Dragging up the Stairs

"Much watching of Louisa, and much consequent observation of her impenetrable demeanour, which keenly whetted and sharpened Mrs Sparsit's edge, must have given her as it were a lift, in the way of inspiration.  She erected in her mind a mighty Staircase, with a dark pit of shame and ruin at the bottom; and down those stairs, from day to day and hour to hour, she saw Louisa coming"(195).  The symbol of Mrs. Sparsit's staircase represents Louisa's "climb" from what is perceived by Coketown society as being rebellious and barbaric "a dark pit of shame", her individuality.   As time goes on, "day to day" and "hour to hour" Louisa makes her way out of the dark pit, and becomes more and more tame and acceptable to the status quo conformity of Coketown.  For this reason, she turns into a viable threat to Mrs. Sparsit's easy and effortless life, because Louisa is now turning into a model citizen of Coketown, and Bounderby no longer needs Mrs. Sparsit to be present in his home, using her reputation as a platform on which he builds his rags-to-riches, my mother abandoned me in a ditch, story that he so often uses to justify his actions in focusing on work and facts in Coketown's production driven society.     

Taking it further...

With Mrs. Sparsits Metaphorical staircase, Can the same staircase can be applied to the other character's in the novel? And if so what is their "Abyss" at the bottom staircase -rather realization or truth they have discovered?- For Louisa her "Abyss" was the realization that she had to derive Love from a Horrible Mr. Harthouse inorder to understand that she should've derived her Love from where it matters most: Home.

Something to Think About...

With the metaphor of Louisa admiring things that fall in hopes of being able to rise above her emotionless state in mind, and assuming that Louisa does, in fact, fall in love with Harthouse despite his intentions, how does he raise her above her doubts of doing something successful with her life? If Harthouse's only intention is to push himself higher than the rest of society, how does she get this feeling too?