Summary

Gradgrind and Bounderby stalk through the smoky streets of Coketown in search of Sissy Jupe. They find her when she comes bounding toward them, chased by Gradgrind’s model student, the bully Bitzer. Sissy, who has been out buying medicinal oils to alleviate her father’s performance pains, leads the men back to the circus performers’ dwelling. As she tells the men about her life, Bounderby continually laughs at her stories, as if the very idea of her life is ridiculous. On the way, Sissy stops in at the Pegasus Arms, a pub where she can collect her father’s earnings. There, the circus master, Mr. Sleary, tells Gradgrind that Sissy’s father is no longer able to perform. Disgraced, he plans to abandon Sissy to the care of the performers. He and Gradgrind engage in a heated debate about the differences between Fact and Fancy...