Chapter Fifteen: Father and Daughter
Mr. Gradgrind sits in his room which is designed very much like an Observatory. He has spent many ours in this space contemplating and studying human habits and destinies. He prepares to have his serious discussion with Louisa, who insists upon remaining dispassionate throughout the entire encounter. Gradgrind tells his daughter that she is the subject of a marriage proposal‹and Louisa does not respond. Gradgrind expects Louisa to convey some emotion, but she is entirely stoic and reminds Gradgrind that her upbringing has prevented her from knowing what emotions to express.
Gradgrind explains that it is Mr. Bounderby who has made the marriage proposal and Louisa refrains from registering any emotional response. When her father asks her what she intends to do, Louisa turns the question back to him and asks him what he thinks she ought to do. Gradgrind looks at the situation analytically and dismisses the fact of Bounderby being fifty years old. The marriage has little to do with love and is simply a matter of "tangible Fact." In the end, the decision is for Louisa to make. But as she does not see that any opportunity will bring her happiness she realizes that it does not matter what she does. She continually repeats the phrase "what does it matter?" and this frustrates Mr. Gradgrind.
In the end, Louisa is still emotionless and she replies: "I am satisfied to accept his proposal." Mr. Gradgrind is very pleased and he kisses his daughter on the forehead. When Mrs. Gradgrind hears the news she is happy but then she works herself into a fit and soon passes out. Sissy Jupe is present and she is, perhaps, the only one who is able to sense the difference in Louisa. Louisa keeps herself at a distance and is "impassive, proud and cold." Sissy feels a mixture of wonder, pity and sorrow for Louisa.
Analysis:
The reference to Bluebeard and Mr. Gradgrind's office room being full of "bluebooks" is a combination of irony and allusion. At the very least, the very mention of Bluebeard, a villain from a child's fairy tale story, foreshadows the marriage drama that unfolds and it is a reminder of the war against "fancy" and "imagination" that the Gradgrinds have embarked upon. Bluebeard was a dreadful knight who promised a wonderful life to each of his wives until their curiosity overcame them and they were encouraged to search through a hidden closet in the back of his castle‹a closet that contained the dead bodies of his former wives. Surely this is not a good harbinger for Louisa's upcoming marriage.
Mr. Gradgrind is a bit of an ogre. Certainly, he and Bounderby have had Louisa under heavy surveillance and observation for some time. Gradgrind's office is as symbolic an observatory as it is a literal one. The characterization of Louisa reflects the power and politics between Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby. She becomes a debased human being in a way, the mere "subject of a proposal." She is weakened but in a reversal, she is the one who stands "impassive, proud, cold" and is above all. The father is beaten at his own game of stoicism and if anything, this chapter marks the beginning of the blindness motif that will come to identify Mr. Gradgrind and his inability to understand the human soul.