Fiction · 1844
Martin Chuzzlewit
Young Martin Chuzzlewit is thrown out by his grandfather and namesake, a wealthy old man made suspicious of everyone by a lifetime of being courted for his money — and disinherited a second time by his own teacher, the unctuous architect Mr. Pecksniff, whose obsequious virtue conceals a talent for using other people. Broke, Martin sails for America with his devoted servant Mark Tapley, where the two are swindled into a worthless swamp-land investment grandly named Eden — Dickens's own satire on American speculation and boosterism, drawn from the fever-ridden Mississippi river town of Cairo, Illinois, which he had seen for himself on his 1842 American tour. Back in England, a darker plot runs alongside: Jonas Chuzzlewit, brutal and grasping, commits a murder to protect himself, and is slowly run to ground by the quiet, watchful investigator Nadgett. Tom Pinch, Pecksniff's loyal and long-deceived assistant, holds the novel's moral center; Mrs. Sarah Gamp, the gin-fond sick-nurse who cites her own invented authority "Mrs Harris" for everything she says, became one of Dickens's most enduringly quoted comic creations.
Serialized 1843–44 and published in volume form in 1844, Martin Chuzzlewit sold poorly against Dickens's earlier novels, and its American chapters drew a hostile reception in the United States itself. In his preface, Dickens defended that satire as drawn from real reported speeches rather than invented for effect, and stood by Jonas Chuzzlewit's brutality as the direct, traceable product of his upbringing rather than an exaggeration.
Contents
- Preface
- Postscript
- Chapter One — Introductory, Concerning the Pedigree of the Chuzzlewit Family
- Chapter Two — Wherein Certain Persons Are Presented to the Reader, with Whom He May, If He Please, Become Better Acquainted
- Chapter Three — In Which Certain Other Persons Are Introduced; On the Same Terms as in the Last Chapter
- Chapter Four — From Which It Will Appear That If Union Be Strength, and Family Affection Be Pleasant to Contemplate, the Chuzzlewits Were the Strongest and Most Agreeable Family in the World
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six — Comprises, Among Other Important Matters, Pecksniffian and Architectural, and Exact Relation of the Progress Made by Mr Pinch in the Confidence and Friendship of the New Pupil
- Chapter Seven — In Which Mr Chevy Slyme Asserts the Independence of His Spirit, and the Blue Dragon Loses a Limb
- Chapter Eight — Accompanies Mr Pecksniff and His Charming Daughters to the City of London; And Relates What Fell Out Upon Their Way Thither
- Chapter Nine — Town and Todger’s
- Chapter Ten — Containing Strange Matter, on Which Many Events in This History May, for Their Good or Evil Influence, Chiefly Depend
- Chapter Eleven — Wherein a Certain Gentleman Becomes Particular in His Attentions to a Certain Lady; And More Coming Events Than One, Cast Their Shadows Before
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen — Showing What Became of Martin and His Desparate Resolve, After He Left Mr Pecksniff’s House; What Persons He Encountered; What Anxieties He Suffered; And What News He Heard
- Chapter Fourteen — In Which Martin Bids Adieu to the Lady of His Love; And Honours an Obscure Individual Whose Fortune He Intends to Make by Commending Her to His Protection
- Chapter Fifteen — The Burden Whereof, Is Hail Columbia!
