Penguin Readers Factsheets Nicholas Nickleby

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Penguin Readers Factsheets Level Nicholas Nickleby 4 – Intermediate Teacher’s Notes Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Dickens also loved the theatre. He fell in love with an actress, Summary Ellen Ternan. His reading tours in America were popular. During his second visit there, in 1867, he became ill. He gave his last public The Nicklebys (Nicholas, his mother and sister Kate) are left readings in 1870 and died in June the same year, aged 58, leaving penniless by the death of Mr Nickleby. In their poverty and an unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. desperation they seek help from Nicholas’s uncle – a mean- spirited, cruel moneylender called Ralph. Nicholas’s independent attitude immediately angers Ralph and he is sent away to Dotheboys Hall to teach. He is upset by the mistreatment of the Background and themes children there by Wackford Squeers, the headmaster, and is particularly disgusted by the cruel treatment of a boy called Smike. Education: In 1838, Dickens visited a school in the north of Nicholas thrashes the evil Squeers and escapes to London with England and was so shocked by the cruel treatment of its pupils by Smike, who becomes his close companion. the schoolmaster, William Shaw, that he used the school as a model for Dotheboys Hall. The description of Dotheboys Hall in In London Nicholas continues his one-man crusade against the Nicholas Nickleby caused widespread shock and consternation. ill-treatment of his family by Ralph and the persecution of his sister Questions were asked in Parliament and the government was by Sir Mulberry Hawk. After many adventures, Nicholas makes a forced to investigate the problem. Eventually, action was taken home for his family. With the help of Newman Noggs (Ralph’s against the real-life schools on which Dotheboys Hall was based. downtrodden servant) and the Cheeryble brothers (benevolent Dickens was always very proud of his success in bringing such evil businessmen), Ralph gets his eventual comeuppance. Although places to public attention. Smike (who turns out to be Ralph’s long-lost son) dies, there is a general sense of justice at the end of the story. The class system: The members of the establishment with power and/or money – Wackford Squeers, Sir Mulberry Hawk, Ralph Nickleby, Mrs Wititterly, Arthur Gride – are seen as cynical, vain, cruel, selfish manipulators and exploiters of those more About Charles Dickens disadvantaged than themselves. Poverty: In Dickens’s previous novel, Oliver Twist, poverty Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, a naval town on dehumanizes the characters. In contrast, in Nicholas Nickleby, the the south coast of England but, after a brief interlude in London harshness of injustice and poverty is not allowed to vanquish the between the ages of 2 and 4, of which he could later remember basic qualities of human spirit. People like Kate and Nicholas, nothing, he spent his childhood in Chatham, another naval town to Smike, Newman Noggs and Madeline Bray, retain a fundamental the east of London. His father was imprisoned for unpaid debts, decency and kindness, and they are allowed to enjoy, to varying and the twelve-year-old Charles had to work in a blacking factory degrees, a sense of peace and justice by the end of the story. making shoe polish. It was a miserable time for the young Dickens, and the themes of poverty, injustice and brutality recur frequently in Fate: Chance and fate always seem to play a major part in his novels. In 1827 he worked as a clerk in a law company, but soon Dickens’s novels. This is especially true in Nicholas Nickleby. realised that he hated the law almost as much as he hated making Without the timely intervention of the Cheeryble brothers, it is shoe polish. He decided to become a journalist instead. unlikely that the forces of good – Nicholas, Kate, Newman Noggs and Madeline – would have overcome the forces of evil –Squeers, In 1832 he became a reporter and his first story, A Dinner at Ralph, Gride and Hawk. Many modern readers find this element in Poplar Walk, was published in The Monthly Magazine. When he the story troubling and somehow unsatisfactory. was 24, he married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of the editor of The Evening Chronicle newspaper. His big break as a writer Ultimately, the story is about the search for human happiness in came when the publishers Chapman and Hall commissioned him to a cruel, unjust world. But it is also an exciting adventure story, write a series of stories based on a fictitious club. The sometimes tragic, often amusing. It is the mixture of serious Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was published in message and entertainment that makes it as popular and as twenty monthly parts in 1836 and 1837. By its end, the story had relevant today as it was nearly 200 years ago. There have been 40,000 readers. Dickens became the most popular writer in many film, stage and television adaptations of the story, most England. He wrote a large number of novels and short stories, recently a 2002 film with Jamie Bell (of Billy Elliot fame) as Smike. including A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations.

