Philip Castille
enthusiasm, and power” (52). London treats this opening-scene dinner party
as a voyage of discovery; Martin is bedazzled by the “new world” of bourgeois
leisure and plenty he encounters in the Morse home. He also is enchanted by
Arthur’s sister Ruth, a university student who embodies the genteel cultural
values of the house she inhabits. After this life-changing evening Martin feels
Berkeley neighborhoods. He experiences severe dislocation and is never
“at home” again in the novel (Reesman 217). He vows to shed his workingintellectually and become worthy of Ruth by becoming a successful author.
He burns through his huge resources of vitality and willpower while pounding
out stories and compiling a stack of rejected manuscripts.
When acclaim and royalties come after two years of poverty and overwork, they
arrive too late. He has become disgusted by the market-driven mechanisms of
values of his Ruth and her society circle. Martin understands that “It was the
bourgeoisie that bought his books and poured gold into his money-sack,”
what he had written” (Martin Eden
prodigy who rose from deckhand to famous writer. These market forces ignore
his intrinsic worth b ]