“Now what I want are facts. Teach these boys and girls only facts. Only facts are necessary in life. Plant nothing else and uproot everything else” (Dickens 5). So says Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, the proponent of a utilitarian educational philosophy in Charles Dickens' Hard Times. Cold, hard facts are what Mr. Thomas Gradgrind's philosophy is all about, and cold, hard facts are exactly what Tom and Louisa Gradgrind were raised on. Their father and society teach them to live their lives based on these facts. They are asked to behave according to these rules and nothing else. As Taylor Stoehr stated, “Tom and Louisa Gradgrind are products of the Gradgrindian system, raised at Stone Lodge, taught in the school of hard facts, modeled from the mother stone” (Stoehr 171). Due to being raised in the loveless atmosphere of Stone Lodge and in accordance with the strictly enforced rules of the Gradgrindian system, Tom and Louisa are deprived of the opportunity to cultivate their imagination, emotions and "fantasy" ( Dickens 5). Children themselves are fragmented and insufficient fragments who have been formed by a harsh system of harsh facts. By blocking all available outlets for the interaction of fantasy and emotion, Mr. Gradgrind unwittingly generates two extreme results for his children. Even though the Gradgrind philosophy has completely different effects on Tom and Louisa Gradgrind, it ultimately robs them both of the happiness that only a balance between the wisdom of the Head and the wisdom of the Heart can create. Throughout their childhood and adult lives, Tom and Louisa both come to resent the Gradgrind philosophy, but are otherwise affected by it in completely different ways. Although...... middle of paper......n is perceived as empty, uncaring and depressed, much like Louisa's characterization. In order to be completely balanced, training must include both the wisdom of the head and the wisdom of the heart. Works Cited Butt, John and Kathleen Tillotson. “Hard Times: Trouble in a Weekly Series.” » Dickens at work. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Rpt. in 20th-century interpretations of Hard Times. Ed. Paul E. Gray. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1969. 38-46. Dickens, Charles. Difficult times. 1854. Kaplan and Monod 1-222. Scheckner, Peter. “Gender and Social Class in Dickens: Making Connections.” » The Midwest Quarterly 41.3 (2000): 236-250. Simpson, Margaret. The companion for difficult times. Westport: Greenwood, 1997. Sonstroem, David. “Fantasy chained in difficult times. » PMLA 84.3 (1969): 520-29. JSTOR. Concord U Lib., Athens, West Virginia. December 16, 2009 http://www.jstor.org/.