Chapter 3

 

"There was an air of jaded sullenness in them both, and particularly in the girl: yet, struggling through the dissatisfaction of her face, there was a light with nothing to rest upon, a fire with nothing to burn, a starved imagination keeping life in itself somehow, which brightened its expression."

With its natural powers to change and destroy, fire is accented repetetively throughout the storyline.  Though the city of Coketown and its inhabitants are portrayed to be nothing more than dry or morose, sticking to nothing but "facts", Louisa, on the contrary, is a standout character, depicted as wholly separate to society, having the drive of "fire" within her, able to blossom from society and reform it as she does. But though her hunger of individualism, her fire, is vividly shown in the beginning of Book One, it is also evident that it is held back, just potential sparks with no kinder, a"fire with nothing to burn". This strife is caused by her father, Mr. Gradgrind, who constantly attempts to hold back Louisa's drive, thus constricting her individualism."