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Chapter 37
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
Free from Mulberry’s advances and antagonism, Kate now feels tranquil and calm. Miss La Creevy notices. She also notices a change in another member of the family, which she tells Kate about. She says that Smike seems to be struggling recently. Miss La Creevy says that she believes Smike has grown “more conscious of his weak intellect” and that is making him brood. Kate says that she hopes Smike’s mood will pass, and Miss La Creevy says she does too.
Miss La Creevy references Smike’s “weak intellect.” Elsewhere in the novel, it’s suggested that Smike suffered perhaps irreparable cognitive damage due to the years of abuse he endured at the hands of the Squeerses, showing again the cost of Squeers’s abuse of Smike.
Themes
Meanwhile, Mulberry lies in bed with a broken limb and bruises over his body. Ralph comes to visit him. Mulberry initially tells his servant he doesn’t want to see Ralph. Ralph has bribed the servant, though, so the servant asks repeatedly. Eventually, Mulberry agrees to see Ralph. Ralph says he’s sad to see Mulberry in such a sorry state and knows his nephew (Nicholas) is to blame. He assures Mulberry that he has disowned Nicholas, and if Mulberry wants to seek revenge, Ralph won’t stand in the way. Mulberry says he plans to get vengeance as soon as he has recovered from his injuries.
Ralph again shows how little loyalty he feels toward his family. In this case, he outright encourages Mulberry (who has spent the past weeks terrorizing Ralph’s niece, Kate) to harm Nicholas. By doing that, Ralph sides with an enemy of his family against his family. The novel presents Ralph’s lack of loyalty toward his family as one of his ultimate missteps, both practically and morally, as it leaves him isolated and is also a sign of his fundamental self-interest.
Themes
Frederick walks into the room and asks Ralph and Mulberry what they’re talking about. Mulberry launches into a diatribe aimed at Nicholas. Frederick promptly says that he never wants the matter brought up in his presence again. He says that Nicholas acted as any self-respecting brother would, and Mulberry was in the wrong. Moreover, Mulberry is more to blame for his injuries than Nicholas. Frederick then leaves. Ralph and Mulberry both say that Frederick is naïve.
This passage makes it clear that Frederick is aware that Mulberry is in the wrong with regard to his dealings with Kate, suggesting that he may have an inkling of moral integrity that Mulberry and Ralph do not. Mulberry and Ralph’s shared view that Frederick is naïve points to the reasoning they both use to excuse their own selfishness and immorality. That’s just how the world works, they both seem to say, in an effort to avoid self-examination.
Themes
At the same time, Smike walks alone through London. He looks for a long time in a jewelry store window. Suddenly, he hears the voice of Squeers’s son. After that, Squeers hooks Smike by the collar using the handle of his umbrella. Squeers and his son usher Smike into a coach, where they beat him. They take him to Mr. Snawley’s house. (Mr. Snawley sent his two stepsons to Dotheboys Hall.) At Mr. Snawley’s house, Squeers tries to get Smike to tell him if he’s been living with Nicholas, but Smike won’t say a word. Eventually, Squeers locks him in an upstairs room.
Smike’s refusal to say whether he’s been living with Nicholas even after Squeers kidnaps and beats him shows how deep Smike’s loyalty toward Nicholas is. That loyalty reinforces the novel’s argument that loyalty is worth more than money. It can’t be bought, the novel argues, can’t be coerced, and can’t be forced. Instead, it’s the result of genuine feelings of friendship and family.
Themes
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