Fire and Imgination

"The answer was so long in coming, though there was no indecision in it, that Tom went and leaned on the back of her chair, to contemplate, from her point of view, and see what he could make of it.

'Except that it is a fire,' said Tom, 'it looks to me as stupid and blank as everything else looks. What do you see in it? Not a circus?'"

 

Fire, since the start of book one, has been indicative of imagination and an inner yearning for more knowledge. Mr. Gradgrind in his classroom tries to remove each students individuality and fill them full of facts; he also attempts to remove this metaphorical "fire" from his children, but Louisa, his daughter, still attempts to fill herself with this forbidden knowledge. Throughout the novel Louisa finds comfort in staring into the fire which always seems to envelope her, the quote above shows this by saying "the fire which so engrossed [Louisa]."Her ability to look into the fire and learn more about herself reveals that Mr. Gradgrind failed in removing Louisa's individuality, and she can still use her imagination, represented through her understanding of the fire. However this is different for Tom, who for most of the novel obeyed the laws from his father. Thomas lacked the capacity to be creative because he questioned Louisa's logic when looking into the fire, "'Except that it is a fire,' said Tom, 'it looks to me as stupid and blank as everything else looks. What do you see in it? Not a circus?'" Toms inability to understand Louisa's connection to the fire reveals that he lacks imaginations since he has only followed the ideals of his father. The use of fire through Hard Times reveals the ability to a be creative and imaginative, harness by Louisa and lost in Tom.