*
Thomas, a retired merchant and member of Parliament, advocates a philosophy dedicated to rational self-interest, and founds a school in Coketown which teaches his ideas.* His oldest children are educated in this style and grow to lead unfulfilling lives, as Tom becomes a hedonist, who robs a bank in Coketown and is forced to flee out of England, while Louisa marries a man much older than herself, Josiah Bounderby, and does not learn to feel sympathy and compassion for others until she is taught by the family of her lifelong friend, Sissy. FTP, name this 1854 novel by Charles Dickens.
Thomas, a retired merchant and member of Parliament, advocates a philosophy dedicated to rational self-interest, and founds a school in Coketown which teaches his ideas.
{Hard Times}