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Chapter 34
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
After Nicholas helps Mrs. Nickleby and Kate move to Miss La Creevy’s house, he checks and finds out, to his relief, that Mulberry’s injuries aren’t life-threatening. Nicholas then returns to the inn to check on Smike. At the inn, Nicholas tells Smike that he (Smike) will be going home. Smike initially thinks that Nicholas intends to send him away, but Nicholas reassures him that he’s taking Smike to live with him and his family. When Smike and Nicholas arrive at Miss La Creevy’s, Nicholas first introduces Smike to Kate. Smike is bashful and awkward upon meeting her, but Kate tries to make him feel comfortable. Nicholas then introduces Smike to his mother (Mrs. Nickleby). The family spends the next few days together.
Though Nicholas hates Mulberry with a passion, he still doesn’t want to kill him. That again illustrates the difference between him and Ralph, considering that Ralph previously wondered idly about Nicholas and Mrs. Nickleby’s deaths and seemed to find comfort in his image of a world without them in it. Nicholas brings Smike into the Nickleby home, effectively making him part of the Nickleby family. Smike’s bashfulness around Kate suggests that he may have romantic feelings for her.
Themes
On Monday, Nicholas decides he needs to find work that will support the members of his family who depend on him. He considers returning to work for Mr. Crummles but decides the life of an itinerant actor wouldn’t work out well. He decides to go again to the employment agency. At the agency, an older gentleman catches Nicholas’s eye. Nicholas is sure the man isn’t looking for work, but he’s not sure what else he might be doing at the agency. Eventually, Nicholas speaks to the man. Nicholas initially stumbles over his words when he talks but is put at ease by the man’s calm and warm demeanor. He ends up telling the man what has happened to him and his family since his father (Nicholas Sr.) died. He tries to share as little as possible about recent incidents involving Ralph and Mulberry.
Nicholas’s visit to the employment agency reiterates the stakes of Nicholas and Kate’s decision to cut all ties with Ralph. Previously, Ralph ensured that Kate and Mrs. Nickleby at least had a place to live. Now, if Nicholas isn’t able to find a job that pays well enough to support himself, Kate, Mrs. Nickleby, and Smike, then the four of them could easily find themselves without a home. Those high stakes seem to contribute to Nicholas’s nervousness and his stumbling over his words when he begins to talk to the gentleman at the employment agency.
Themes
The man is moved by Nicholas’s account and asks Nicholas to come with him to see about work. Nicholas goes with the man to a warehouse, which belongs to a business called the “Cheeryble Brothers.” He learns the man he met is one of the brothers, Charles. His twin brother, Ned, is his business partner. While Nicholas is with Charles, a man who works for Charles approaches him. He says that he’s collecting money to support a widow and her children after her husband died in an accident. Charles pledges a large sum of money and quickly moves on so the man has no opportunity to call attention to the sum. Charles tells Ned Nicholas’s story. Both Ned and Charles are deeply moved. They say it reminds them of their own story of coming to London years ago and making their first money in the city.
Charles's desire to avoid calling attention to himself when he pledges money to the widow and children of a man who died in an accident differs significantly from the attitudes previously displayed by other characters. For example, when the politicians advocated for the bill ratifying the existence of a muffin delivery business, they made sure to advertise their own virtues at every opportunity, even though they were actually motivated by their own self-interest. Here, Charles is genuinely motivated by a desire to help others but pointedly avoids calling attention to himself when doing so.
Themes
Charles and Ned decide to give Nicholas a job. Their current bookkeeper, Tim, has been with the business for 44 years. Charles and Ned want Nicholas to take over at least some of Tim’s duties, but Tim doesn’t want his role to change. Charles and Ned decide they’ll make Tim a partner in their business, even if he objects. They offer Nicholas the job. Nicholas can barely contain his joy. Charles and Ned then decide to rent a cottage they have for a relatively small sum to Nicholas and his family. They also give him small loans to get furniture. They don’t tell Nicholas, but they plan to turn the loans into gifts. Nicholas and his family move into the cottage. Though they don’t have much money, they’re happy and at peace, while Ralph, though wealthy, is miserable and alone.
The contrast between the Nickleby family’s happiness and Ralph’s misery reinforces the novel’s argument that Ralph’s selfishness is ultimately self-defeating. While Ralph pointedly only cares about himself, that kind of self-interested behavior actually precludes the possibility of happiness because it alienates the people who might otherwise form relationships and become close to Ralph. Nicholas, on the other hand, doesn’t have money, but he makes friends and treats others with loyalty, which leads him to have a flourishing and fulfilling life.
Themes
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