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The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, tells the story of Little Nell, a lovely young girl and her grandfather who loves her. However, Nell feels like shes in a cage where she has no friends of her own. She finds friendship in Kit, a young lad whom she teaches how to write. Unknown to Nell, her grandfather is so anxious about their condition that he incurs a big debt by borrowing money so that he can play cards with the hope that he will win someday and improve their financial condition.
Thus, he keeps these activities a secret from Nell as he succumbs to heavy debts from Quilp, a dwarf. He gambles all the money they own and Quilp takes this opportunity to spur his own personal motives and take over the shop. Her grandfather no longer knows how to respond with the dwindling funds that he possesses and so suffers a nervous breakdown. Nell and grandfather are then forced to escape to another country where they would no longer have to think about their pitiful plight.
There is more to the story though as we find Frederick, maneuvering things so that Richard Swiveller can help track down Nell so that Swiveller can now marry her and thus, the Quilp and Swiveller can share Nell's supposed inheritance. Frederick mistakenly thinks that Nell is an heir to a big fortune. Aggravating the situation is Quilp who again joins in volunteering to help find Nell and her grandfather, in order to derive glee from the misery it will cause all the characters concerned. However, Nell manages to find a far flung place where they are able to hide from these unscrupulous characters, to the detriment of Nell's health. What strike readers though, is the way little Nell, vulnerable in all of her young years trusts a stranger as of she had known him for a long time as she asks for directions about her way: She put her hand in mind as confidingly as if she had known me from her cradle, and we trudged away together; the little creature accommodating her pace to mine, and rather seeming to lead and take care of me than I to be protecting her. I observed that every now and then she stole a curious look at my face, as if to make quite sure that I was not deceiving her, and that these glances (very sharp and keen they were too) seemed to increase her confidence at every repetition Yet despite her trust and help to the people around her, she suffers and dies from sheer exhaustion in the end.
The secret deed of her grandfather in borrowing from Quilp, even if he had noble intentions of saving their financial situation, drove Nell to her grave. Nell remained true to her character and only thought of the help she could do and how to avoid further danger. Readers are again struck with the maturity Nell possesses despite her being young, and the irony that a grandfather, who has seen it all, been through all, would be the first to falter and exercise immaturity as against Nell's laudable wisdom and maturity. WORK CITED Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop. Wordsworth Edition Limited 1995, Great Britain
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