Martin Eden

Dinner is an agonizing effort for Martin, who is completely unaccustomed to upper-class conventions and painfully aware of his shortcomings. He’s relieved that Mr. Morse is absent; meeting Ruth, her other brother Norman, and Mrs. Morse is nerve-wracking enough. Arthur invited him to dinner for saving him from a fight; unbeknownst to Martin, Arthur promised his family he was bringing a wild man to dinner.

Ruth comments on Arthur’s hands, which are damaged from the fight when he saved Arthur from a gang of hoodlums. He’s struck by the difference between his and the Morses’ lives. Arthur eventually coaxes Martin to tell them tales of his life. They’re enthralled by Martin’s sudden eloquence and the vividness of his stories. Ruth is both warmed and repulsed by Martin’s rough speech and strong body. She’s afraid of her growing attraction to the sailor.

Ruth lends Martin the copy of Swinburne’s poetry. Martin thanks them all profusely for the best night of his life.

On his way home, Martin reflects on the evening in a state of rapture. He glimpsed divinity in the purity of Ruth’s soul, and he feels penitent and completely unworthy of her. He dreams of being with her and exploring the heights of refined, intellectual life. He’s so thunderstruck by the evening that a police officer nearly mistakes him for a drunkard.

Martin catches a train car to Berkeley. The train is full of university boys. He compares himself with them: Although they have book learning, Martin has physical strength and real-life experience.

He gets off the train at Higginbotham Cash Store. Bernard Higginbotham is his brother-in-law, married to his sister Gertrude. Martin rents a room from them. Martin dislikes his weaselly, penny-pinching brother-in-law. As he enters the dwelling, his mind still reeling from his impressions of the Morses’ home, Martin is struck by the depressing, sordid conditions of his brother-in-law’s house and store.

After Martin goes off to bed, Bernard and Gertrude agree that he has been drinking, and Bernard criticizes Martin. Gertrude tries to defend her brother, but Bernard’s incessant nagging during their seven-year marriage has quashed her spirit.

In his small bedroom, Martin reflects on Ruth. He examines himself in the mirror, as if for the first time, wondering what intelligence waits to be unlocked in his brain. He’s struck by how bronzed his skin is compared to Ruth’s. He remembers that upper-class people brush their teeth, and, though his teeth are good, he resolves to take up the habit. Martin compares Ruth’s flawless hands with those of his family members, battered after years of labor. He remembers the pity he felt for a factory girl in London, aged before her years by labor. He plans to go to the library and falls asleep into audacious dreams.

The next morning, Martin affectionately greets Gertrude and two of her children. He’s saddened by observing what Gertrude’s life of toil has done to her, blaming Mr. Higginbotham for working her like a beast. As he eats breakfast, Martin feels hopeless about rising above his working-class origins to be worthy of Ruth.

He goes to the Oakland Free Library, hoping Ruth will be there, and peruses the stacks, feeling alienated by the gaps in his knowledge. When he leaves, hours later, he’s perturbed that the friendly reference librarian recognized him as a sailor.

Martin reads voraciously, afflicted by a hunger to see Ruth. His reading gives him glimpses into new disciplines, widening the feeling of the gaps in his knowledge. He lurks around Ruth’s house, hoping to see her but not daring to call on her. He makes deliberate improvements in his personal hygiene, attempting to adopt Ruth’s cleanliness and purity. He starts wearing creased trousers in the style of the upper class. He still smokes, but he gives up drinking.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of Ruth, Martin attends a theater production. He spots her in the crowd with Arthur and another young man, which gives him a pang of jealousy. Two working-class girls in the crowd show interest in Martin, though he only has eyes for Ruth.

Martin leaves the show early, intent to catch see Ruth as she leaves. However, the two working-class girls seek him out. They bump into him, and he leads them away, not wanting Ruth to see them together. He feels natural with the girls and banters playfully. One of them, who introduces herself as Lizzie, is particularly attractive and glib. However, as he watches out for Ruth, he feels spiritually nauseous. To get out of the situation, Martin lies and says he already had a date.

A week has passed since Martin’s night at the Morses’. Although he longs to see Ruth, he doesn’t know when it might be appropriate to call on her. Instead, he reads voraciously, trying to fill the gaps in his knowledge, though he lacks proper direction. He listens to people in the park who gather to debate philosophy and politics. Frustrated by his unstructured inquiry into philosophy, he finds solace in poetry and mythology.

The reference librarian becomes friendly with Martin, so he asks his advice on how to talk to high-class women and when he should call on Ruth. The librarian is delighted to help; he recommends that Martin telephone her. Martin follows his advice, and Ruth tells him to come over any time that day.

Martin and Ruth are again struck by their previous impressions of each other, and they get on better than either would have expected. Ruth remains naive to her growing attraction and love for Martin, but Martin already knows he loves her. Ruth wonders how she can help him, but Martin broaches the topic first. He tells Ruth of his desire to elevate his status in life but stops short of asking if she can direct him because he realizes that asking Arthur would have been more proper.

Ruth recognizes that the lack of a proper education has stifled Martin’s intellect. She suggests pursuing an education, not considering doing so requires money that Martin doesn’t have. Finally, she decides that he should concentrate on grammar and proper English, criticizing his vernacular. Ruth fetches a grammar textbook, and Martin is thrilled when she sits close to examine it.

Over the next several weeks, Martin continues to study, guided by Ruth, whom he meets with frequently. As Martin falls deeper in love with her, he decides that love surpasses all other sensations or experiences in life. Ignorant of the ways of love, Ruth doesn’t realize the significance of her growing feelings for him, instead ascribing them to the novelty of Martin’s character. She’s amazed and delighted with Martin’s rapid intellectual progress and with her role in his development. She marvels at his unique insights and deviations from common interpretations of music and literature. As she becomes enthralled with remodeling Martin’s life, she fails to heed the possible consequence of her actions.

Ruth tries to use the example of Mr. Butler, a junior partner in her father’s law firm, to inspire Martin. Butler lived his early years in self-denial, living on $4 a week to save up as much money as possible. Martin is unimpressed by this austerity; he thinks Mr. Butler must never have had fun as a young man and that he must suffer from dyspepsia, unable to enjoy his current good fortune. Ruth concedes that he’s a somber man but defends his character. Butler is widely respected, and Mr. Morse even claims that he’d be a likely candidate for the Supreme Court. Martin concedes that Butler is a great man but privately feels that he has robbed his life of beauty and meaning. Martin tries to explain this to Ruth, but she’s unable to understand anything outside the scope of her own values.