Hard Times

Superintendent Mr. Gradgrind opens the novel at his school in Coketown stating, “Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts”, and interrogates one of his pupils, Cecilia (nicknamed Sissy), whose father works at a circus. Because her father works with horses, Gradgrind demands the definition of a horse. When she is scolded for her inability to factually define a horse, her classmate Bitzer gives a zoological profile, and Sissy is censured for suggesting that she would carpet a floor with pictures of flowers or horses.