Thursday, October 7, 2010
There is Hope For Imagination, Yet.
She was a child now, of fifteen or sixteen; but at no distant day would seem to become a woman all at once. Her father thought so as he looked at her. She was pretty. Would have been self-willed (he thought in his eminently practical way) but for her bringing-up. When Thomas Gradgrind's daughter, Louisa, comes to greet him, there is an obvious air of spunk and boldness to her, that of which her brother Thomas does not have. Thomas Gradgrind could see in the woman that Louisa is slowly becoming, that she could've so easily been the type to be tenacious when it came to carrying out her dreams and desires, if it were not for her upbringing. A little before this excerpt it says, ...yet struggling through the dissatisfaction on her face, there was a light with nothing to rest upon, a fire with nothing to burn, a starved imagination keeping life in itself somehow, which brightened its expression. Not with the brightness natural to cheerful youth, but with uncertain, eager, doubtful flashes, which had something painful in them, analogous to the changes on a blind face groping its way. From this quote, I could really feel the hollowness that probably resides in Louisa's chest. I could feel the constant burn of curiosity beginning to singe the edges of her tear ducts, making her want to cry, but won't let her. But aside from that, I really like this part of the chapter because it shows that there is some hope for a breakthrough. We can see some foreshadowing with the way Dickens is introducing Louisa that Thomas Gradgrind may be confronted about the negative points of knowing nothing and believing nothing but facts.
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Throughout the first book, we can see that Mr. Gradgrind is attached to the concept of living life factually. As we read deeper into the various chapters, we are introduced to the many different ways his teachings affect others, such as his children. Louisa is completely influenced by her father's ways, without any sense of direction to call her own. As she considers to marry Mr. Bounderby, Louisa repeatedly asks her father, "Father, do you think I love Mr. Bounderby?' and "Shall I marry him?", leading readers to believe she has no confidence or belief in herself. This shows that the way Mr. Gradgrind raised his children does not give them a complete and full direction in life. They will continually rely on others to feed them facts, until they "breakthrough" from their shell of limited thought. Louisa begins to display a sense of imagination, thinking about the "what if" in her life. I agree with Aileen in the way that we enjoy this curiosity that arises in Louisa, as we see that she is growing into a woman through the stages of the novel.
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