# Chapter XV explained — Martin Chuzzlewit

> Chapter companion for Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Martin and Mark endure the final days of their Atlantic voyage aboard the Screw. Martin remains seasick and prideful, refusing to mingle with the steerage passengers, while Mark Tapley cheerfully helps everyone around him, including a poor woman traveling with her children to join her husband. The chapter highlights Mark's relentless good nature and Martin's stubborn shame about his reduced circumstances.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Class and Pretension

Martin's refusal to go on deck stems from his fear of being recognized as a poor steerage passenger, highlighting his preoccupation with social status even in reduced circumstances.

### Redemption and Self-Discovery

Mark Tapley's selfless kindness and resilience contrast with Martin's pride, suggesting a potential for growth and change through hardship.

## Character check-ins

### Martin Chuzzlewit

Lies in his berth, seasick and ashamed of his steerage status, refusing to go on deck to avoid being seen as poverty-stricken.

### Mark Tapley

Cheerfully helps a poor woman and her children, washes them, and performs various kindnesses despite his own seasickness; becomes universally popular on board.

## Key lines

> I lie here because I don't wish to be recognized, in the better days to which I aspire, by any purse-proud citizen, as the man who came over with him among the steerage passengers.

Martin explains that he stays in his berth to avoid being seen by wealthy people who might later remember him as a poor steerage passenger.

_Reveals Martin's pride and anxiety about social class._

> If a gleam of sun shone out of the dark sky, down Mark tumbled into the cabin, and presently up he came again with a woman in his arms, or half-a-dozen children, or a man, or a bed, or a saucepan, or a basket, or something animate or inanimate, that he thought would be the better for the air.

Whenever there was a brief moment of sunshine, Mark would rush below and bring up anyone or anything that might benefit from fresh air.

_Illustrates Mark's tireless helpfulness and good nature._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/martin_chuzzlewit_se/chapters/xv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/martin_chuzzlewit_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/martin_chuzzlewit_se/chapters