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Chapter 42
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 John, Matilda, and Nicholas finish dinner, they share a pleasant evening together. That pleasantness is interrupted, though, by a commotion in the tavern downstairs. They think it might pass, but when the noise continues, they go downstairs to see what’s happening. Downstairs, two men fight. To Nicholas, one of the men seems not much older than he is and doesn’t seem to be accustomed to brawling. Nicholas feels predisposed to his side and jumps in to help him fight. Together, they parry the attacks of the other man. When things calm down, Nicholas asks what the fight was about.
Nicholas immediately takes up the side of the underdog in the fight. Nicholas’s response is similar to Dickens’s approach to characters in the novel. That is, time and time again, Dickens pits underdogs like Nicholas, Smike, and Kate against oppressive people in power like Ralph, Squeers, and Miss Knag. Dickens invites readers to see if the underdog can win in those fights. Notably, the underdog in the bar fight only seems to win once Nicholas joins him in solidarity, again showing the impact of collective action against oppressive power.
Themes
The man tells Nicholas that he just arrived after a long journey. When he came to the tavern for a meal, he heard the other man talking about a woman in insolent and overly familiar terms. A waitress chimes in from the bar and says it’s not a crime to say a woman is pretty. The man responds and says there’s nothing wrong with being drawn to beauty, but one must express one’s affection respectfully. The waitress seems to come around to his side, and the waiters usher the other man out of the restaurant. As the other man leaves, Nicholas recognizes him as the clerk from the employment agency. Nicholas and the man then introduce themselves to one another. The man turns out to be Charles and Ned’s nephew, Frank Cheeryble, who is expected at the office the next day. Nicholas and Frank can’t believe the coincidence.
Frank’s confrontation with the man in the bar is similar to Nicholas’s previous confrontation with Mulberry in a bar. In both cases, Nicholas and Frank overheard licentious people making comments they thought inappropriate about women, and in both cases, Nicholas and Frank felt the need to intervene and confront the person making those comments. In that sense, Frank is depicted as similar to Nicholas. The fact that Frank is Ned and Charles’s nephew contributes to the idea that all members of the Cheeryble family are characterized by their generosity and moral integrity.
Themes
When Nicholas leaves the tavern, his thoughts go to the mystery woman he saw first at the employment agency and then at the office. He wonders if there’s any chance that Frank might know her, or, worse, that she might have feelings for Frank. Nicholas consoles himself, though, by saying that Frank has been out of the country for the past four years and most likely would not have known the woman before he left. At work the next day, Tim remarks that it’s a delightful coincidence that Frank and Nicholas met the night before. Ned and Charles are pleased as well. Charles says that he would like to ensure that everything at the cottage is satisfactory for them, and he and Nicholas make plans for him to come to tea at the Nicklebys’ house.
Nicholas again shows how preoccupied he is with the woman he first saw at the employment agency and later saw in Charles’s office. The passage implies that Nicholas’s thoughts frequently drift toward her, and jealousy springs up with no evidence that it’s warranted. The fact that Nicholas recognized the man fighting Frank as the clerk from the employment agency, though, does suggest that there is some possibility that the woman Nicholas saw there is in some way connected to the fight and to Frank.
Themes
When Mrs. Nickleby hears about the plans for Charles to come to tea, she’s both excited and anxious. She’s excited about the possibility of having a presence in polite society again, but she’s nervous that they no longer have the finer things they once used to entertain guests. Charles ends up bringing Frank to tea instead of Ned. Since Mrs. Nickleby was prepared for two people to come, she’s not put out by the change. The Nicklebys and Charles and Frank end up sharing a wonderful afternoon together. The day becomes one that they all look back on fondly.
Dickens’s description of the day as one they’ll all look back on fondly sheds light on the novel’s views about what comprises a “good life.” In this passage, the novel seems to contend that joy and happiness come from spending time in the company of people one genuinely likes and cares about. In that sense, the Nicklebys seem to be faring much better than Ralph, even though they do not have nearly as much money as Ralph.
Themes
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