Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, Nos. V–VII (Chs. 11-17)

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

Originally published: 1843-44
Acquired: December 2023
Installments read: January 2024

No. V (Chs. 11-12)
The only thing less interesting than reading about Pecksniff is reading about his daughters. Like, what have I even been given to latch onto here? Who cares about them? It was only during chapter 11 that I realized their name wasn't spelled "Pecksnif," which is maybe a good barometer of how much I care... as is the fact I have no inclination to go back and fix the spelling in my earlier posts!

Chapter 12 does give us some of Tom and Martin, the faint bright light in this morass. I did quite like this line about Tom: "To say that Tom had no idea of playing first fiddle in any social orchestra, but was always quite satisfied to be set down for the hundred and fiftieth violin in the band, or thereabouts, is to express his modesty in very inadequate terms." A good Dickensian metaphor. At the end of this chapter, things fall apart between Martin and Pecksniff, and Martin loses his position.

‘And where?’ cried Tom. ‘Oh where will you go?’
     ‘I don’t know,’ he said. – ‘Yes, I do. I’ll go to America!’
     ‘No, no,’ cried Tom, in a kind of agony. ‘Don’t go there. Pray don’t. Think better of it. Don’t be so dreadfully regardless of yourself. Don’t go to America!’
     ‘My mind is made up,’ he said. ‘Your friend was right. I’ll go to America. God bless you, Pinch!’

I seem to recall that Dickens packed Martin off to America as what we might call a ratings gambit, because sales of the novel's installments weren't what was hoped for, sort of akin to doing a soft reboot of your tv show's premise. I didn't realize that happened only five installments in. The decision to go to America is pretty random, and Tom's reaction pretty funny; I am not even sure what Martin means by "Your friend was right." Well, we'll see if it saves the novel. Certainly, if Martin's the character who actually goes to America, he'll actually have to be in the book! I have a bad feeling we'll keep cutting away to Pecksniff, though.

No. VI (Chs. 13-15)
What's this? Three whole chapters of Martin Chuzzlewit about... Martin Chuzzlewit!? These chapters see Martin put his plan to go to America into action. More importantly, I think, we get a sense of Martin as a character, as someone who tends to be impatient and quick to judge; there's this whole bit where he negotiates passage to London assuming the other guy doesn't want to give him something he actually does want to give him. He comes across as overly cynical about other people but also overly naïve about himself; when he advertises that he'll work for passage, he excepts tons of offers but gets none.

He ends up hooking up with some guy from the earlier chapters, Mark, who agrees to serve as his valet, and then (after a really boring conversation with Martin's sort of fiancée), they are off. I like Mark; Martin is making himself not too great, but I guess that's the point of a bildungsroman. Some good funny stuff from Mark complaining about the sea voyage. Is Dickens's soft reboot of the book going to pay off? We shall see.

No. VII (Chs. 16-17)
With the sixteenth chapter, Dickens is on much firmer footing. That is to say, he's doing jokes. I don't know why this book that was initially about a family vying for an inheritance is now all about jokes at the expense of the American newspaper market, but it's an effective transition—in that I am enjoying it much more. "Here’s the Sewer’s exposure of the Wall Street Gang, and the Sewer’s exposure of the Washington Gang, and the Sewer’s exclusive account of a flagrant act of dishonesty committed by the Secretary of State when he was eight years old; now communicated, at a great expense, by his own nurse." Lots of fun stuff.

The next chapter is less funny but still fun enough, and somewhat more purposeful, though I still don't know that I have a strong sense of what Martin wants in life beyond a vague desire to strike it rich. So far, though, maybe the transition to America is working.

This is the third in a series of posts about Martin Chuzzlewit. The next covers installment no. viii. Previous installments are listed below:

1. Nos. I–III (chs. 1-8)
2. No. IV (chs. 9-10)