Heathcliff Bad Father

In Wuthering Heights and Hard Times, by Emily Bronte and Charles Dickens, respectively, both authors portray the different aspects of fatherhood and how fathers influence their sons through the relationships the fathers have with their children. The bonds that Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Hindley, and Mr. Linton have with their children in Wuthering Heights, expose the characteristics of a good father and a bad father. Similarly, the relationships that Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Jupe have with their children in Hard Times, also shed light on what makes a good and bad father, and how a father influences their children. In both novels, fathers have a relationship with their children; however, the extent of their relationship determines the characteristics that make a

After Hindley dies, Heathcliff takes Hareton. Heathcliff says, "Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we'll see if one tree won't grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!" (WH 182), thus, Heathcliff wants to deprive Hareton of education just as Hindley had done to him. Heathcliff has a bad relationship with Hareton as Heathcliff wants to use Hareton as a way to get revenge on Hindley, thus, Heathcliff is a bad father because instead of looking out for his son, he takes advantage of his son in order to benefit himself. After Heathcliff dies, Nelly comments, “poor Hareton, the most wronged, was the only one that really suffered much”(WH 318); therefore, Heathcliff is a bad father as negatively impacts his son by wronging him and making him suffer. Similarly, Mr. Gradgrind deprives Tom and Louisa of a moral education and an imagination. When Louisa talks to Tom, she says, “‘I wonder’” to which Mr. Gradgrind replies, “‘Louisa, never wonder!”(HT 56). In this instance, Mr. Gradgrind is scolding Louisa for wanting to wonder because imagnition is not part of his teaching philosophy. Mr.