# XXXIII explained — Martin Chuzzlewit

> Chapter companion for Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Martin and Mark continue to suffer in Eden. Mark seeks help and encounters a family from the ship Screw, now also stricken by the settlement's conditions. Hannibal Chollop visits, boasting of his violent 'freedom' and weapons, while mocking English institutions. Mark and Martin express their disillusionment with Eden.

## Themes in this chapter

### American vs. British Society

The chapter contrasts the harsh reality of Eden with its advertised paradise, and features Chollop's aggressive defense of American institutions against English criticism.

### Deception and Trust

The fraudulent promises of Eden's proprietors (Scadder, Choke) are exposed through the suffering of settlers like the family from the Screw.

## Character check-ins

### Mark Tapley

Goes in search of help, encounters the family from the Screw, and engages in a disputatious conversation with Hannibal Chollop.

### Martin Chuzzlewit

Lies ill in bed, feverish and irritated, expressing his dislike of America to Chollop.

### Hannibal Chollop

Visits Martin and Mark, boasting of his weapons and violent exploits, and defending the superiority of America over England.

## Key lines

> I used to think, sometimes, as a desolate island would suit me, but I should only have had myself to provide for there, and being naturally a easy man to manage, there wouldn't have been much credit in that . Now here I've got my partner to take care on, and he's something like the sort of man for the purpose.

Mark reflects that a deserted island would have been too easy; now he has the challenge of caring for Martin, which gives him more credit.

_Mark's cheerful resilience in adversity._

> I shot him down, sir, for asserting in the Spartan Portico , a tri-weekly journal, that the ancient Athenians went ahead of the present Locofoco Ticket.

Chollop boasts of killing a man for a political opinion in a newspaper.

_Satire of American violence and political extremism._

## Links

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