Thomas Gradgrind, a wealthy, retired merchant in the industrial city of
Coketown, England, devotes his life to a philosophy of rationalism, self-
interest, and fact.Eventually Louisa marries Gradgrind's friend Josiah Bounderby, a
wealthy factory owner and banker more than twice her age.He raises his oldest children, Louisa and Tom,
according to this philosophy and never allows them to engage in fanciful
or imaginative pursuits.