Winnipeg Public Library Catalogue

This short novel follows the fate of Sissy Jupe, a warm-hearted circus child who is adopted into the cold household of the Gradgrind family when her ailing father deserts her. The "eminently practical" Thomas Gradgrind, who operates a school, believes only in facts and figures and instructs his children accordingly, thoroughly suppressing the imaginative sides of their natures. They grow up in ignorance of love and affection, of beauty and culture, or of empathy for others—and the consequences are devastating. Only after numerous crises does Thomas realize that his principles have corrupted their lives. Dickens’s satirical exposé of the Industrial Revolution condemns the utilitarianism that exploited the bodies, minds, and souls of the vulnerable labor class.