In Charles Dickens's literary satire Hard Times, geometry—particularly that of squares and circles—serves an important thematic function. The “man of hard facts,” Thomas Gradgrind, has a “square index finger,” a “square forehead,” and a “square coat, square legs, square shoulders.” (11) The classroom in which Gradgrind teaches is described as "a simple, bare, monotonous vault" (11) – again evoking a square – on an inclined plane, with lines of children filling the room. In contrast, the Sleary Circus, where Sissy Jupe comes from, suggests a continuous and perfect circle, which never changes. Even when the reader visits the carefree, bustling circus a decade after Sissy first attended the Gradgrind Model School, the same clowns who performed in the circus and Sissy herself are still present. Thus, Dickens uses the geometry of shapes to demonstrate the differences in lifestyle between the "square" Gradgrind and the lively, "circular" Sissy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay In geometry, a circle is a figure without a starting or ending point, and can be rotated in any direction and look the same. Sissy, who grew up in a circus ring, represents imagination, independence and, above all, endurance. At the beginning of Hard Times, the girl with black eyes and hair is not very intelligent, but content; she expresses her creativity—not her ability to recite facts—through her dreams of a “very pretty and pleasant” rug (16). Referencing his roots in the circus, Dickens reminds the reader that "Sissy's happy children [loved] him" even after a decade has passed in the novel (292). Compared to Gradgrind's model children and students, Sissy is probably the most stable character in the novel, as the incessant rhythm of life in the circus ultimately shaped her into a person of perfect and eternal love; Dickens reinforces this by continually referring to the circular appearance of the ring. As others change around Sissy, she offers advice, as she does to Gradgrind's daughter Louisa, even when she admits that she hated Sissy, responding, "'I always loved you and I always wished you knew that’” (224). ). The perfection and continuity of a circle suits the personality of the reliable Sissy Jupe. Conversely, Thomas Gradgrind became emotionally hardened by his mantra: “Stick to the facts, sir!” (11) Like the square to which Dickens so often compares it, it is rigid, pointed, and box-like for holding facts and knowledge. Gradgrind has no support or sympathy for his daughter Louisa, or any other human being: all he essentially wants to accomplish is to fill "the inclined plane with little vessels placed here and there [at his school]" with “imperial gallons of facts…until they were full to the brim” (12). However, the appearance of Sissy Jupe immediately begins to melt the corners of his box-shaped heart. Early in the novel, Dickens uses the word "square" to describe Gradgrind and his house at least ten times, but as the novel progresses and Sissy begins to play an active role in his life, the reader notices less and less the word. Gradgrind begins to find his redemption from callousness by letting Sissy stay in his model school and home very early in the novel. By the end of Hard Times, Sissy's influence on his household has affected him deeply; he allows Louisa to come home after her marriage breaks down.