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Chapter 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Nicholas Nickleby, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed and Selfishness
Power and Abuse
Altruism and Humility
Family and Loyalty
Injustice, Complicity, and Moral Integrity
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Nicholas looks for a room to lease. He finds a modest room that isn’t too expensive that he can rent by the week. After that, he goes to an employment agency. There, he sees a strikingly beautiful woman who inquires about a governess position. Nicholas then asks the agent working if there are any secretary positions available. The agent tells Nicholas about a listing by a parliament official looking for a secretary. The agent assures Nicholas that because the man is in parliament, the position will pay well. Nicholas isn’t so sure.
Nicholas’s attraction to the woman in the employment agency office foreshadows events that will happen later in the novel. When Nicholas is sent to the office of a politician in parliament, Nicholas is skeptical. Dickens has also prepared the reader to be skeptical, considering the scene earlier in the novel when self-serving politicians advocated for the creation of a muffin delivery business for self-interested reasons.
Themes
Nicholas goes to the office of the politician, who is named Mr. Gregsbury. At the office, Nicholas finds a group of men waiting to see Gregsbury. Gregsbury calls all of the men into his office, and Nicholas accompanies them. The men are Mr. Gregsbury’s constituents, and they present their complaints to him about the way he has governed. Gregsbury brushes aside each complaint without responding to it. After the constituents leave, Nicholas speaks with Gregsbury about the secretary role. Gregsbury explains that in addition to standard secretarial duties, a secretary for a parliamentary politician must also be an expert on current events and foreign policy and represent the politician in the press and in public. Nicholas says the salary is low considering the level of work and that, besides, the role outstrips his expertise. Gregsbury unceremoniously ushers Nicholas out of his office.
Gregsbury acts similarly to the politicians previously portrayed in the novel. In this case, Gregsbury’s constituents seem to have legitimate concerns about his governance, but Gregsbury brushes aside each complaint without reckoning with it or even meaningfully listening to it. Dickens’s portrayal of politicians shows his skepticism about achieving change through governance. Instead, Dickens seems to believe in the power of individual citizens with good character—including people like Nicholas—to help bring about change that will make the world a better place.
Themes
Nicholas returns to Newman’s apartment where he finds Smike and Newman eating. He explains that he failed to find a job, and Newman reassures him that it’s only been a day since he started looking. Newman then explains to Nicholas that he spoke earlier in the day with Mrs. Kenwigs. He explained to Mrs. Kenwigs that Nicholas was a teacher who had fallen on hard times that Newman was not at liberty to discuss. He also said Nicholas’s surname was Johnson. Mrs. Kenwigs told Newman she was searching for a French tutor for her daughters. Newman asks Nicholas if that work would interest him, and Nicholas says that it seems perfect. Nicholas goes to speak with Mrs. Kenwigs and Mr. Lillyvick to arrange the details. After Nicholas speaks to them, he immediately begins lessons with the Kenwigses’ daughters.
Even though Newman is not wealthy and does not have a considerable amount of power, he succeeds in finding Nicholas a job. That puts Newman in contrast with Ralph, who has used his wealth and business connections to secure jobs for Kate and Nicholas. The novel suggests, then, that goodwill and loyalty may be just as beneficial when it comes to helping others as wealth and power. That idea pokes a hole in Ralph’s guiding philosophy that only wealth can bring one joy and power. In further contrast to Ralph, Newman genuinely wants Nicholas to succeed, while Ralph is intent on sabotaging Nicholas.
Themes
