HT: Analysis

         The passage is at the end of book 2 when Louisa confronts her father. She no longer knows what to do or how to do anything in her position. She falls to the ground telling her father not to help her but to let her fall because she will die if he holds her up. This passage can be seen as a reflection on the character Louisa and her father. It also eludes to the names of the books the Sowing and the Reaping. The passage begins with her coming in and spilling her guts about how lost she is. “I do not know that I am sorry, I do not know that I am ashamed, I do not know that I am degraded in my own esteem”. The list and repetition on the words “I do not know that I am” emphasize that poor Louisa can no longer act on her own to deal with the situations at hand.  She is lost and has returned to her home, to her Father in particular to make it known to him that it is his fault for this occurrence. Now the allusion to the Sowing is realized when Louis goes on to say “All that I know is, your philosophy and your teaching will not save me. Now, father, you have brought me to this”. The seeds planted in Louisa’s mind have failed to grow into something that can be yield any worth. Louisa’s father failed with his ideas of facts only. He wasn’t able to Sow Louisa correctly. The connection to the final book is the end of the passage that will lead into the Garnering. Here Mr. Gradgrind looks down on his daughter as a failure to his system. He won’t be able to gather anything from the “insensible heap” that lay by his feet. The heap is his "dying" daughter who has given up on her father’s beliefs.