Penetrating through the window, sunlight illuminates the once-threatening classroom. As he sweeps the desks, he washes away all color from the monotonous faces who are learning the philosophy of facts. But for a student, the light does not etiolate her skin, but rather radiates the darkness of her complexion. This young girl, Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe, is the exception in a society full of people devoid of any imagination and creativity. The environment of Coketown, portrayed in Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times, is one that suppresses all human uniqueness. Sissy grows up in this industrial environment and is forced to leave the comforts of her home when her father abandons her after her failures at work. Thomas Gradgrind, a prominent man in the town who prides himself on his obedience to Coketown's de facto politics, agrees to welcome Sissy into his family. Sissy ultimately witnesses the dismantling of the Gradgrind family, primarily Mr. Gradgrind's children, Tom and Louisa, as a consequence of the strict lifestyle they observe. Throughout the novel, Sissy Jupe functions as the antithesis of the oppressive and compassionless society that Coketown engenders and develops in the story's protagonist through her watchful care for the family that took her in. Sissy's characterization as a child illustrates her as a compassionate person. and a nice girl. Sissy's father, a circus horse trainer, is failing as an entertainer and is emotionally withdrawn due to his collapsing performances. Before making the decision to leave Sissy and the circus behind, he often confides in his daughter. To cheer him up, he often reads stories of "fairies" and "geniuses" (Dick... center of paper... circus connotes images of color and imagination, paralleling the vitality and benevolence that only the character of Sissy possesses. In influencing Tom to take refuge at the circus, the auditor observes the heroic and commiserating qualities that set Sissy's character apart from all others. Sissy Jupe ends the story with a prosperous lifestyle that no other character possesses Sissy by Charles Dicken, in the novel Hard Times, pushes the auditor to question the persuasiveness of Gradgrind's philosophy. Ultimately she transforms into a heroine while maintaining her interpretation of contrast to the sad and desolate setting of the His character functions as the symbol of the ideal balance between fact and fantasy, giving the auditor a sense of certainty that people can escape the ramifications of an industrialized community.