Nicholas Nickleby

“Good resolutions seldom fail of producing some good effect in the mind from which they spring.”

Nicholas’s resolution to bear life at Dotheboys for the sake of his mother and sister has an immediate effect, lifting his mood and outlook on life. Dickens encourages his readers to approach hardships with similar determination. Rather than succumbing to resentments or depression, Nicholas remains focused on his goal, and Justice Will Prevail partly thanks to this perseverance.

“What is a little poverty or suffering, to the disgrace of the basest and most inhuman cowardice! I tell you, if I had stood by, tamely and passively, I should have hated myself, and merited the contempt of every man in existence.”

In this declaration, Nicholas establishes himself as the moral hero of the story. As difficult as poverty is, Nicholas chooses it over sacrificing his ethical norms. Unlike most people in his society, he refuses to stand by “tamely and passively.” He is an active seeker of justice and unafraid to put himself in danger if he can save others. This positions Nicholas as the kind of citizen Dickens wishes for his society.

“All the livelong day, there is a grinding of organs and clashing and clanging of little boxes of music; for Manchester Buildings is an eel-pot, which has no outlet but its awkward mouth—a case-bottle which has no thoroughfare, and a short and narrow neck—and in this respect it may be typical of the fate of some few among its more adventurous residents, who, after wriggling themselves into Parliament by violent efforts and contortions, find that it, too, is no thoroughfare for them; that, like Manchester Buildings, it leads to nothing beyond itself; and that they are fain at last to back out, no wiser, no richer, not one whit more famous, than they went in.”

It is characteristic of Dickens’s literature to use setting to mirror the morality of society. Manchester Buildings are the site of political maneuverings, and the physical place symbolizes the corruption of the people who work within it. Like British politics, the setting is broken and awkward.

“At this early hour many sickly girls, whose business, like that of the poor worm, is to produce, with patient toil, the finery that bedecks the thoughtless and luxurious, traverse our streets, making towards the scene of their daily labour, and catching, as if by stealth, in their hurried walk, the only gasp of wholesome air and glimpse of sunlight which cheer their monotonous existence during the long train of hours that make a working day.”

Here, Dickens equates working women with “the poor worm” (presumably silkworms) due to their endless labor on behalf of the elite. The labor of the working woman enables the wealthy to lead lives of luxury, but the girls and women themselves suffer from a workload that doesn’t translate to socio-economical gain. There is no upward mobility available to these hard-working women, and their sickly bodies and monotonous existence symbolize their oppression.

“Ralph would have walked into any poverty-stricken debtor’s house, and pointed him out to a bailiff, though in attendance upon a young child's death-bed, without the smallest concern, because it would have been a matter quite in the ordinary course of business, and the man would have been an offender against his only code of morality. But, here was a young girl, who had done no wrong save that of coming into the world alive; who had patiently yielded to all his wishes; who had tried hard to please him—above all, who didn’t owe him money—and he felt awkward and nervous.”

This quote complicates Ralph Nickleby’s characterization. His coldness runs deep—so deep that a child’s deathbed can’t move him. For Ralph, such suffering is a necessary part of his business. He has hardened himself against emotions for the sake of his own personal wealth. However, Kate challenges his calculating mindset, demonstrating that he is capable of compassion. Ralph doesn’t have children of his own, and his duty to Kate confounds him. He recognizes that she has only tried to play by his rules and that his morally corrupt world has hurt her.

“To have committed no fault, and yet to be so entirely alone in the world; to be separated from the only persons he loved, and to be proscribed like a criminal, when six months ago he had been surrounded by every comfort, and looked up to, as the chief hope of his family—this was hard to bear. He had not deserved it either.”

Nicholas suffers because of his intrinsic goodness. Because he stood up for the downtrodden, he has been separated from his loved ones and labeled a criminal. This is ironic, as Nicholas has only ever stood up to the real criminals in his society. Nevertheless, the injustice contributes to his developing heroic role in the novel. His suffering is deep, but he accepts this pain as a necessary part of being true to himself.

“But [the day’s colors] were scarcely less beautiful in their slow decline, than they had been in their prime; for nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy, that we can scarcely mark their progress.”

This quote captures Dickens’s use of setting to parallel human conflict and experience. With its emphasis on the cycles of nature, this quote foreshadows happiness in Nicholas’s future; night will give way to day. However, it also stresses the beauty that can be found even in dark times—an especially significant point given that the people observing the scenery in this passage are Nicholas and Smike, the latter of whom will meet a bittersweet end.

“Thus, cases of injustice, and oppression, and tyranny, and the most extravagant bigotry, are in constant occurrence among us every day. It is the custom to trumpet forth much wonder and astonishment at the chief actors therein setting at defiance so completely the opinion of the world; but there is no greater fallacy; it is precisely because they do consult the opinion of their own little world that such things take place at all, and strike the great world dumb with amazement.”