Chapters 10–12 Communicative activities 1 Put students into pairs. Ask them to act out this conversation. The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections of Student A: You are Mr Bray. You want Madeline to marry Arthur text as the exercises at the back of the reader and supplement Gride. Say why. those exercises. Further supplementary exercises covering Student B: You are Madeline. You don’t want to marry Arthur shorter sections of the book can be found in the Gride. Say why. photocopiable Student’s Activities pages of this Factsheet. These are primarily for use with class readers but, with the 2 Put students into small groups. Ask them what they think will exception of discussion and pair/group work questions, can happen to these people. also be used by students working alone in a self-access Nicholas Ralph Madeline Squeers Kate centre. Newman Noggs

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK Chapters 13–14 Ask students what they know about Charles Dickens. Have they 1 Put students into groups and ask them to discuss these ever read any of his books either in English or in their own questions. language? Have they seen any films of a Charles Dickens story? (a) How do these people feel about Ralph? Why? Snawley Squeers Arthur Gride Brooker ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION Newman Noggs Chapters 1–3 (b) Do you feel sorry for Ralph? Why / Why not? 1 Put students into small groups and ask them to discuss these (c) Was Nicholas right not to accept Ralph’s money? questions. (d) What will happen to Fanny Squeers? (a) Why doesn’t Ralph Nickleby have any friends? ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK (b) Why does Ralph think money is the most important thing in life? Do you agree with him? 2 Class discussion. Ask students whether they like the end of (c) Did Mrs Nickleby marry the wrong brother? Give reasons the story. Does Nicholas deserve his happiness or was he for your opinion. just lucky? 2 Put students into pairs (one boy, one girl if possible). Ask them to act out this conversation. Glossary Student A: You are a boy’s father. You want to send your som to Dotheboys Hall. Tell your wife why. It will be useful for your students to know the following new words Student B: You are the boy’s mother. You don’t want your son which can be found on page 74 of the Reader. They are practised in to go to Dotheboys Hall. Explain why. the ‘Before you read’ sections at the back of the book. (Definitions are based on those in the Longman Active Study Dictionary.) Chapters 4–6 1 Put students into small groups. Ask them to plan a dinner party for the following guests. Newman Noggs Nicholas Fanny Squeers Wackford Squeers Ralph Nickleby Mrs Nickleby Sir Mulberry Hawk Kate Nickleby Mrs Wititterly Smike Seat the guests around a table so that each one sits between people they will be friendly with. 2 Put students into pairs. Ask them to act out this conversation after the evening at the theatre. Student A: You are Mrs Nickleby. You want Kate to be friendly with Sir Mulberry. Say why. Student B: You are Kate. You don’t want to see Sir Mulberry again. Say why. Chapters 7–9 1 Put students into pairs. Ask them to act out this conversation. Student A: You are Mrs Snawley. You don’t want Wackford Squeers to stay in your house. Say why. Student B: You are Mr Snawley. You like Squeers and want him to stay. Say why. 2 Put students into small groups. Ask them to discuss these questions. (a) Who is Brooker? (b) Why is Ralph so rude to him? (c) What is Brooker’s secret?

