economic forces and their reliance on statistical evidence made no allowance for noble human qualities such as generosity, kindness and sympathy. Sissy serves as a contrast, to Louisa because while Sissy is imaginative and compassionate, Louisa is rational and, for the most part, unfeeling. Through Sissy's interaction with her, Louisa is able to explore her more sensitive, feminine sides.
Gradgrind’s two children – Louisa and Tom – were brought up around Utilitarian beliefs from childhood by their father, something that Mr. Gradgrind is very proud of and it also shows us that he is very proud of his system. Louisa and Tom were taught to abandon their emotions, and for Louisa especially, they find it difficult to express themselves clearly. Both children were never given the chance to grasp this concept of “fancy” and because of this, they had a very diverse childhood in the sense that they probably didn’t get the chance to do a lot of things that children usually get to do. However, because of their bitterness towards the utilitarian education system, Louisa and Tom have a very strong relationship
Due to the lack of childhood, they find themselves unprepared for life itself. Even though they have been educated by their father from a very young age, they never grasped the concept of right and wrong, never dealt with emotions like love and hate. Louisa married Mr. Bounderby in a very logical and businesslike manner, much like her upbringing. It is safe to assume that Louisa does not understand love, and could not possibly be in love with Mr. Bounderby. Tom, on the other hand, is given a job in Bounderby’s bank – thanks to his father – but descends into hedonic gambling and drinking. Tom takes advantage of his sister to get out of the life that his father has given him which he dislikes. Tom eventually robs Bounderby’s bank and frames factory worker Stephen Blackpool. Louisa would then go on to have a breakdown which she never fully recovers from, as she ends up never remarrying and does not get a happy ending. Tom flees the country following the bank robbery.
Two contrasting pupils in Gradgrind’s classroom are Bitzer and Sissy. Each of them are one of the main representatives of fact and fancy in the novel, respectively. Bitzer is the star pupil of the system and is taught to operate according to self-interest. When he is asked to define a horse by Gradgrind, he says "Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth." Bitzer is all calculations and no heart. He later becomes a porter at Bounderby’s bank that spies on other employees. Bitzer tries to arrest Tom, so that Bounderby will promote him to Tom’s position. Sissy, on the other hand is the embodiment of imagination, hope and faith in this novel. Sissy has some trouble at the start of novel because she does not understand the difference between a life based on fact and a life based on fancy. When she is asked to define a horse, she does not know the answer, which does not impress Gradgrind. Due to her high morals and natural warm-heartedness, Sissy has a huge influence on the whole Gradgrind family. When Mrs. Gradgrind dies, she takes over the role of mothering the younger Gradgrind children. At the end of the novel, she ends up happily married and surrounded by children.
Sissy wasn’t exposed to a formal education; however her father always wished that she would have a good education. So when her father abandoned her at the circus when she was young, she had the choice of living with the circus owner or taking the chance to study at Gradgrind’s school and go to live with him. Respecting her father’s wishes, Sissy goes to live with Gradgrind. I think that instead of a formal education, Sissy has an education in life, in a sense that she understands feelings and emotions, things that you can’t be taught inside a classroom.
If you look back and analyze the adults that Sissy, Louisa and Tom all turn into respectively, it’s easy to see where Dickens stands in the battle between fact and fancy. The only one of the three who didn’t get a proper utilitarian education was the one whose life turned out the best. I think Dickens is suggesting that life comes after education, not the other way round. Things that aren’t on the school curriculum still play a very important role in life, for example, feelings, emotions and imagination.
Gradgrind better understands this towards the end of the novel and eventually comes to admit the failure of his system. Following Louisa’s breakdown, Gradgrind comes to a realisation that things such as poetry, fiction and other pursuits are not “destructive nonsense”. Gradgrind even begins to embrace the existence of the previously unknown thought of “fancy”.