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Chapter 64
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
Madeline and Nicholas marry when Madeline’s term of mourning for her father has expired. Kate and Frank marry on the same day. Tim and Miss La Creevy marry quietly a few weeks later. Nicholas invests Madeline’s inheritance into the Cheeryble Brothers’s business. Frank becomes a partner in the business and, later, Nicholas does too. The business becomes known as Cheeryble and Nickleby. Tim becomes a partner as well but declines to add his name to the business’s title. When Ralph dies, the Nicklebys refuse to touch his money even though they are legally his heirs. They consider the money ill-gotten, and the state seizes that money.
The Nicklebys’ refusal to touch Ralph’s money illustrates the novel’s ideas about complicity, injustice, and moral integrity. Earlier in the book, Nicholas was troubled by the injustice he witnessed at Dotheboys Hall. He considered himself complicit in that injustice unless he confronted Squeers about it. Similarly, the Nicklebys don’t overlook Ralph’s wrongs and accept his money or even take his money and use it for good. Instead, their moral integrity demands that they renounce any material connection to Ralph, regardless of how that connection might be personally beneficial to them.
Themes
Arthur is tried for possession of the stolen will but gets off due to ingenious legal counsel. A few years later, though, robbers murder him in his bed. They had been tempted by Arthur’s vast wealth. Squeers and Peg go to prison overseas. Neither ever returns to England. Brooker dies, having confessed to his past crimes. Mulberry lives abroad for several years. When he returns, he is thrown into prison for unpaid debt, where he ultimately dies. Nicholas becomes a wealthy businessman and buys back his father’s old home. He expands it to make room for his and Madeline’s children. Frank and Kate live nearby. Mrs. Nickleby splits her time living with her two children. Newman also lives nearby. He loves spending time with all of the children. Those children often visit Smike’s grave, where the grass grows a rich green. They speak in hushed tones about their lost cousin.
The novel closes with a happy ending for all of its heroes and protagonists and miserable endings for the antagonists and villains. Again, the novel doesn’t argue that the story turns out this way because the universe bends toward justice and rewards the kind and generous while punishing the selfish and greedy. Instead, the book argues that acting with honesty and virtue will lead to lasting friendships characterized by mutual loyalty, which will contribute to one’s success in life. Selfishness and greed, on the other hand, will lead one to create enemies and become isolated, which will lead to misery and a lack of fulfillment.
Themes
