Part 1, Act 1, Scenes 10-19 Summary

Scene 10. This is the first of several scenes detailing the unpleasant life at Dotheboys Hall. We see the boys dosed with a primitive medicine meant to suppress their appetite so the Squeers' can spend less money on food, we see Squeers read letters from home, all of which appear to encourage Squeers to discipline the boys even harder than he already does, we see Squeers lead a spelling lesson, in which he teaches the boys to spell incorrectly, and we see two of the boys kept behind for whippings, which we don't actually see. Narration tells us that Nicholas felt even worse about his position than he did when he arrived.

Scene 11. Fanny Squeers, daughter of Squeers and Mrs. Squeers, arrives, accompanied by her friend Tilda Price and Tilda's fiancy, a rough country man named John Bowdie...