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen — Does Business with the House of Anthony Chuzzlewit and Son, from Which One of the Partners Retires Unexpectedly
- Chapter Nineteen — The Reader Is Brought Into Communication with Some Professional Persons, and Sheds a Tear Over the Filial Piety of Good Mr Jonas
- Chapter Twenty — Is a Chapter of Love
- Chapter Twenty-One
- Chapter Twenty-Two — From Which It Will Be Seen That Martin Became a Lion of His Own Account. Together with the Reason Why
- Chapter Twenty-Three — Martin and His Partner Take Possession of Their Estate. The Joyful Occasion Involves Some Further Account of Eden
- Chapter Twenty-Four — Reports Progress in Certain Homely Matters of Love, Hatred, Jealousy, and Revenge
- Chapter Twenty-Five — Is in Part Professional, and Furnishes the Reader with Some Valuable Hints in Relation to the Management of a Sick Chamber
- Chapter Twenty-Six — An Unexpected Meeting, and a Promising Prospect
- Chapter Twenty-Seven — Showing That Old Friends May Not Only Appear with New Faces, but in False Colours. That People Are Prone to Bite, and That Biters May Sometimes Be Bitten
- Chapter Twenty-Eight — Mr Montague at Home. And Mr Jonas Chuzzlewit at Home
- Chapter Twenty-Nine — In Which Some People Are Precocious, Others Professional, and Others Mysterious; All in Their Several Ways
- Chapter Thirty — Proves That Changes May Be Rung in the Best-Regulated Families, and That Mr Peckniff Was a Special Hand at a Triple-Bob-Major
- Chapter Thirty-One — Mr Pinch Is Discharged of a Duty Which He Never Owed to Anybody, and Mr Pecksniff Discharges a Duty Which He Owes to Society
- Chapter Thirty-Two — Treats of Todger’s Again; And of Another Blighted Plant Besides the Plants Upon the Leads
- Chapter Thirty-Three — Further Proceedings in Eden, and a Proceeding Out of It. Martin Makes a Discovery of Some Importance
- Chapter Thirty-Four — In Which the Travellers Move Homeward, and Encounter Some Distinguished Characters Upon the Way
- Chapter Thirty-Five — Arriving in England, Martin Witnesses a Ceremony, from Which He Derives the Cheering Information That He Has Not Been Forgotten in His Absence
- Chapter Thirty-Six — Tom Pinch Departs to Seek His Fortune. What He Finds at Starting
- Chapter Thirty-Seven — Tom Pinch, Going Astray, Finds That He Is Not the Only Person in That Predicament. He Retaliates Upon a Fallen Foe
- Chapter Thirty-Eight — Secret Service
- Chapter Thirty-Nine — Containing Some Further Particulars of the Domestic Economy of the Pinches; With Strange News from the City, Narrowly Concerning Tom
- Chapter Forty — The Pinches Make a New Acquaintance, and Have Fresh Occasion for Surprise and Wonder
- Chapter Forty-One — Mr Jonas and His Friend, Arriving at a Pleasant Understanding, Set Forth Upon an Enterprise
- Chapter Forty-Two — Continuation of the Enterprise of Mr Jonas and His Friend
- Chapter Forty-Three — Has an Influence on the Fortunes of Several People. Mr Pecksniff Is Exhibited in the Plenitude of Power; And Wields the Same with Fortitude and Magnanimity
- Chapter Forty-Four — Further Continuation of the Enterprise of Mr Jonas and His Friend
- Chapter Forty-Five — In Which Tom Pinch and His Sister Take a Little Pleasure; But Quite in a Domestic Way, and with No Ceremony About It
- Chapter Forty-Six — In Which Miss Pecksniff Makes Love, Mr Jonas Makes Wrath, Mrs Gamp Makes Tea, and Mr Chuffey Makes Business
- Chapter Forty-Seven — Conclusion of the Enterprise of Mr Jonas and His Friend
- Chapter Forty-Eight
- Chapter Forty-Nine — In Which Mrs Harris Assisted by a Teapot, Is the Cause of a Division Between Friends
- Chapter Fifty — Surprises Tom Pinch Very Much, and Shows How Certain Confidences Passed Between Him and His Sister
- Chapter Fifty-One — Sheds New and Brighter Light Upon the Very Dark Place; And Contains the Sequel of the Enterprise of Mr Jonas and His Friend
- Chapter Fifty-Two — In Which the Tables Are Turned, Completely Upside Down
- Chapter Fifty-Three
- Chapter Fifty-Four — Gives the Author Great Concern. For It Is the Last in the Book
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About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
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About the author
1812–1870 · Victorian
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was born at Portsmouth and worked as a child in a blacking factory while his father was imprisoned for debt — an experience he drew on for the rest of his life. A parliamentary reporter by twenty, he became the most popular novelist in English with The Pickwick Papers (1836–37) and never lost that place: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861) followed. He died at Gad’s Hill, Kent.
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