Dickens’s work is deeply concerned with social reform. According to Dickens, oppression and tyranny are so normalized amongst those with societal power that even “extravagant bigotry” is a matter of course rather than an exception. This makes injustice doubly insidious, as most people fail to recognize the nature of the problem; simple appeals to morality will not work. This is an important point because Nicholas, unlike many others, refuses to become desensitized to systems of oppression.

“But with Mrs Wititterly the two titles were all sufficient; coarseness became humour, vulgarity softened itself down into the most charming eccentricity; insolence took the guise of an easy absence of reserve, attainable only by those who had had the good fortune to mix with high folks.”

Mrs. Wititterly is a prime example of how and why injustice occurs. Sir Mulberry acts coarse and rude, but she perceives his behavior as humorous or charming because social norms dictate that a woman of her station does not criticize a man of Sir Mulberry’s station. Mrs. Wititterly’s refusal to see the truth about Sir Mulberry enables his abuse of women like Kate.

“I am to be the scorn of my own sex, and the toy of the other; justly condemned by all women of right feeling, and despised by all honest and honourable men; sunken in my own esteem, and degraded in every eye that looks upon me.”

Kate’s plight reflects Victorian gender norms. There is nothing Kate can do to convince people that she is virtuous. Women turn against her either because they envy her or (as she suggests here) because they take men’s interest in her to mean she is immodest. Likewise, honest men won’t speak to her if she has a certain reputation, leaving her at the mercy of men like Sir Mulberry, who try to use Kate for their own pleasure.

“Mystery and disappointment are not absolutely indispensable to the growth of love, but they are, very often, its powerful auxiliaries.”

Unlike the clear-cut conflicts and moral quandaries that arise from human society, human connection (including its “disappointments”) is hard to define precisely. This is precisely what gives love its power, as it transcends societal structures and inspires emotions outside of individual control. Falling in love therefore opens a new chapter in Nicholas’s life.

“It is an exquisite and beautiful thing in our nature, that when the heart is touched and softened by some tranquil happiness or affectionate feeling, the memory of the dead comes over it most powerfully and irresistibly. It would almost seem as though our better thoughts and sympathies were charms, in virtue of which the soul is enabled to hold some vague and mysterious intercourse with the spirits of those whom we dearly loved in life. Alas! how often and how long may those patient angels hover above us, watching for the spell which is so seldom uttered, and so soon forgotten!”

The Nickleby family faces many challenges, chief among them grief over the death of the senior Nicholas Nickleby. They were once a unified family, happy until their financial situation became problematic and together even in their poverty. This death still haunts the family, especially Kate and Nicholas, but the need to survive has left them with little time to properly grieve. The peace and happiness of the cottage afford them this opportunity, which proves healing, creating a sense of connection to their lost loved one.

“Some of the craftiest scoundrels that ever walked this earth, or rather—for walking implies, at least, an erect position and the bearing of a man—that ever crawled and crept through life by its dirtiest and narrowest ways, will gravely jot down in diaries the events of every day, and keep a regular debtor and creditor account with Heaven, which shall always show a floating balance in their own favour.”

Dickens criticizes the various ways in which immoral people reckon with themselves, noting that some deceive themselves by offsetting their treachery against a “high tone of moral rectitude” (872). The narrator finds this hypocritical and inhuman; the use of the balance sheet metaphor hammers the point home, as anyone who would think of morality in terms of debt and credit has missed the point entirely. Many Dickensian antagonists show this lack of self-awareness, although (as the narrator goes on to note) Ralph is not one of them.

“Natural affections and instincts, my dear sir, are the most beautiful of the Almighty’s works, but like other beautiful works of His, they must be reared and fostered, or it is as natural that they should be wholly obscured, and that new feelings should usurp their place, as it is that the sweetest productions of the earth, left untended, should be choked with weeds and briers.”

Mr. Cheeryble is a man of upstanding moral character. He represents the best of society, and in this quote, he captures Dickens’s own message about the importance of nature—God-given, in Victorian England’s Christian milieu—and nurture. God bestows certain inherent blessings on human beings, but environment can greatly impact whether those blessings are nurtured or twisted. Smike exemplifies the effects of a lack of nurture, as his upbringing has left him physically and psychologically scarred.

“There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets.”

Dickens captures the irony of the so-called justice system, which in reality codifies injustice. The law purports to treat everyone equally but is in fact designed to protect some citizens (the wealthy) while oppressing others. Since the law itself is dishonest, it is unsurprising to Dickens that men like Arthur or Ralph are successful, as they have both the means and unscrupulousness to bend the system to their purposes.

“But, reverence for the truth and purity of her heart, respect for the helplessness and loneliness of her situation, sympathy with the trials of one so young and fair and admiration of her great and noble spirit, all seemed to raise her far above his reach, and, while they imparted new depth and dignity to his love, to whisper that it was hopeless.”

