Nicholas Sniffleby
Sep. 18th, 2012 12:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorindaIn 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.
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.
