Summary
Sissy Jupe leads Tom and Louisa to Sleary's Horse-riding circus, where her father works. The circus represents everything Gradgrind's educational philosophy opposes - imagination, entertainment, and joy. Mr. Sleary, the circus owner with a lisp and a kind heart, reveals that Sissy's father has abandoned her, leaving behind only his performing dog. Rather than shame her, Sleary shows genuine compassion and offers practical support. The circus people demonstrate a different kind of intelligence - emotional, intuitive, and grounded in real human connection rather than abstract facts. They understand that life requires both head and heart, something Gradgrind's system completely ignores. Sissy faces a crossroads: stay with the circus family who truly knows her, or enter Gradgrind's world of facts and figures. The contrast is stark - the circus folk speak with warmth and acceptance, while Gradgrind approaches even this human crisis as a problem to be solved through his systematic methods. This chapter reveals how different environments shape different values, and how genuine community support looks different from institutional charity. The circus represents an alternative way of living and learning, one that honors the whole person rather than just the calculating mind.
Coming Up in Chapter 7
Mrs. Sparsit enters the story, bringing with her the complex social dynamics of class and status that will complicate everyone's carefully ordered world. Her arrival signals new tensions brewing in Coketown's rigid hierarchy.
Share it with friends
An excerpt from the original text.(complete · 3 words)
S_leary’s Horsemanship_ 23
Master this chapter. Complete your experience
Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature
As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats
Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Two Communities - When Values Systems Collide
Every person must choose between competing communities with different value systems, and that choice determines who they become.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify what values different communities actually reward through their daily actions, not their stated policies.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when people face crisis around you - compare who offers practical support versus who offers advice or judgment, and see which response actually helps.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Horse-riding circus
A traveling entertainment show featuring trained horses, acrobats, and performers. In Dickens' time, these were popular working-class entertainment that celebrated physical skill and spectacle rather than book learning. They represented everything industrial society was trying to eliminate - spontaneity, art, and joy.
Modern Usage:
Today's equivalent would be street performers, indie artists, or anyone making a living through creativity rather than corporate jobs.
Abandonment
When a parent leaves their child without explanation or support. In this chapter, Sissy's father disappears from the circus, leaving her completely alone. This was common among struggling performers who couldn't support their families.
Modern Usage:
We see this today when parents walk away from families due to addiction, mental health issues, or simply feeling overwhelmed by responsibility.
Found family
A group of people who aren't related by blood but who care for each other like family. The circus people become Sissy's real support system when her biological father abandons her. They offer genuine love and acceptance.
Modern Usage:
Today we see found families in close friend groups, military units, recovery communities, or any tight-knit group that supports each other unconditionally.
Institutional charity
Help offered by organizations or systems that treats people as problems to be solved rather than humans to be supported. Gradgrind offers to take Sissy in, but only to fix her through his educational system, not because he cares about her personally.
Modern Usage:
Modern examples include foster care systems, homeless shelters, or any bureaucratic help that processes people rather than truly caring for them.
Emotional intelligence
The ability to understand and respond to human feelings and relationships. The circus people demonstrate this by knowing how to comfort Sissy and support each other through hardship. They value heart as much as head.
Modern Usage:
Today this shows up in good managers who care about their team's wellbeing, friends who know when you need support, or anyone who reads people well.
Crossroads
A moment when someone must choose between two very different paths in life. Sissy must decide between staying with the circus family who loves her or joining Gradgrind's world of facts and education, knowing she can't have both.
Modern Usage:
We face crossroads when choosing between a stable job and following our dreams, staying in our hometown or moving away, or any major life decision with no going back.
Characters in This Chapter
Sissy Jupe
Abandoned daughter facing a life choice
She must choose between the circus world that raised her and Gradgrind's educational system. Her father's abandonment forces her to decide what kind of life she wants. She represents the human cost of rigid systems that don't account for love and belonging.
Modern Equivalent:
The kid aging out of foster care who has to choose between staying with the only family they've known or pursuing opportunities elsewhere
Mr. Sleary
Compassionate circus owner and surrogate father figure
Despite his lisp and rough appearance, he shows more genuine kindness than the educated Gradgrind. He breaks the news of Sissy's abandonment gently and offers real support without trying to change who she is. He represents wisdom that comes from life experience rather than books.
Modern Equivalent:
The small business owner who treats employees like family and actually cares about their lives outside work
Tom Gradgrind
Sheltered observer
He witnesses a completely different world from his fact-based upbringing. Seeing the circus people's genuine care for each other challenges everything he's been taught about what matters in life. His presence shows how narrow his education has been.
