I think that there can be many reasons to attribute to
Louisa's condition at the end of Dickens' work. I am inclined to place much of the
blame for her condition at her father's feet. Gradgrind's teaching and rearing of
Louisa was full of calculation and "fact, not fancy" that there was nothing significant
in terms of emotional or sentimental education left over. The bizarre utilitarian
philosophy of Gradgrind compelled him to educate Louisa in such a way whereby there was
nothing in terms of emotions fostered or affect nurtured. In this, her arranged
marriage was done in terms of facilitating not a marriage between two people, but a
business alliance. Her devotion to her brother, the other victim of Gradgrind, compels
her to undertake a disaster such as marrying a man so much her senior without any
semblance of love or emotion present, a move that helps to cause her to lose any passion
for living or love of life:
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...her [Louisa] rearing has left her so lacking
in any genuine feeling (apart, that is, from her passionate devotion to her brother),
that she doesn’t care what becomes of
her.
In the end, her father
has to be the cause of such a condition because of his failure to teach her the role
that emotions play as one progresses through life and consciousness in the world. It is
because of this that the ending of the novel finds her engaging in philanthropic
endeavors, hoping to bring some light and joy to those who endure suffering and pain,
not so different than what she went through as a child.
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