Murdering the Innocents

Thomas Gradgrind; a man of realities. I almost want to say 'Grinwald' in my head every time that I read the name Gradgrind, but perhaps that's just because the name reminds me of the bank out of Harry Potter and for some reason that makes me think the name 'Grinwald', does that mean anything? I haven't a clue ... He speaks of everything being proper, that you do not find horses on the wall, so why should they be decorated that way. He's a simple man, filling the "little pitchers", or children, with facts and tells a little girl named Sissy to never fancy. He's almost horrified when he finds out that she wants flowers on the carpet of her home. He seems quite firmly against imagination of any form and doesn't like the idea of children especially discovering it. Maybe he's afraid that if they do start to fancy that they'll stand up to him? Is this some sort of power thing? I guess I'll find out. There's funnily enough a character named Mr M'Choakumchild which is either a startling coincidence or a metaphor, or pun if you like, of the fact that they're choking the imagination out of children and stuffing them with facts.

The title 'Murdering the Innocents' leads me to believe that they're trying to get rid of any fancy or imagination in children while they're young so they can turn them into machines or "realists" like this Gradgrind guy. I'm still not sure what's going on, and unfortunately after doing about 7 hours straight of homework at this point my thoughts aren't exactly very articulate, but the essence of this chapter is to reiterate and force the interpretation that this Thomas Gradgrind guy is important, and that he believes Facts are important so everyone else has to as well.