Hard Times

After Louisa’s incident, Sissy decides to visit Harthouse. Ever since Louisa’s disappearance, he has been worried because she didn’t meet him in Coketown. Sissy confronts Harthouse, telling him that he’ll “never see [Louisa] again” (178). He should leave Coketown, she says, and he must never come back. Harthouse is embarrassed and confused but admits that he’s “not a moral sort of fellow” (179). Most of all, he’s struck by Sissy’s beauty and demeanor. He has no choice but to agree to her demands. He leaves Coketown, writing a letter to his brother explaining that because he’s “bored of the place” (181), he’s going to Egypt.

Mrs. Sparsit falls ill. Like Louisa, she ran through the pouring rain and now has a “violent cold.” Nevertheless, she tells Bounderby that she thinks Harthouse and Louisa are having an affair. Bounderby is furious. Despite her illness, he insists that Mrs. Sparsit go with him to Stone Lodge. There, he demands to know the truth from Gradgrind and Louisa. In a confessional mood, Gradgrind tells his old friend that he may have made serious “mistakes” in raising his children as he did. He defends his daughter and asks Bounderby to permit Louisa to stay at Stone Lodge until she’s fully recovered. Appealing to Bounderby’s better nature, he reminds Bounderby of his duty as a husband to help his wife. However, the plea doesn’t work. Bounderby is furious. He insists that Louisa return to his house by noon the following day; otherwise, he’ll disown her and send all her possessions back to Stone Lodge. Gradgrind stands firm beside his daughter. She won’t leave Stone Lodge, he says, until she’s fully recovered. The following day, Bounderby returns all Louisa’s possessions and resumes his “bachelor life.”

Bounderby is angry. He deals with his anger by “renewing his investigations” (188) into the robbery, doubling his attempt to track down Blackpool. Meanwhile, Slackbridge too has taken to publicly blaming Blackpool for the theft at the bank, and the Hands join in the manhunt for the “traitor.” One day, Louisa is surprised when her brother, as well as Rachael and her estranged husband, visit her. Rachael claims that Blackpool wants to return to Coketown “in two days” (191) to clear his name. She believes that Blackpool has been framed. Although Rachael doesn’t want to implicate Louisa in the crime, she suggests that Louisa’s offering Blackpool money was part of an elaborate scheme. Despite Rachael’s claim that Blackpool will return soon, however, he has still not returned after a week. His continued absence only makes his accusers even more certain of his guilt.

Sissy goes to Rachael “every night” to ask about Blackpool. As they walk together one evening, they see Mrs. Sparsit roughly handling the “mysterious old woman” (196), Mrs. Pegler. According to Mrs. Sparsit, Mrs. Pegler is a suspicious figure. She was seen fraternizing with Blackpool in the days before the robbery and therefore must be questioned. When Mrs. Sparsit drags Mrs. Pegler before Bounderby, however, Bounderby is furious. Mrs. Pegler is apologetic. He admits that Mrs. Pegler is his mother. The other characters quickly realize that Bounderby wasn’t raised by a grandmother with alcoholism after being “brought up in the gutter” (198). Rather, Mrs. Pegler raised him in a nice household, and he felt compelled to invent a desperate myth to position himself as a rags-to-riches success. He refuses to discuss the matter further.

Blackpool is still missing. As Sissy and Rachael take a walk through the country, they notice a hat. Rachael recognizes it as Blackpool’s hat, and they soon realize that he has fallen down an old mine pit named “Old Hell Shaft” (203) while returning to Coketown. He’s still alive, so they get help, and a crowd of people pull Blackpool out of the pit. He’s severely injured, and with his dying words, he declares his love for Rachael and asks Louisa to talk to her father about Tom, who he believes has information that will prove Blackpool’s innocence.

After Blackpool’s death, the crowd drifts apart. Tom is missing. At home, Louisa and Gradgrind conclude that Tom robbed Bounderby’s bank. According to Louisa, Sissy told Tom that he could find shelter in the circus, which is currently near Liverpool. Since Liverpool is a port city, he could flee the country to “any part of the world” (209). Gradgrind, Sissy, and Louisa travel to Liverpool to find the circus, planning to help Tom escape if they find him. They meet Mr. Sleary, who assures them that Tom is safe. Tom has been performing in the circus, wearing blackface and “comic livery” as part of a minstrel show. Gradgrind, Louisa, and Sissy arrange for Tom to flee the country. Despite Louisa’s helping him, Tom blames her for refusing to give him more money to gamble and claims that she “never cared” for him. Nevertheless, Louisa forgives her brother. She tells Tom that she loves him. From nowhere, Bitzer appears and demands that Tom be taken back to Coketown to answer for his crimes.

Gradgrind tries to bribe Bitzer, without success, as Bitzer uses facts and reason to explain why he’ll benefit from helping Bounderby. This self-interest is a “fundamental principle of the Gradgrind philosophy” (216). As Bitzer attempts to take Tom back to Coketown, Mr. Sleary and the circus performers trick Bitzer by creating a diversion that allows Tom to escape aboard a ship. The next day, Mr. Sleary passes along bad news to Gradgrind for Sissy: Her father’s beloved dog has returned to the circus, which is a sure sign that her father is dead. Gradgrind thanks Sleary for his help with a financial reward.

Because Mrs. Sparsit accused his mother of complicity in robbing his bank, Bounderby dismisses Mrs. Sparsit from employment at his home, sending her away to live with one of her relatives, Lady Scadgers, whom she dislikes a great deal. Unbeknown to Bounderby, a very proud man, he’ll die in five years after “a fit” in the streets of Coketown. Meanwhile, Gradgrind resolves to change his ways. He adopts a more religious, more optimistic view of the world and helps others. In addition, he uses his power as a Member of Parliament to ensure that Blackpool’s name is publicly cleared. After Louisa leaves Bounderby, she never remarries. Tom quickly begins to regret his behavior toward his sister and, while dying, wishes that he could see her face one last time. Rachael continues to work and take a pleasant, angelic approach to life. Sissy finds a husband and starts a family. Her children and Louisa become close. Through these children, Louisa begins to understand the “imaginative graces and delights” (223) of the world that she was denied as a child. As a result, she dedicates her life to helping others and understanding the world around her.