Finishing "Martin Chuzzlewit"

On 19 April this year, I wrote about finishing Charles Dickens's "Barnaby Rudge"; today, I finished his next novel, "Martin Chuzzlewit". The novel's image of the "U-nited States" (as characters are frequently represented as pronouncing it) is memorable, especially when guns come up: "Martin learned [...] that to carry pistols into legislative assemblies, and swords in sticks, and other such peaceful toys [...] were glowing deeds." Like the Gordon Riots in "Barnaby Rudge", this recalls the January attack on the Capitol, but also how Republican Representatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene want to carry guns onto the House floor. Now, exactly six months away from Christmas, it's on to "A Christmas Carol". (Andrew Shields, #111words, 25 June 2021)