English 396a ~Dickens’ Hard Times continued
Deterioration of Appearances ~ " a disorder of roses" (160)

Mrs. Sparsit represents what remains of the aristocratic society of Coketown. Great measures are taking to maintain this appearance while the narrative shows how undeserving that respect is. The narrative insight revealing her hypocrisy brings into question the validity of class status.

Bounderby goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure her appearance. In her presence, at every opportunity, Bounderby declares Mrs. Sparsit’s station to be one that demands a certain level of respect. At the same time he must, for his own appearances, be known as the “benefactor” (178). This would establish himself as deserving of the same aristocratic treatment. After his marriage to Louisa, he remains ever so gracious and generous to ensure Mrs. Sparsit’s continued appearances, allowing her to “live at the Bank” (166). It is at the bank that the narrative exposes her surveillance through her conversation with the light porter/spy, Bitzer. But to what end?

After the robbery Mrs. Sparsit returns to the Bounderby house. While taking refuge from the worrisome state of the bank she is overly polite, and too attentive to trifles. Bounderby, himself requiring the respect of an aristocratic position, questions Mrs. Sparsit’s attentions, “You attach too much importance to these things, ma’am” (177). The appearances of status are deteriorating.

The narrative carries the decay of these presentations further by exposing Mrs. Sparsit’s hidden disgust and “pity” (182) of Bounderby. Within the same “five minutes” (178) of his departure she shakes a mitten fist at his portrait declaring “Serve you right, you Noodle, and I am glad of it!”(178). Mrs. Sparsit’s true “she-wolf” (183) nature is unmasked by the narrative while she addresses the fact that Louisa and Mr. Harthouse are spending more and more time together. Such an insight shows that she does not care for Bounderby, she wants to watch him suffer, prolong the pity party. Where's the tea table?

Another narrative insight questioning the legitimacy of her status is Mrs. Sparsit’s surveillance of Louisa, a chronicle down the morality “staircase” (182). The narrative constructs Mrs. Sparsit’s status to be undeserving by revealing her “cat-like observation of Louisa, through her husband, through her brother, through James Harthouse, through the outsides of letters and packets, through everything animate and inanimate” (186). These conniving ways expose “her calculation” (193) and diminish the validity of Mrs. Sparsit’s station.

Appearances warrant class privilege in this narrative. The action of a person is not judged by the result, but how it looks. Stephen Blackpool has an astounding work ethic and a tight moral fabric, but he appears, he is seen and heard, as a member of a lower class. His actions speak loudly of honor, virtue, and respect, but his presentation is that of a laborer not an aristocrat. Mrs. Sparsit stealthily follows Louisa to the Stone Lodge under the pretense of getting some immoral dirt on her. In doing so Mrs. Sparsit is soaked to the bone, and behaves as an outlaw might, hiding in corners hoping not to be seen. The narrative deteriorates Mrs. Sparsit’s privilege externally by drenching her in rain, ruining her appearance. The connection between privilege and appearance remains, but the narrative’s attention to this parallel calls into question the validity of such status equations.