# Follows the fortunes of Miss Nickleby explained — Nicholas Nickleby > Chapter companion for Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. ## What happens Kate Nickleby begins her employment at Madame Mantalini's dressmaking establishment, facing the harsh realities of working life. She arrives early, navigates the condescension of the footman, overhears a quarrel between Mr. and Mrs. Mantalini, and is introduced to the bustling, sycophantic Miss Knag. Kate's mourning for her father draws sympathy from some workers but also exposes her to the coldness of the world. ## Themes in this chapter ### Social Injustice and Corruption Kate's entry into the exploitative world of dressmaking reveals the physical and emotional toll on young women, contrasting the finery they produce with their own suffering. ### Hypocrisy and Appearance vs. Reality Miss Knag's fawning deference to Madame Mantalini and her superficial judgments highlight the gap between outward politeness and inner pettiness. ### Resilience and Moral Integrity Kate maintains her composure and integrity despite the condescension of the footman, the gossip of the workers, and the emotional weight of her father's death. ## Character check-ins ### Kate Nickleby Begins her employment at Madame Mantalini's, feeling heavy-hearted and facing the grim realities of working life. ### Madame Mantalini Hires Kate and introduces her to Miss Knag, while dealing with her husband's flirtatious behavior. ### Mr. Mantalini Heard quarreling with his wife about jealousy, displaying his foppish and manipulative nature. ### Miss Knag The overdressed, loquacious forewoman who fawns over Madame Mantalini and tries to extract information from Kate. ### Miss Simmonds A kind young woman who helps Kate and shows sensitivity about her mourning. ## Key lines > At this early hour many sickly girls, whose business, like that of the poor worm, is to produce, with patient toil, the finery that bedecks the thoughtless and luxurious, traverse our streets, making towards the scene of their daily labour, and catching, as if by stealth, in their hurried walk, the only gasp of wholesome air and glimpse of sunlight which cheer their monotonous existence during the long train of hours that make a working day. Early in the morning, many pale and unhealthy young girls walk through the streets to their jobs, producing luxury items for the wealthy, and snatching only brief moments of fresh air and sunlight in their otherwise dreary workdays. _Highlights the grim conditions of female workers in the garment industry._ > Kate might have said, that mourning is sometimes the coldest wear which mortals can assume; that it not only chills the breasts of those it clothes, but extending its influence to summer friends, freezes up their sources of goodwill and kindness, and withering all the buds of promise they once so liberally put forth, leaves nothing but bared and rotten hearts exposed. Kate could have observed that mourning clothes can be the coldest attire, chilling the wearer and causing fair-weather friends to withdraw their warmth and kindness, revealing their true, hollow hearts. _Reflects on the isolating effect of grief and the fickleness of social connections._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nicholas_nickleby_se/chapters/xvii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nicholas_nickleby_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nicholas_nickleby_se/chapters