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Chapter 43
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
At Ralph’s office, Newman tells Ralph that Mulberry has gone to France on a doctor’s orders. Frederick has gone with him. Ralph curses Mulberry for running away from a fight with Nicholas. Ralph is convinced, though, that Mulberry will one day return to London to seek revenge against Nicholas. As Ralph is making his rounds, a man comes up to him begging for money. Ralph and the man recognize each other. The man is Mr. Brooker, who worked for Ralph 20 years ago. At that time, Brooker had taken a commission for work he brought to Ralph without asking Ralph. Ralph thought Brooker’s actions were out of line and had Brooker arrested for failing to pay back 10 pounds he once loaned him. After Brooker got out of prison, he and Ralph made amends and continued to work together.
Ralph again shows the lack of loyalty he has toward people close to him. In this case, Brooker doesn’t seem to have done anything wrong other than challenging the power that Ralph felt he deserved by taking the commission without first asking Ralph. In response, instead of dealing with the problem directly with Brooker, Ralph made sure Brooker would be prosecuted and imprisoned for a petty crime. The novel will later examine the impacts of Ralph’s propensity to make enemies out of the people he works with.
Themes
Brooker says he just returned to London, and he doesn’t have anything to eat. He says he’s willing to work for money if Ralph could spare anything to help him. Ralph is unmoved. He says that he won’t give Brooker any money whatsoever and walks on. Ralph then goes to the Mantalinis’. There, he finds Mr. Mantalini unconscious on the floor. Some people are saying that he took poison while others say it’s not true. It surprises Ralph that Madame Mantalini is not weeping over Mr. Mantalini’s body. Instead, she scowls at him from across the room.
Ralph’s lack of feeling toward Brooker shows that Ralph hasn’t softened or changed much in the 20 years since the two men have worked together. Instead, Ralph continues to be mired in selfishness and displays no compassion for Brooker, who doesn’t seem to have enough money to buy food. Ralph is depicted as the opposite of Nicholas in that sense, as Nicholas makes friends wherever he goes, and it's impossible to imagine Nicholas letting one of his friends starve.
Themes
Madame Mantalini announces that she’s had it with Mr. Mantalini’s debts and excesses. She says she’s going to separate from him. Mr. Mantalini awakens just then and says he forgives Madame Mantalini for saying that she wants to leave him. Madame Mantalini remains firm in her decision to separate from him. Miss Knag brought about this change in behavior in Madame Mantalini. Once Miss Knag took over the business, she realized the business would never be successful if Mr. Mantalini were around. Miss Knag then dug up dirt on apparent affairs Mr. Mantalini was having and found correspondences where Mr. Mantalini referred to Madame Mantalini as “old” and “ordinary.” That information helped Madame Mantalini decide to leave him. Ralph tells Mr. Mantalini that he’s cutting him off too and won’t loan him any more money.
Madame Mantalini seems to have finally arrived at a point where she can no longer tolerate Mr. Mantalini’s extravagances and manipulations. It’s worth noting that Miss Knag masterminded the split between Madame Mantalini and Mr. Mantalini from behind the scenes. In this case, though Miss Knag orchestrated the breakup for her own self-interested motivations—to ensure that the store remains solvent—the end result of Miss Knag’s plan also benefits Madame Mantalini because Madame Mantalini finally seems free of her toxic and corrosive relationship with Mr. Mantalini.
Themes
Ralph leaves the Mantalinis’ house and returns to his office. Once there, Newman tells him that Squeers and another man Newman doesn’t recognize are waiting for Ralph. Ralph tells Newman to get a coach ready. Newman is surprised and doesn’t know where the men might be off to. Once they leave, Newman goes outside. A man who seems to be begging for money approaches him. Newman reaches for a pence to give the man. The man begins talking to Newman and tells him something Newman finds interesting. The two walk together and continue talking.
The novel implies that the man begging for money who approaches Newman is Brooker. In contrast to Ralph, Newman immediately offers Brooker money, even though Newman has substantially less money than Ralph. With that in mind, the novel suggests that wealth itself might make one less compassionate and generous. The information Brooker offers Newman foreshadows later events in the novel. It’s worth asking, too, whether Brooker would have offered the information to Newman if Ralph had treated Brooker with more kindness to begin with.
Themes
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