Unlike men like Arthur or Sir Mulberry, Nicholas doesn’t think he deserves a woman’s attention simply because he is a man and better off than her. Nicholas’s manners, coupled with his admiration of Madeline, prohibit him from thinking too hopefully about her. This quote highlights Nicholas’s humility.

“When men are about to commit, or to sanction the commission of some injustice, it is not uncommon for them to express pity for the object either of that or some parallel proceeding, and to feel themselves, at the time, quite virtuous and moral, and immensely superior to those who express no pity at all.”

Dickens emphasizes the hypocrisy of those who perpetrate injustice; by voicing “pity” for those they hurt (as Madeline’s father does before her planned marriage), they fool themselves into thinking the act itself is less wrong. Such sympathy is worthless, the narrator suggests, if it isn’t coupled with moral action.

“I have been made the instrument of working out this dreadful retribution upon the head of a man who, in the hot pursuit of his bad ends, has persecuted and hunted down his own child to death. It must descend upon me too. I know it must fall.”

This quote reveals an important plot twist in the novel. The revelation that Smike is Ralph Nickleby’s long-lost son changes Ralph’s self-perception and makes Smike’s story even more tragic. Smike could have had a stable childhood in Ralph’s care and grown up with Nicholas and Kate as cousins, but the revelation comes too late: Smike is already dead. This quote also provides a rare example of a corrupt man taking accountability for his actions. Mr. Brooker is not proud of what he did to Smike and recognizes his culpability.

“But rich or poor, or old or young, we shall ever be the same to each other, and in that our comfort lies. What if we have but one home? It can never be a solitary one to you and me. What if we were to remain so true to these first impressions as to form no others? It is but one more link to the strong chain that binds us together.”

Nicholas expresses the essential closeness between him and Kate. Their relationship highlights Dickens’s message that family is important to the mental health and wellbeing of individuals. Kate and Nicholas suffer, but they suffer together. Crucially, they support one another, believe in one another, and are committed to one another’s growth.

“As he passed here, Ralph called to mind that he had been one of a jury, long before, on the body of a man who had cut his throat; and that he was buried in this place. He could not tell how he came to recollect it now, when he had so often passed and never thought about him, or how it was that he felt an interest in the circumstance; but he did both; and stopping, and clasping the iron railings with his hands, looked eagerly in, wondering which might be his grave.”

Ralph descends into turmoil when he finds out the truth about Smike. He feels wretched, finally the victim of his own injustice. His contemplations foreshadow his own death by suicide.

“His hatred of Nicholas had been fed upon his own defeat, nourished on his interference with his schemes, fattened upon his old defiance and success. There were reasons for its increase; it had grown and strengthened gradually. Now it attained a height which was sheer wild lunacy.”

Ralph’s resentment of Nicholas has a competitive edge, emphasized by the fact that Nicholas, not Ralph, was with Smike when he died. Ralph’s “hatred” of Nicholas is simply pettiness, jealousy, and desire to be in control, but even in the moments before his suicide, Ralph doesn’t fully grasp this.

“What! You are the children of a worthy gentleman! The time was, sir, when my dear brother Ned and I were two poor simple-hearted boys, wandering, almost barefoot, to seek our fortunes: are we changed in anything but years and worldly circumstances since that time? No, God forbid! Oh, Ned, Ned, Ned, what a happy day this is for you and me!”

Hardship can either embitter people, as it does Ralph, or inspire people, as it does Charles. In this quote, Charles extols the virtues of starting from nothing and uplifting the self through hard work. This quote also signals Nicholas and Kate’s welcome into the Cheeryble family, which changes their lives permanently for the better and balances the darkness of Ralph and Smike’s story. Furthermore, Charles calls Kate and Nicholas “children of a worthy gentleman” as proof that they belong in the higher society that their marriages will return them to.

“There were a few timid young children, who, miserable as they had been, and many as were the tears they had shed in the wretched school, still knew no other home, and had formed for it a sort of attachment, which made them weep when the bolder spirits fled, and cling to it as a refuge. Of these, some were found crying under hedges and in such places, frightened at the solitude. One had a dead bird in a little cage; he had wandered nearly twenty miles, and when his poor favourite died, lost courage, and lay down beside him. Another was discovered in a yard hard by the school, sleeping with a dog, who bit at those who came to remove him, and licked the sleeping child’s pale face.”

Despite the happy conclusion of his novel, Dickens emphasizes that not everyone gets a happy ending. While other people are living their lives, there are many children who have been abandoned—first by family, then by institutions, and ultimately by society. This quote is a reminder to the reader to pay more attention to the needy. The boys in this quote are victims of apathy and neglect, and they have no support systems on which they can rely.