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Chapter 8
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 and Mrs. Squeers’s 23-year-old daughter, Fanny, returns home after spending a few days at a friend’s house. Squeers asks his wife what she thinks of Nicholas. Mrs. Squeers says she hates him. She says he’s conceited and arrogant. Squeers responds that they don’t have to pay him much, and Mrs. Squeers asks why they can’t just lie and say they have an assistant like so many other schools do. Squeers says he intends to keep Nicholas on despite Mrs. Squeers’s objections. He encourages her to hate Nicholas as much as she likes, though, and to not try to conceal her contempt. All the talk about Nicholas intrigues Fanny.
In Nicholas’s interaction with Smike, Nicholas showed that he is intent on making friends. People like Mrs. Squeers, though, seem to be actively on the lookout for enemies. Though Nicholas has apparently done nothing to upset Mrs. Squeers, she decides that she hates him. The novel will examine the different approaches to relationships exhibited by Nicholas and Mrs. Squeers to suggest an argument about why Nicholas’s approach is more desirable.
Themes
Fanny seeks out Nicholas the next day. She goes into his classroom while he is teaching and asks for a pen. The two have a bumbling interaction, which results in them bumping their heads together, causing the class to burst out in laughter. After Fanny leaves, she thinks about Nicholas’s legs and his smile. She quickly becomes infatuated with him. Part of the reason her affection develops so rapidly is because her friend Matilda—whose house she recently stayed at—has recently become engaged. After meeting Nicholas, Fanny tells Matilda that he’s the son of a gentleman and that he came to teach at her father’s school after he learned of Fanny’s charms.
Fanny’s infatuation with Nicholas seems just as erratic as Mrs. Squeers’s dislike of him. With that in mind, Dickens portrays the Squeers family as capricious and unpredictable. Notably, Fanny doesn’t become infatuated with Nicholas out of pure affection. Instead, she wants to make sure that her friend Matilda doesn’t outdo her, revealing the selfishness, envy, and pettiness at the core of Fanny’s actions. Fanny’s selfishness is contrasted with Nicholas, who is kind to people like Smike with no ulterior motive.
Themes
Fanny invites Nicholas to join her and Matilda for tea. Matilda’s fiancé John then arrives. As they talk, John becomes upset with Nicholas, though Nicholas doesn’t completely understand why. Eventually, the issue is settled, and John and Nicholas shake hands. Someone proposes that they play cards, and Fanny adds that they should play in pairs. Matilda and Nicholas form a pair, angering John and Fanny. Matilda simultaneously wants to flirt with Nicholas, who she thinks is handsome, make Fanny jealous, and encourage John to push up the date of their wedding. Nicholas is oblivious to what is going on. Matilda and Fanny fight, which results in Fanny telling Matilda that she hates her. When Matilda and John leave, John scowls at Nicholas. After they’re gone, Fanny bursts into tears. Nicholas walks away. He doesn’t understand how he’s made two new enemies (Fanny and John).
Nicholas is kindhearted and forthright. The novel suggests that it might actually be those characteristics that land him in hot water during this interaction with Fanny, Matilda, and John. That is, the novel portrays Nicholas as well-meaning but perhaps a bit naïve when it comes to social dynamics. In that sense, the novel can be seen in part as a coming-of-age story focusing on Nicholas as he goes from a well-meaning but naïve young man to an adult. Nicholas’s reaction to the situation also reinforces the idea that he is trying to make friends at every turn, and he is upset that Fanny and John seem to have become his enemies. That is in contrast to people like Squeers and Mrs. Squeers, who seem to have no issue making enemies and may prefer to make enemies rather than friends.
Themes
