Those Fancy Women

In lecture on Tuesday a T-chart was created of the different characters and whether they were on the facts side or the fancy side. What we noticed as a group was that many of the female characters were on the fancy and many of the male characters were on the fact side. After some research online I discovered that Dickens wanted to make a point, he wanted to use women as a symbol as the counterpoint to the mechanical ideologies that men tend to possess.  He shows that the compassion that women carry balance the hardness of men and that without that balance there would be conflict. This can be seen in the marriage of the Grindgrinds. Mr.Gradgrind who is all about facts suppresses the women that are in his life. First by suppressing his wife whom towards the end of the book makes the statement “you must remember, my dear, that whenever I have said anything, on any subject, I have never heard the last of it: and consequently, that I have long left off saying anything” (Dickens 186).  Luisa the daughter of Mr. Gradgrind confesses to him that she feels she has lost a part of her childhood because she was taught only facts and has lost her femininity. She also feels isolated and disconnected from other people because of the rigid upbringing she received from her father. She finds herself married to a man that embodies the ideologies of her father and came to the conclusion that she truly is not in love or happy with this man and it is because of her father. As she progresses throughout the story with the help of the other female characters such as Rachel and Sissy she is able to recognize her emotions. This is a strong changing point in the story with Luisa because as she changes into a woman of fact and fancy she is proving Dickens point that fact and fancy need to be balanced and he has chosen a woman to embody that idea, which is very different for his time and can be seen as the beginning of the feminist movement for that era. This whole system of men is being paired with facts and women being paired with emotions but then having a big garnering at the end of the story shows Dickens views that he believes women are being treated unfairly by society and men. And this story is him recognizing the potential of women.