Louisa Gradgrind has been shaped by the laws of fact since the day she was born. She was also surrounded by people who were shaped the same way for the majority of her life. She could not change, even if she wanted to, because she did not know there was any other way to be. The same as if a man was blind from birth in a town of blind people would not long for sight, Louisa does not long to be brought up a different way. That is until she is introduced to people whose minds are on the outside of this prison of fact. How did those people influence Louisa? By showering her in a light she had never seen before, they made her realize what she had been missing all along. Louisa is not as fortunate as Sissy and does not share her good emotional
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Louise's secret meetings with James enabled her to have even more contact with someone with a style of thinking that was still a rarity to her. Seeing what a person with this kind of mind behaves shows Louisa how happy she could have been if only she was raised differently. This realization was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Louisa rushes to her father, bailing on her and James’ secret meeting, and unleashes all of the feelings that she has bottled up inside for her entire life. “How could you give me life, and take from me all the inappreciable things that raise it from the state of conscious death? Where are the sentiments of my heart? What have you done, O father, what have you done, with the garden that should have bloomed once, in this great wilderness here?” (Page 200-201) Her interactions with both James and Sissy have truly showed her why she has always felt so empty. She can now articulate to her father that she disapproves of her upbringing and that she believes it is too late for her because she is now “ruined”. She is also able to communicate her distaste for Mr. Bounderby. James has shown her what is actually feels like to love someone. This also contributes to her sadness because she feels that because she is “ruined” she can never be with
Louise's secret meetings with James enabled her to have even more contact with someone with a style of thinking that was still a rarity to her. Seeing what a person with this kind of mind behaves shows Louisa how happy she could have been if only she was raised differently. This realization was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Louisa rushes to her father, bailing on her and James’ secret meeting, and unleashes all of the feelings that she has bottled up inside for her entire life. “How could you give me life, and take from me all the inappreciable things that raise it from the state of conscious death? Where are the sentiments of my heart? What have you done, O father, what have you done, with the garden that should have bloomed once, in this great wilderness here?” (Page 200-201) Her interactions with both James and Sissy have truly showed her why she has always felt so empty. She can now articulate to her father that she disapproves of her upbringing and that she believes it is too late for her because she is now “ruined”. She is also able to communicate her distaste for Mr. Bounderby. James has shown her what is actually feels like to love someone. This also contributes to her sadness because she feels that because she is “ruined” she can never be with