# IX explained — A Hazard of New Fortunes > Chapter companion for A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells. ## What happens The Marches continue their house-hunting in New York, now with less novelty but sustained interest. They tour expensive apartments in a coupé, but their journey takes them through a tenement street, prompting a philosophical discussion about poverty, home, and the nature of flats versus houses. Mrs. March remains uncompromising in her ideal, and after her husband's critique of modern flats, she proposes they look at houses instead. ## Themes in this chapter ### Urban vs. Rural Life The Marches' house-hunting journey through a tenement street contrasts the idealized home with the harsh realities of urban poverty. ### Social Class and Mobility The Marches observe the hopeless poverty of tenement dwellers and reflect on their own middle-class aspirations and housing choices. ### Family and Generational Conflict March's critique of flats emphasizes the loss of family cohesion and the 'negation of motherhood' in modern urban housing. ## Character check-ins ### Basil March Engages in a reflective monologue about poverty and the inadequacy of flats for family life, ultimately agreeing to look at houses. ### Mrs. March Remains particular about housing requirements, is disgusted by the tenement street, and proposes looking at houses after her husband's critique. ### Fulkerson Mentioned as a potential source for March to write up New York sights for Every Other Week. ## Key lines > Their house-hunting no longer had novelty, but it still had interest; and they varied their day by taking a coupé, by renouncing advertisements, and by reverting to agents. Though house-hunting had lost its novelty, the Marches still found it interesting and changed their routine by hiring a carriage, ignoring ads, and going back to using agents. _Describes the Marches' evolving approach to finding a home._ > It was not the abode of the extremest poverty, but of a poverty as hopeless as any in the world, transmitting itself from generation to generation, and establishing conditions of permanency to which human life adjusts itself as it does to those of some incurable disease, like leprosy. The street was not the poorest possible, but it represented a hopeless, inherited poverty that people accept like a chronic illness. _March reflects on the permanence of poverty in tenement neighborhoods._ > The flat means society life; that is, the pretence of social life. It's made to give artificial people a society basis on a little money—too much money, of course, for what they get. March argues that flats are designed for social pretense rather than genuine family life, catering to artificial people with limited means. _March's critique of modern apartment living._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_hazard_of_new_fortunes_se/chapters/part-first-ix - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_hazard_of_new_fortunes_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_hazard_of_new_fortunes_se/chapters