respectable man. It makes no difference to him that Louisa Gradgrind does not love him or that she is miserable in their marriage. It is though she has taken the role of her mother, Mrs. Gradgrind, who seems as if she has no feelings inside of her. She is empty, and now Louisa must take on the same role as the zombie like woman. It seems that Mr. Bounderby has everything that he has always wanted, the daughter of a respectable man as his wife, wealth, and a story of how he had accomplished it all. This all changes for him when he is learned to be a fraud by the unwelcome visit of his mother, who in fact raised, cared for, educated, and loved him while he was growing up. His stories of a “self made man” were all lies. Louisa leaves him, and returns to her father. Although every thing around him changes, he can not. He is later found dead on the streets of Coketown, seemingly due to the large blow to his ego. Dickens’s protests symbolized by Mr. Bounderby are very simple. He is against the selfish, egotistical men of his day. Mr. Bounderby’s poor treatment of not only his peers, but also his workers eventually catches up to him. His ego killed him.Dickens portrays the working class though a couple of workers in Mr. Bounderby’s factory. Stephen Blackpool is an honest, hard working man who is hopelessly in love with Rachael, a coworker in the factory. Stephen is married to another woman who has left him for a life of drinking. When Stephen goes to Mr. Bounderby in hopes that he will help Stephen obtain a divorce, Mr. Bounderby disregards Stephen’s request, for to him Stephen is not a person, but rather a member of the group of “Hands” in his factory. Stephen latter stands up for the workers, and is fired. He leaves Coketown in search of work. Here we see Dickens standing up for the working class. Stephen was unable to obtain a divorce due to the fact that divorces were ...
