Study Questions

1. What does Coketown’s river run with?

2. Coketown’s buildings are made of what material?

3. What does Bitzer tell Gradgrind he was about to help Sissy with before she ran away?

4. What is Sissy carrying when she is stopped by Gradgrind and Bounderby?

5. The picture behind the bar in the Pegasus’ Arms is of what animal?

6. Why did Signor Jupe enroll his daughter in Gradgrind’s school?

7. What is a “cackler”?

8. The “Wild Horseman of the North American Prairies” refers to which of Sleary’s performers?

9. Who is “the diminutive boy with an old face”?

10. What does Mr. Sleary declare he has never done yet in his life and doesn’t intend to start?

Answers

1. The river in Coketown runs purple with dye.

2. The buildings in Coketown are red and black—red from the brick, black from the soot of the factory chimneys.

3. Bitzer tells Gradgrind he was only trying to help Sissy with her definitions.

4. Sissy is carrying a jar of “nine oils” used by the circus performers to soothe their muscles.

5. The picture in the bar shows a horse.

6. Signor Jupe enrolled Sissy in Gradgrind’s school because he “had always had it in his head” to have her educated.

7. A “cackler,” in the jargon of the circus, is a speaker.

8. Mr. Childers is billed as the “Wild Horseman of the North American Prairies.”

9. The diminutive boy with the old face is Mr. Childers’ son and stage partner, Master Kidderminster.

10. Mr. Sleary declares that he has never yet injured one of his horses, and that he has no intention of injuring any of their riders.