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Chapter 59
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 goes to the police station where Squeers is being held. Squeers says he was taken into custody because he was in the presence of Peg, and both were committing fraud by burning legal documents. Since Squeers could not adequately explain why he was there, he is now being held without bail for a week while the authorities gather more evidence. Ralph asks Squeers what document Squeers had, and Squeers says it was a will leaving money to Madeline. He doesn’t know any more about it. Ralph tells Squeers to fight the case and withhold the truth by any means necessary. Squeers says that if it looks like things aren’t going to go well for him, then he’ll make sure they go poorly for Ralph too.
Squeers’s statement to Ralph that he’ll make sure to take Ralph with him if it looks like he’s going down demonstrates the fundamentally misguided nature of Ralph’s approach to life. By relying on selfishness and greed as his guiding principles, Ralph has failed to forge meaningful connections with people who could have been both friends and allies. Instead, because people like Ralph and Squeers are both motivated by their own self-interest above all else, neither gives a second thought to betraying the other, which virtually ensures their mutual downfall.
Themes
Ralph goes home after seeing Squeers. Tim visits him and says that Squeers must come with him at once to see the Cheeryble Brothers. Ralph asks if they’re just going to go over the same things as earlier, and Tim says no. Ralph reluctantly agrees to go. At the Cheeryble Brothers’ house, Ralph sees Charles, Ned, and Tim. There is another man hidden by shadows. Charles tells Ralph they have to tell him about a death. Ralph asks if it’s Kate, and they say no. Ralph asks if it’s Nicholas and becomes overjoyed at the possibility that Nicholas might be dead. Charles says it’s not Nicholas who is dead but Smike. Ralph isn’t sure why he should care. The man in the shadows reveals himself. It’s Brooker. Brooker says that Smike was Ralph’s son.
While Ralph’s group of accomplices has atomized and disbanded, Nicholas’s has come together. People from different parts of Nicholas’s life, including Newman, the Cheerybles, and now Brooker, have all banded together in support of Nicholas and in opposition to Ralph. That shows again how fundamentally misguided Ralph’s selfishness is, as it leaves him isolated in opposition to a group of people acting together. That group of people also illustrates the novel’s idea that true power is rooted in a kind of collective acknowledgment of equality, rather than Ralph’s version of abusive power characterized by brute force.
Themes
Brooker explains that when Ralph was younger, he married a woman who was down on her luck. The woman would inherit property if her brother signed off on the marriage, but he refused to do so. Ralph and the woman kept their marriage a secret. They had a son who they sent away to avoid arousing suspicion about their secret marriage. The woman only saw the boy once or twice, while Ralph never saw him. Seven years passed, and the woman and Ralph fought constantly. The woman eloped with a younger man. Ralph seemed to be out for revenge. Eventually, he sent Brooker to find his son. Brooker brought Ralph’s son (later known as Smike) back to Ralph’s house. When Smike was at Ralph’s house, he was neglected.
Brooker explains that Ralph is Smike’s father and goes through the details of Smike’s life before Dotheboys Hall. Notably, Ralph initially brought Smike to his house to try and get revenge against his ex-wife, illustrating that revenge has long been a primary motivating factor for Ralph’s decisions. Ultimately, the novel contends that revenge can lead one to miss out on what’s best in life. In this case, if Ralph had not been so single-mindedly focused on revenge, he might have been able to better care for Smike.
Themes
When Brooker saw that Smike was being neglected at Ralph’s house, he (Brooker) called a doctor, who said that Smike would die soon if something didn’t change. Then, when Ralph was gone from the house on a six-week trip, Brooker brought Smike to Dotheboys Hall. Brooker had thought that he might one day be able to take advantage of the situation to get money from Ralph. Brooker paid Smike’s tuition year after year for several years until he (Brooker) left the country.
Though Brooker is coming clean at this point, he makes it clear that he has not always been motivated by the best intentions, as he aimed to use the fact that Smike was at Dotheboys Hall to exploit Ralph. However, Brooker’s role here demonstrates the novel’s contention that redemption is never out of the question, and change is always possible.
Themes
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When Brooker returned to England, he made inquiries and learned that Smike had fled from the school with a man (Nicholas) bearing Ralph’s surname (Nickleby). Brooker returned to London and found Ralph’s clerk, Newman. Brooker told Newman that Mr. Snawley was not Smike’s father. From Newman, Brooker also learned that Smike was sick and had gone with Nicholas to Devonshire. Brooker went to Devonshire, intending to speak to Smike, but he lost his nerve when Smike saw him and began screaming. A few days later, Brooker decided to go through with talking to Smike, but at that time, he learned from Nicholas that Smike was dead. After Brooker finishes his story, the light in the room is knocked off the table, and the room goes dark. When the light is restored, Ralph is gone.
The fact that Newman and Brooker band together to undermine Ralph again illustrates the fundamentally misguided nature of Ralph’s selfish approach to life. In this case, though Ralph has more money and power than Brooker and Newman, together, Brooker and Newman are able to take down Ralph. That fact highlights the novel’s argument that one person acting alone is no match for a community of people acting together. Again, Brooker and Newman are first brought together by a shared disdain for Ralph, who mistreated both of them and therefore turned them into enemies.
Themes
