What Is A Man Profited?
I recently finished reading Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. One of the main characters in the story is the uncle to Nicholas who is heartless and motivated only by money. He is out to get Nicholas throughout the story, and tries to punish him through the helpless young man, Smike, that Nicholas took under his wings. Nicholas became a true friend to Smike and took care of him when no one else would. Smike loved Nicholas and came of course to detest Ralph because of his persecutions of Nicholas and efforts to hurt Smike. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Smike is actually the son of Ralph, whom Ralph thought had died. But this revelation came only after Smike himself died, having been persecuted and mistreated nearly his whole life until he found Nicholas. When his son was very young, Ralph had kept him in the attic, trying to hide evidence of his marriage because it would potentially profit him if his secret outlived his brother-in-law’s life. Ralph’s clerk at the time,...