Nicholas Sniffleby

[dorinda]

In the interests of morale-building and self-comfort and whatnot, lately I have been listening to an unabridged audiobook of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. (...what? Seriously, that's the sort of thing I find immensely comforting. *g*) I had forgotten that I never did read the book; I only saw the play (all 9 hours, split into two nights, done at the University I went to back in the day), which perforce is abridged.

And then of course today I run into this scene with Nicholas and Smike, the abused youth he ran away with from the corrupt Yorkshire 'school'. Nicholas has had to abandon his mother and sister, to try and keep them safe from retribution by his wicked uncle. He gets back to his shabby garret and cries on his bed, until Smike comes home and finds him.

Smike says that he feels terrible, being a burden to Nicholas and the cause of his trouble, but wasn't able to leave him without a word. He lays his hand on Nicholas's, weeping. And then:

"The word which separates us," said Nicholas, grasping him heartily by the shoulder, "shall never be said by me, for you are my only comfort and stay. I would not lose you now, Smike, for all the world could give. The thought of you has upheld me through all I have endured today, and shall, through fifty times such trouble. Give me your hand. My heart is linked to yours. We will journey from this place together, before the week is out. What, if I am steeped in poverty? You lighten it, and we will be poor together."

BRB SNIVELING.

...Yeahhhh, sometimes I suppose I just gotta have a scene like that, or the sickbay in Star Trek: The Motion Picture or something. Huggin and cryin, I Love You, I Love You Too, *violins* *Dorinda dabs her eyes on the train*

(...Um, not that I use the train as a handkerchief. Ow.)

Not that I've found myself willing or able to write such demonstrative things, to my memory. But then, maybe that's what Charles Dickens is for.

Comments

[klia]

I know I saw the '82 TV version with Roger Rees as Nicholas and David Threlfall as Smike, and the '01 TV version with James D'Arcy as Nicholas and Lee Ingleby as Smike (hmm... never realized so many Master & Commander actors did NN), and I swear, I don't recall that scene in either. But that could just be my bad memory. :P

I just realized I never did see the '02 movie version with Charlie Hunnam as Nicholas and Jamie Bell as Smike, and now I really think I need to. Because it would be nice to see a scene like that where one of them isn't dying!

[dorinda]

Yeah, that scene isn't in the play. There's so much cutting to do, I guess, to get this behemoth down even to nine hours, let alone a movie. So you can keep a couple of the quicker, simpler (less demonstrative :( ) bits between them, like Smike's "You are my home" and whatnot, and scrap the rest. Alas.

[klia]

Argh, why do they always seem to think scenes like that aren't necessary?

[gwyn]

YOU MUST. That version with Charlie Hunnam and Jamie Bell is just... while the adaptation isn't as faithful as the others, largely because of time, they are both so amazing in it, and their scenes together are so full of love. They captured Nicholas's and Smike's relationship better than I've seen almost anyone else do. I just recently rewatched it and it makes me cry all the time. I highly recommend it to you both, even if it is severely truncated.

[dorinda]

Oooh, hey, I'm glad to know that! I've never yet watched that version, and it sounds like I'd enjoy it (even given the eventual outcome, sniffle).

[klia]

Thanks for letting me know it's worth tracking down.

[msmoat]

First, *Hugs* for the need for comfort reads/views/audio.

Second, wow...my acquaintance with Nicholas Nickleby is extremely slight. That may need to be rectified. That is a lovely passage.

Third, Kelly and Scotty would totally...well, okay, differently do that. Same scene! Slightly different words! *g* You know, it brings to mind that scene from A Room with a Rack, when they're walking away and talking about their possible future.

[dorinda]

Thanks for the hugs! I hug you back forthwith!

I'm really enjoying the book. Dickens can of course be a gigantic read, with big dense winding passages, but I've always liked him anyway, especially in audio. With a good reader, the characters stand out distinct, and the dense parts are lightened and clarified.

I could wish that Dickens had more pairs like this, for some more of that 'me and him against the world' that can be so satisfying. But in the other books I've read, it seems that he almost always has his protagonist cast alone into the world (or someone like Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities, who I guess isn't the protagonist per se [...or is he? Hmmm...], but is certainly alone and melancholy, poor guy). David Copperfield has a friend at school who he admires very much, the charming Steerforth, but (spoilers!) Steerforth doesn't end up worthy of his admiration.

Slightly different words! *g*

Heh. Yeah, when they do declarations, they tend to talk all the way around the subject in their own particular code. The restaurant bit you mention is definitely one of those times. Or, there's that great bit in "The Loser," when Scotty's about to run back into the lion's den and thinks Kelly will just let him go off into danger by himself (yeahhhh), and Kelly's form of "cut it out, it's you and me against the world" involves a firearm and an offer of a punch in the mouth.

On the other hand, I was telling klia the other day that another comfort lately for me has been a rewatch of the movie Hot Fuzz, and there's more directness to the declarations in there, especially on Danny's part (Danny Butterman wouldn't know a clamshell if it nipped him right on the nose! :D ).

[torch]

Oh, now I have such a craving... for the '82 RSC version, which I don't have, as opposed to the book, which is just over there. Unreasonable, but there it is. I can mentally insert cuddling as needed!

*cuddles you, too*

[dorinda]

*glomph*

Oh, man, Roger Rees. Or should I say, ROGER REEEEEEEEES ♥ ______ ♥ That was the first thing I ever saw him in, and I was officially a goner.