Rereading Review: "Martin Chuzzlewit" by Charles Dickens

Martin Chuzzlewit is one of Dickens' lesser known novels and I'm not going to lie to you but I originally wrote thousands of words for this review before cutting it down. I originally read it (and disliked it) when I was about 20 years' old and I thought that perhaps coming back to it older would make me appreciate the humour more. Spoiler alert: it didn't. I don't like the snide humour of this book, or the attempts at slapstick comedy in atmospheric writing. But I will say that it is satirical and fun and has some of the best examples of writing that the young Dickens had to offer at the time. It may not be in my top five Dickens novels but that's besides the point. Let's take a look at some of my favourite scenes and characters...

First of all, I love the character of Tom Pinch, I feel like he's always getting the blunt end of the stick. He gets his money taken by Tigg and Slyme and finds out that the younger Martin is in love with the same woman as him. He's a good character whom Dickens describes as not really having a bad bone in his body. There's always characters like this in Dickens and we recognise them for their ability to transcend the horrors around them and remain not only good, but also strangely optimistic even though sometimes they may feel a bid downtrodden.

I despise the character of Pecksniff though and I think that's the point. I got really annoyed with him from the moment he hit his head off the door at the beginning of the book. He just seems so stingy and detached from actual reality. When he goes to visit the older Martin in his bed there is definitely a change in the air when he reminds the man to take care of his grandson (the younger Martin). It inspires some amount of suspicion in the old man who believes Pecksniff wants his money. Pecksniff has two daughters who seemingly cannot stop giggling, are always fond of the attention of men and drag their father around when he gets blackout drunk. The whole family is just off and even though they are supposed to be satirical, I don't think it's very funny. I just found them annoying.

As for Tigg and Slyme - well they are just lucky they are remotely funny to some degree because they definitely aren't good people. They are basically what happens when the Artful Dodger grows up but wants to continue to be ten years' old. They drink and swindle, they are strange and aloof at times and they seem to be around at the most inconvenient moments. There's a scene where Slyme can't pay his bar bill and so Tigg goes to Tom Pinch in order to ask for an envelope which was apparently left by Pecksniff before he and his daughters went to London. The envelope apparently contains money that Tigg has been left and now requires to pay off Slyme's bar bill. Tom has no idea what he's talking about, goes to the landlady and helps pay off the bar bill himself because it's clear the landlady just wants these two idiots to go away. Same, landlady, same.

Another character I find strange is Jonas because clearly, he was in love with Charity (one of the Pecksniff daughters) and yet proposes marriage to the other one (her name is Mercy), causing a rift between the sisters who are usually quite close. Jonas is a bit here and there, sometimes he is consistent in his conversation and other times he sounds like the thickest man you could talk to. I was almost hoping that both girls rejected him but then again, they do centre their lives on getting male attention whenever they can and so, they are both so annoying that they deserve each other.

Of course Mercy and Jonas get married. But also later on in the book Tigg and Slyme invite Jonas to get involved with a shady 'Life Assurance' company and eventually, he accepts. I'm not going to lie but at least Jonas is now around people who are like him. The witless Mercy, the conman Tigg and the weirdo drunk Slyme. I think perhaps what makes this book very much not funny anymore are the slightly darker parts - one of them is when Jonas beats Mercy whilst she is trying to win him over when he's drunk. It was really quite worrying and the first time I felt sorry for her.

Ultimately though Tigg and Slyme sell Jonas out and trap him in the scheme. He then has to bring Pecksniff into it, since both of his daughters have left him and one is married whilst the other is engaged. Of course, as this goes on, the book is no longer really as funny as it once was advertised. Instead the whole situation with Tigg and Slyme is getting darker and more serious. But I have to say I still have very little sympathy if any for Jonas.

The younger Martin goes to America and Dickens' portrayal of the country is one of stupidity. This is something I find relatively funny. There are Americans who have never been to England but they are sure that Queen Victoria lives in the Tower of London and honestly, I found that to be quite a hilarious satire of 19th century American confidence (being confidently wrong a lot) by Dickens. But by the time Martin returns to England, he must walk to the famed Blue Dragon pub because he and his friend don't have the money for a ride. Another reference to American satire in how expensive it is to be somebody in the country, as Martin spent his time around politicians and philosophers - it was a time that cost him dearly.

I have to say I enjoyed the book more as it got darker: this is where we get the murder, Jonas's weird paranoia about being watching, Tigg and Slyme's confidence trickery and scams and of course, the ageing of the older Martin Chuzzlewit as people think he will soon die. It is a wonderful book which definitely has a better second half than its first. But that doesn't mean that the book is bad, but it's really not my favourite. The final chapter is lovely though, I have to say.