Martin Chuzzlewit is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels, which was written and serialized in 1843-1844. Like nearly all of Dickens' novels, Martin Chuzzlewit was released to the public in monthly installments. Sales of the monthly parts were disappointing, compared to Dickens' previous works, so Dickens changed the plot to send the title character to America. This allowed the author to portray America satirically as a near wilderness, whose pockets of civilization were filled with deceptive and self-promoting hucksters