© Pearson Education Limited 2004 Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by Christopher Rice Factsheet series developed by Louise James Penguin Readers Factsheets Level Nicholas Nickleby 4 – Intermediate Photocopiable Student’s activities Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Students can do these activities alone or with one or more (c) Fanny becomes Nicholas’s enemy because other students. Pair/group-only activities are marked. (1) he is friendly with Smike. (2) he hits her father. ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK (3) he embarrassed her. 1 Complete each item (a–i) with a word from the box. Chapters 4–6 agency beg cart clerk companion cottage 1 Complete each sentence with a word from the box. debt revenge sigh attractive confused dangerous dishonest (a) to take … (b) a travelling … (c) a horse and … healthy helpful jealous proud ungrateful violent on someone (d) a travel … (e) a country … (f) to … for money (a) Newman Noggs is … of Nicholas. (g) a … of boredom. (h) to pay a … (i) an office … (b) Fanny Squeers writes an … letter. (c) Fanny says that Smike is … 2 Read the Introduction and answer these questions. (d) The girl in the job agency is … (a) Who is Nicholas’s main enemy? (e) Miss La Creevy is … (b) How many books had Dickens written before Nicholas (f) Ralph says that Nicholas is … Nickleby? (g) Mrs Nickleby is often … (c) Which of these people is not a character in the book? (h) Mrs Wititterly doesn’t look very … Sir Mulberry Hawk Ned Cheeryble (i) Mrs Wititterly becomes … of Kate. William Shaw Wackford Squeers (j) Sir Mulberry Hawk is an … man. (d) Why was Dickens especially proud of Nicholas Nickleby? 2 Underline the correct word(s). (e) Which of these things did Dickens not do? (a) Nicholas visits Miss La Creevy before / after he sees Newman Noggs. get married go to university go to America (b) Mrs Nickleby and Kate live on the ground / first floor of act in a theatre work for a newspaper an old house. (c) Nicholas found a letter / a ring in his pocket. ACTIVITIES WHILE READING THE BOOK (d) Nicholas decides / is told to leave London. (e) Kate first meets Sir Mulberry Hawk at her uncle’s Chapters 1–3 house / office. 1 Number these people in the order that Nicholas speaks to (f) Mrs Nickleby is a sensible / silly woman. them. Put X by the one he does not speak to. (g) Sir Mulberry is / isn’t surprised to see Kate at the theatre. (a) Smike (h) Ralph understands / doesn’t understand Kate’s (b) Squeers problem. (c) John Browdie (i) Nicholas returns to London because Kate / Newman (d) Newman Noggs Noggs writes to him. (e) Miss La Creevy (j) Mrs Nickleby wants / doesn’t want to leave the house. (f) Ralph (g) Fanny Squeers Chapters 7–9 2 Choose the correct answer. 1 Put these sentences into the correct order. (a) Nicholas thinks his uncle is (a) Mrs Nickleby meets Smike. (1) cold-hearted. (2) emotional. (3) strange-looking. (b) Nicholas meets some twins. (c) Nicholas falls in love. (b) When Nicholas arrives at Dotheboys Hall, he feels (d) The Nicklebys move into a new house. (1) excited. (e) Ralph meets someone from his past. (2) lonely. (f) Smike is attacked. (3) surprised. (g) Squeers is thrown out of a door. (h) Fanny Squeers comes to London.

2 Put the two halves of the sentences together. 3 Write an article for a newspaper. How was life hard for poor people 200 years ago? Are things better for poor people (a) Ralph is surprised … (1) …. to be Smike’s father. today? (b) Mrs Nickleby is (2) … to see Smike again. persuaded … (c) The twins decide … (3) … to escape. (d) The twins offer … (4) … to find a girl. (e) John Browdie pretends … (5) … to offer Nicholas a job. (f) John Browdie helps (6) … to accept Smike. Smike … (g) Smike refuses … (7) … to lend the Nicklebys money. (h) The Nicklebys are (8) … to see Wackford relieved … Squeers. (i) Newman Noggs (9) … to be ill. promises … (j) Snawley pretends … (10) … to be left alone.

Chapters 10–12 1 True or false? (a) Charles Cheeryble is Madeline Bray’s uncle. (b) Madeline’s father hates Charles Cheeryble. (c) Madeline knows that the money comes from the twins. (d) Madeline’s father owes Ralph money. (e) Arthur Gride is in love with Madeline. (f) Madeline doesn’t know she owns a house. (g) Bray feels sorry for his daughter. (h) Ralph thinks Bray and Gride will die soon. (i) Ralph wants Madeline’s house. (j) Smike is in love with Kate. 2 Who says these things? About whom? (a) ‘When she died, she was a sad, broken-hearted woman.’ (b) ‘You’re as greedy as I am.’ (c) ‘We don’t need your business any more.’ (d) ‘She looks prettier in tears.’ (e) ‘She’s destroyed me!’ (f) ‘He treated me very badly.’ (g) ‘I saw him – over there, behind the trees!’ Chapters 13–14 1 Which of these people help to defeat Ralph? How?

The Cheerybles Mr Bray Squeers Snawley Brooker Arthur Gride Newman Noggs

2 Which of these people are happy at the end of the story? Why?

Kate The Cheerybles Mrs Nickleby Brooker Madeline Miss La Creevy Newman Noggs

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK 1 Work in pairs. Which part of the story did you find (a) the saddest? (b) the funniest? (c) the most exciting? (d) the most boring? 2 You are Fanny. Write a letter to your father in prison. Tell him what happened to the school.