In Praise of Great Authors…
Smike had never known fair treatment much less kind treatment and
in the Dotheboys Hall School run by Mr. and Mrs. Squeers it was
worse. There he was enslaved and abused; his earlier lonely life was
followed by his being thrown away and sent to this place that one would
be tempted to think was God-forsaken.
But God came visiting Dotheboys Hall School run by Mr. & Mrs.
Squeers looking like a new teacher called Nicholas Nickleby. In meeting
him Smike met someone who treated him like a human to be cared for and
nurtured rather than a whipping boy when someone with an ill temper
wanted to ease his/her spleen. In the face of the boundless cruelty of
the Squeers—shown to the entire body of terrified children under their
care—Nickleby resigned from the school in defiance of their wishes.
Smike saw the young teacher as his hope for life and unknown to Nicholas
he followed him away from the school, not showing himself, afraid that
Nickelby might send him back. The teacher spent a night in a barn and in
the morning he suddenly wakened to find the desperate boy there. The
teacher had wakened without warning and Smike had no time to hide. Now
discovered he begged to be allowed to stay. “To go with
you—anywhere—everywhere—to the world’s end—to the churchyard grave.”
The teacher’s life’s situation was not at all an easy one and while he
feels a deep compassion for the boy he tells him he has little to offer
by way of help but Smike is not put off and desperate for the warmth of
friendship, or, even if friendship is too much to ask, he wants to know,
“May I—may I go with you? I will be your faithful, hard-working
servant, I will indeed. I want no clothes…I only want to be near you.”
“And so you shall,” said the teacher. “And the world shall deal by you as it does by me, till one or both of us shall quit it for a better.”
Both were as good as their words and a wounded child found not only a champion but a friend and faithfully befriended his friend. (Sigh. I wonder, and I’ve no wish at this moment to reflect on it, if there is some child in the world who could one day say I was a friend and champion to him in some real way. I’m not looking for comment here, truly. I just find the story profoundly moving and it makes me jealous (not envious) of the characters, and wishful…..) It pleases me to know and believe that Smikes & Nicklebys are a great host, alive and well, in the world.)
In a world of quick-change passions, of outrageous pre-nuptial
agreements, broken contracts, worthless promises, “sweet” marriage vows
that vanish like morning mist, friendships that were “treasured” as long
as one person ceaselessly pleased the other—in a world awash with so
much uncertainty it’s an entrance into heaven to be certain of someone!
To read the commitment Ruth made (Ruth 1:16-18) and stuck with it makes your soul rise to its feet and cheer. Yesssssssss! To read of the mutual commitment of Smike and Nickelby generates the same feeling because it’s the same thing.
Dickens’ writing has remained one of the grandeurs of English life
and literature. It isn’t all sweetness and light for his own life wasn’t
like that. There’s a lot of pain and loss in his writing and that
reminds us that he stayed in touch with life as a whole. He didn’t
become the noted author he is by writing perfumed bubble and froth or
pouring out simplistic moral platitudes. Nor did he write dark hopeless
muck or leave us wringing our hands in abject despair, paralyzed by
pervasive and entrenched evil. Nor did he make heroes of villains. He
continued to remind us of the possibilities and potential of life; he
speaks of happy endings without apology and makes us believe that honest
commitments not only can be made but that they can be kept through
thick and thin. What’s more, he shows us the glory of such people and
makes us want to be like that.
He touches the depths of life and enables us to see that there’s more than evil in the world. And while there is evil in the world that is hard to “explain” if God is good, Dickens and people like him remind us that there is good in the world and that is hard to “explain” if there is no God that is good.
( Holy Father, since we thank you for all that is good in the world and in our lives, we wish to thank you for good and skilled authors and movie-makers and screen-writers who bring us redemptive stories that carry truth to us with realism shot through with hope and assurance. We’re thankful that while not ignoring the ugliness and cruelty in life they rise above it and show us such glory, strength, courage and kindness that makes us long to be a part of it. In Jesus, this prayer.)
