Nicholas Nickleby by Charles DickensChapter 13 effectively encourages the reader to resent Squeers and seehim as the villain, whereas Nicholas is portrayed as the hero andSmike and the other bays are lavished with sympathetic feelings. Thechapter starts with a depressing description of the boys sleepingconditions, Dickens uses words like: feeble, ragged, and dull, todescribe it, this powerful description makes the readerfeel-strengthening hatred toward Squeers.
Squeers is the headmaster at the boarding school “Dotheboys Hall”whereNicholas was sent to work by his uncle after his father’s death. Hisfather had only a small amount of money so he left it to his brother,and trusted him to look after his family, consisting of Nicholas’smother and Sister Kate. Nicholas’s uncle is a hard remorseless man andsends Nicholas and his sister to work to earn their keep. The familyare moved into a small dirty flat and given little money to live on.During Nicholas’s time at Dotheboys Hall, he meets one of the boys “Smike”and befriends him. Smike has no parents to speak of so he is kept onas a servant to the family. Nearing the end of the chapter Nicholasinspires Smike to run away, unfortunately he is caught, resulting inthe chapters climax. Squeers is about to beat Smike but then Nicholassteps in and following a fight, they make off together.
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Throughout the chapter Dickens enhances the reader’s negative feelingstowards Squeers. Dickens use of verbs to describe Squeers’s actionsads, a greater depth to his character, using words like retorted,bounced and feasted. These words show the rage in Squeers’s character,and the way he goes about daily life, they give the reader a sense ofhis disrespect…
…can be hard going to read Dickens’s work, his highly expressive andintricate style of writing, can become incredibly engaging to thereader, as it does to me. You become almost used to it after a while.This stile gives the reader a sense of emotional involvement with thecharacters in the book. It makes the reader more in touch with thecharacters moods and personalities, giving the book a better dramaticinfluence on the reader. A favourite quotation: “`Which no doubt youwould have been devilish sorry to do,’ said Squeers in a tauntingfashion.” This line sums up Squeers’s character as, the connivingvillain that he undoubtedly is, but when said out loud in the properstyle, this quotation can start a passion to read more writing in thisstyle and explore the character from whose lips those word were said,rejoined, retorted, demanded, or even sneered.
