Thomas Gradgrind Junior (Tom)

This character of a book is a male prototype of Louisa since they were brought up in the same family where the father, a bit dictator, tried to persuade little minds that only calculations are crucial in becoming successful. Tom is Mr. Gragrind’s son whose one-perspective upbringing leads to total damage of easy human principles of wise socialization. While Louisa tries to get rid of her father’s attitude, her brother uses early experience as a justification of his deeds which are far beyond being socially accepted. In his behavior, there are traces of egoism since Tom takes into consideration only his interests and explains this in such a logical manner that it is difficult to find another explanation of his actions.

Being such a smart personality, to some extent, he does not end up better than his sister. Tom finds himself in deep debts, therefore, in order to find a solution he robs the bank, but this lesson didn’t teach him, and Tom has to escape abroad in order to hide from the police. In his pursuit of himself, Tom dies on a trip to England which proves that Mr. Gradgrind’s style of education does not justify itself.

Education and upbringing which reflect non-emotional approach can be proved to be damaging. When we look at the relationship of Tom and Louisa we may see that they didn’t have a close emotional connection, the only thing which made them relatives was the fact of having common parents. It is worth noting that Tom blamed his sister for having not a successful marriage. At the same time, he didn’t pay attention to his actions which were even more dreadful than his sister’s. Due to lack of imagination and drilling of facts, Tom managed the practice of impersonality in his adulthood, but then he completely changes.