The Old Curiosity Shop · Chapter
Chapter XXXIX explained
Kit's first quarter ends, and he receives his wages of thirty shillings.
What happens
Kit's first quarter ends, and he receives his wages of thirty shillings. He spends a joyful holiday with his mother, little Jacob, Barbara, and Barbara's mother. They visit Astley's Theatre and later enjoy oysters at a private box. Kit's admiration for Nell is gently challenged by Barbara and her mother, and the evening is filled with family warmth and celebration.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Community
The chapter celebrates family bonds and community joy as Kit, Barbara, and their mothers share a holiday of mutual affection and support.
Class and Social Hierarchy
Kit's pride in his first wages and the modest but grand celebration highlight the social aspirations and pleasures of the working class.
Characters to notice
- Christopher Nubbles
Receives his first quarter's wages and enjoys a holiday with his family and Barbara.
- Barbara
Also receives her quarter's wages and joins Kit and their mothers for a day of celebration.
- Mrs. Nubbles
Kit's mother hosts the tea and joins the outing to the theatre and oyster shop.
- Abel Garland
Kindly pays Kit his quarter's wages and praises his work.
- Jacob
Little Jacob accompanies the party and enjoys the play and oysters.
Key passages
“All that day, though he waited for Mr. Abel until evening, Kit kept clear of his mother’s house, determined not to anticipate by the slightest approach the pleasures of the morrow, but to let them come in their full rush of delight, for tomorrow was the great and long looked-for epoch in his life—tomorrow was the end of his first quarter—the day of receiving for the first time one fourth part of his annual income of Six Pounds in one vast sum of Thirty Shillings—tomorrow was to be a half-holiday devoted to a whirl of entertainments, and little Jacob was to know what oysters meant, and to see a play.”
Kit deliberately avoided his mother's house all day, wanting to preserve the full excitement of the next day—the end of his first quarter, when he would receive thirty shillings, his first substantial wages, and enjoy a half-holiday with oysters and a play for little Jacob.
Highlights Kit's anticipation and the significance of his first earnings.
“Poor Barbara! What was all this though—even all this—to the extraordinary dissipation that ensued, when Kit, walking into an oyster-shop as bold as if he lived there, and not so much as looking at the counter or the man behind it, led his party into a box—a private box, fitted up with red curtains, white tablecloth, and cruet-stand complete—and ordered a fierce gentleman with whiskers, who acted as waiter and called him, him, Christopher Nubbles, 'sir,' to bring three dozen of his largest-sized oysters, and to look sharp about it.”
Kit boldly led his group into an oyster shop, took a private box, and ordered three dozen large oysters from a waiter who respectfully addressed him as 'sir,' marking a moment of proud indulgence.
Shows Kit's sense of achievement and the modest luxury of the working-class celebration.