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Chapter 56
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
Squeers is tired of following around Peg for Ralph. He’s been trying to accomplish the mission of stealing the document that shows that Madeline is the rightful heir to a small fortune for six weeks. Squeers receives a letter from Dotheboys Hall informing him of what the boys are up to, and he’s eager to return to the school. But, Squeers tells himself, Ralph has promised him 100 pounds for getting the document from Peg. One hundred pounds is what he makes from five boys sent to Dotheboys Hall, and it takes a whole year to get that money, so six weeks for 100 pounds will eventually be worth it as long as he gets the deed from Peg.
Squeers evinces the same mentality as Ralph, in which money is the most important thing to pursue, and everything else is a secondary consideration. In this case, Squeers is willing to engage in the legally murky territory of stealing legal documents from a thief because it will lead to more money for him. With that in mind, the passage shows that Squeers, like Ralph, is willing to sacrifice morality and legality as long as it brings him more money.
Themes
Squeers goes to Peg’s apartment. It’s not the first time they’ve met. Squeers tells Peg that he’s ready to go over the papers she stole from Arthur whenever she’s ready. Squeers has convinced Peg that he’s a lawyer, and that he knows all of the details about the papers she stole and who she stole them from. Peg reveals that she stole the papers from Arthur to get back at him for years of mistreatment. She didn’t take money because she knew Arthur would prosecute her if she did, but he couldn’t do anything about papers that showed him to be engaged in illegal business dealings. Squeers pushes her to show him the papers, but Peg holds back. Squeers ultimately succeeds, though, in manipulating her to get her to show him the papers.
Peg confirms that she stole from Arthur in response to his mistreatment of her. That mistreatment is similar to Ralph’s mistreatment of Newman, which leads Newman to turn on Ralph. Through those two examples, the novel shows the ultimate foolishness of Arthur and Ralph’s selfishness and greed. Because they do not care about others and mistreat them, they alienate the people close to them (including Peg and Newman), thereby turning those people into enemies.
Themes
As Peg and Squeers go through Arthur’s papers, Squeers tells her which papers to burn and which to hold onto because they’re worth money. As they go through the papers, Frank and Newman sneak into the room unbeknownst to Peg and Squeers. Squeers keeps handing papers to Peg, telling her to burn them. Squeers finds the document related to Madeline’s fortune that he’s been looking for. He holds it up and says, “I got it!” Just then, Newman sneaks up behind Squeers. He hits Squeers over the head and knocks him out.
At this point, it’s unclear how exactly Frank and Newman are able to intervene at the last possible moment to stop Ralph and Squeers’s plan. However, because Squeers found the document that proves Madeline is the heir to a small fortune just before Frank and Newman entered, it’s implied that Frank and Newman now have that document, which ostensibly will help ensure Madeline receives the money that is rightfully hers.
Themes
