In which we are introduced to the dismal and squalid interior economy of Dotheboys Hall, where sorrowful children endure harsh discipline and harsh conditions beneath the hypocritical and unfeeling management of the Squeers family. Nicholas Nickleby, newly arrived and burdened with uneasy reflections, attunes himself to the melancholy atmosphere, witnessing the cruelty and grim realities that pervade this neglected and cheerless establishment.