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Character can be shown through the things characters do, what they say, what they look like, and what they own.

This extract from Charles Dickens’s Hard Times introduces Mr Gradgrind, the headmaster of a school.

What do we learn about this character from the writer’s choice of language?

“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!”

The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school-room, and the speaker's square forefinger emphasised his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for the hard facts stored inside.

Hard Times, Charles Dickens

Analysis

• The writer chooses to use dialogue to give an immediate impression of Gradgrind’s character.
• He uses a lot of commands in his speech, “Stick to Facts, sir!” This suggests that he’s used to being in charge. He emphasises ‘Facts’ by using the capital letter ‘F’. This suggests he has a narrow view of education.
• Although the narrator seems to be describing the character in quite a factual way – suggesting he’s neutral, the reader can see that the narrator does not approve of Gradgrind.
• The negative impression of the Mr.Gradgrind is also strengthened by the description of the surroundings, the school-room is “…plain, bare, monotonous…”
• This triplet of negative words established a pattern in the extract. For example, later the writer includes the triplet “…wide, thin, and hard…” and then “…inflexible, dry, and dictatorial…”
• These groups of adjectives emphasise an undesirable view of the character for the reader.
• The writer uses the extended metaphor of a building to describe Gradgrind’s appearance. For example, his “square wall of a forehead” and his eyes are “…commodious cellarage in two dark caves…” This metaphor is also picked up in the final line in the reference to the “…warehouse room…” of his head. The effect of these images is quite comical and perhaps also hints at his severe and hard character.