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Chapter 58
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
Ralph grows concerned when Newman doesn’t arrive for work. He’s sure that Newman is a traitor but doesn’t know quite how Newman has betrayed him. Charles comes to Ralph’s office. Charles says he has come to Ralph out of mercy. Ralph thinks he is asking Ralph to have mercy on Nicholas, but Charles clarifies that he has come out of a sense of mercy for Ralph. Ralph is offended, and Charles leaves. After that visit, Ralph thinks something is not right. He goes to visit Mr. Snawley, but Mrs. Snawley won’t let Ralph see her husband. She says she knows about Ralph’s schemes and doesn’t want her husband involved in them.
While it’s not clear exactly why Charles is seeking Ralph out at this point, Charles’s statement that he is coming to see Ralph out of a sense of mercy is notable. That sense of mercy and compassion is exactly what Ralph is missing in life. Instead of treating Newman, Nicholas, or Kate with a sense of mercy, Ralph treats them with cruelty. Ultimately, though, Ralph’s cruelty catches up to him, as Ralph seems to be becoming increasingly more alone.
Themes
Ralph then tries to find Squeers. At Squeers’s lodging, Ralph learns that Squeers hasn’t been seen for 10 days. Ralph then goes to the place where Peg had been staying, where Squeers also took a room to carry out the scheme of stealing Madeline’s deed from Peg. After making several inquiries, Ralph eventually finds out that Peg and Squeers were both recently taken into custody. Ralph imagines that Peg was arrested for stealing from Arthur, and Squeers was taken into custody because he was with Peg when she was arrested. Ralph then goes to see Arthur. Arthur refuses to see him and yells out the window at Ralph, telling him to go away. Ralph is dismayed that his accomplices have all suddenly vanished. He decides to go and see Charles.
Ralph’s world begins to crumble around him. He is deserted by accomplices, and Newman is working against him. The novel shows how Ralph’s selfish approach to life and the way he cares for no one other than himself leads the people around him to be willing to abandon or betray him at a moment’s notice. With that in mind, the novel shows that Ralph’s selfishness is fundamentally misguided because instead of bringing Ralph the happiness and power he wants, it virtually guarantees his downfall by creating countless enemies and leaving him with no friends or allies on his side.
Themes
At the Cheeryble Brothers’ office, Ralph sits with Charles, Ned, and Tim. Ralph urges Charles to speak to him alone, but Charles says he has no secrets from Ned and Tim. Tim then rings a bell, and Newman comes in. Ralph says that whatever case they have against him, it can’t be believed because Newman would sell his soul for a bottle of alcohol. Newman berates Ralph and then provides a list of the recent crimes Ralph has committed. Newman says that he listened to Ralph detail those crimes from a closet inside Ralph’s office. Ralph appears visibly shaken.
Again, the novel details how Ralph’s selfishness and mistreatment of others come back to haunt him. In this case, Ralph’s mistreatment of Newman led Newman to want to help Nicholas. As a result, Newman gathered information about Ralph’s crimes and now serves as a firsthand witness to a confession Ralph didn’t know he was making.
Themes
Charles, Ned, and Tim expand on the evidence they have of Ralph’s crimes. They say that Mr. Snawley confessed to his role in the fraud of claiming that Smike was his son and said that Squeers and Ralph put him up to it. Squeers had been brought before a magistrate. Since he couldn’t account for his possession of Madeline’s deed or why he had been with Peg, he was remanded for a week. Peg was too. Charles tells Ralph that that’s what he meant by mercy. They are powerless to stop the law from catching up with Ralph, so the best they can do is give him a warning. They are doing that because he is related to Nicholas, who they deeply care about. They urge Ralph to leave London and reform his ways. Ralph becomes bitter and says he won’t leave and dares them to do their worst.
Charles shows how deep his sense of compassion goes. Even though Ralph has shown himself to be an immoral and cruel person time and again, Charles still gives him a chance to reform. Charles’s approach underlines the novel’s views about both power and redemption. Concerning power, Charles uses the power he now holds over Ralph not to abuse or mistreat Ralph (as Ralph would undoubtedly do if the positions were reversed), but to treat Ralph as an equal. Charles’s statements also demonstrate the novel’s perspective that redemption is always possible if one is willing to change one’s ways. Ralph, though, declines Charles’s offer of mercy and redemption.
Themes
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