Mr Snawley Thinks Ahead

Mr Snawley has two stepsons he would like to offload, and Mr Squeers seems just the right person to help him.

1839

Introduction

Mr Wackford Squeers, headmaster of Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire, is in London looking for clients. He is approached at the Saracen’s Head by a Mr Snawley, step-father to two small boys, who is looking for a cheap, far-off boarding school with none of those ill-judged holidays ‘that unsettle children’s minds so’.

by Charles Dickens 1812-1870

‘EACH boy is required to bring, sir, two suits of clothes, six shirts, six pair of stockings, two nightcaps, two pocket-handkerchiefs, two pair of shoes, two hats, and a razor.’

‘A razor!’ exclaimed Mr. Snawley, as they walked into the next box. ‘What for?’

‘To shave with,’ replied Squeers, in a slow and measured tone.

There was not much in these three words, but there must have been something in the manner in which they were said, to attract attention; for the schoolmaster and his companion looked steadily at each other for a few seconds, and then exchanged a very meaning smile.

‘Up to what age do you keep boys at your school then?’ Snawley asked at length.

‘Just as long as their friends make the quarterly payments to my agent in town, or until such time as they run away,’ replied Squeers.

by Charles Dickens 1812-1870

From ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, by Charles Dickens

Précis

Unscrupulous schoolmaster Wackford Squeers has found a potential client in Mr Snawley, who wants to send two small, unwanted stepsons away to boarding school. Snawley is surprised to find himself asked to provide them with a razor, but pleased: it implies that (at small expense) he need not expect to see them again for many long years.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why was Snawley surprised to be asked to supply a razor?

Suggestion

His children were too young to shave.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Mr Squeers’s school did not have holidays. Mr Snawley approved.