Modern Equivalent:
The privileged college kid getting their first real-world experience and realizing their textbook knowledge doesn't prepare them for actual human problems
Louisa Gradgrind
Emotionally starved young woman
She's drawn to the circus world because it offers the warmth and feeling that her upbringing completely lacked. Watching Sissy's situation makes her aware of what she's missing in her own life. She represents the damage done by purely rational education.
Modern Equivalent:
The overachiever who realizes they've never actually enjoyed anything because they were too focused on performance and grades
Sissy's father
Absent parent who catalyzes the crisis
Though he doesn't appear in the chapter, his abandonment forces everyone to reveal their true character. His leaving creates the situation that shows the difference between genuine care and institutional help. He represents the failure of individual responsibility.
Modern Equivalent:
The parent who disappears when life gets too hard, leaving others to pick up the pieces
Key Quotes & Analysis
"People must be amuthed, Thquire, thomehow. They can't be alwayth a working, nor yet they can't be alwayth a learning."
Context: Sleary explains to Gradgrind why entertainment and joy are necessary parts of human life
This quote directly challenges Gradgrind's philosophy that people should only work and learn facts. Sleary's lisp makes him seem simple, but his wisdom about human nature is profound. He understands that people need joy, rest, and entertainment to be fully human.
In Today's Words:
People need fun and entertainment, not just work and studying all the time.
"She was never well used. It was a poor living and a hard one, but she never complained."
Context: Describing Sissy's life with her father before he abandoned her
This reveals that Sissy has already endured hardship with grace and loyalty. Despite being treated poorly, she remained devoted to her father. It shows her character and makes his abandonment even more cruel.
In Today's Words:
She had a tough life but never whined about it.
"He left his dog here, and the dog knows that something is wrong."
Context: Explaining how they know Sissy's father isn't coming back
Even the dog understands what Gradgrind's fact-based system cannot - that human relationships involve loyalty, instinct, and emotional bonds. The dog's knowledge represents a different kind of intelligence than what Gradgrind values.
In Today's Words:
Even the dog can tell he's not coming back.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
The circus represents working-class values of mutual support and emotional connection, while Gradgrind's world represents middle-class emphasis on education and individual advancement
Development
Deepens from earlier chapters - now we see the actual lived difference between class worldviews, not just economic status
In Your Life:
You might recognize this when choosing between staying loyal to your working-class family's values or adopting middle-class professional expectations
Identity
In This Chapter
Sissy must decide which version of herself to become - the circus girl who belongs to a community or the student who fits into Gradgrind's system
Development
Builds on Tom and Louisa's identity confusion - shows how environment shapes who we think we can be
In Your Life:
You face this when deciding whether to change yourself to fit into a new job, relationship, or social group
Human Relationships
In This Chapter
The circus demonstrates genuine care through presence and acceptance, while Gradgrind offers institutional support with conditions attached
Development
Contrasts sharply with the emotional emptiness in the Gradgrind household shown in earlier chapters
In Your Life:
You see this difference between people who show up for you unconditionally versus those who help only when you meet their expectations
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
Society expects Sissy to be grateful for Gradgrind's 'rescue' from circus life, but the circus actually provides more genuine human support
Development
Expands the theme of society's misplaced priorities introduced through the school system
In Your Life:
You might feel this pressure when others expect you to be grateful for opportunities that don't actually align with your values or needs
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
True growth happens through belonging and emotional support (circus) rather than just acquiring knowledge and skills (Gradgrind's method)
Development
Challenges the education-focused growth model established in opening chapters
In Your Life:
You experience this when deciding whether to prioritize skill development or relationship building for your personal development
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What two different worlds does Sissy find herself caught between, and how do the people in each world treat her differently?
analysis • surface - 2
Why do you think the circus people respond to Sissy's abandonment with warmth and support, while Gradgrind approaches it as a problem to solve?
analysis • medium - 3
Where have you seen this same pattern in your own life - being pulled between communities that value different things?
application • medium - 4
If you were advising Sissy, how would you help her think through which environment to choose and why?
application • deep - 5
What does this chapter suggest about how the communities we choose shape who we become?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Value Systems
Think about the different environments you move between - work, family, friend groups, online communities. For each one, identify what behaviors get rewarded and what values are actually prized, not just what people say they value. Then identify which environment has the strongest influence on your daily decisions and long-term choices.
Consider:
- •Look at what gets celebrated and promoted, not just official mission statements
- •Notice which environment's approval you seek most and why
- •Consider how each community would handle you during a personal crisis
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you felt torn between two different communities or value systems. How did you navigate that tension, and what did you learn about yourself in the process?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 7: The Art of Strategic Positioning
The coming pages reveal people use charm and flattery to gain access to power, and teach us some individuals position themselves as indispensable allies. These discoveries help us navigate similar situations in our own lives.