This is foreshadowing towards the end of the novel where Martin's writing does not undergo a change, yet society begins to accept his writing when they once disregarded it. Perhaps this is also criticizing how many writers become popular past their time and how society's view of literature is fickle in its sense of appreciation of writing. It is also interesting how in the context of the novel, society refuses to accept Martin until he once again becomes mechanical and unfeeling. Despite his efforts to escape the dreadfulness of the working class, he ultimately succumbs to the same fate in the middle class. Again, the quote reflects the overall attitude of the bourgeoisie towards Martin's "work" and how their attitudes are later reversed towards the end of the story. There is also an interesting parallel in that Ruth believes she does not understand because he is incoherent, yet Martin is disappointed because she cannot grasp the underlying truth he is trying to show in his writing. Perhaps the novel's conclusion is a critique of being unable to ultimately escape one's class, as in the case of Martin Eden he was so absorbed in the the process and experience of bettering himself and his writing that once he had attained his goal he was unable to cope with life without anything else to "work" towards. That is, the process of writing had become his version of washing clothes in the laundromat.

This scene is a nod to a previous scene in chapter 1 when a similar thing happens and Ruth is enveloped by the aura of Martin's character. She was drawn in by his strength and scar and even made mention of how his neck radiated vitality and made her want to grab it. This sense of portraying the working class as "bestial" is a recurring theme throughout the novel while the middle class is portrayed as angelic. In the scene in chapter 1, Ruth perhaps wanted to grab his neck in order to gain some of his vitality as she said, or perhaps she could feel the innate danger of the middle class man before him. In this scene we see the strength of Martin's resolve, having tutored himself to this point and having started writing. Ruth is taken aback by the amount of "work" Martin is putting in. His bestial ability to take action and forge ahead is a foil to Ruth's angelic concept of judging from above him. The reason I believe Ruth is most attracted to Martin is that he is the only character in the novel who possesses the will to better himself. Throughout the novel and in real life as well, we get a cast of characters who are content with the class they've been dealt and their position within that class. However, Martin's ability to change himself is uncanny, almost to the point where I believe Ruth may be ultimately jealous. Jealous not only because she does not strive to better herself(as she studies not to make something of herself, but for leisure), but also for the fact that the working class hero may surpass her soon enough.

This line reflects Martin Eden's sense of beauty and aesthetic having once been apart of the working class and striving to ascend. This notion of "saints in slime" reflects the dirtiness that accompanies his characters and how they attempt to rise above the slime and filth, It's also an interesting thing to note that in this scene he is talking to Ruth, who first exposed to him the existence of his own dirtiness through her family's own cleanliness. This shows the parallels that exist within this scene as Ruth cannot comprehend the dirtiness in Martin's stories much like how she fails to understand Martin himself later on in the story. The biggest parallel that occurs later on the story is when Ruth leaves Martin Eden and then returns to him begging him to take her back. She left Martin because of his writing being niche and unprofitable, but once he becomes a big name his writing is suddenly fantastic in her eyes. This is a primary depiction of Martin's point that foulness and greatness are related. Just as the classic good/evil paradigm, the aspects of foul and great are not mutually exclusive as he tries to convey through his writing and his focus on "saints in slime." The story then becomes a representative of Martin's rise from foulness into greatness, yet the characters only recognizing half of him.

This line is foreshadowing of the later chapters in which Martin begins working at the laundry, in which his character experiences a reversion back into the working class temporarily. His days become merciless and his actions robotic and methodical. He loses all sense and willpower to pursue his writing or mail Ruth, his attachments to the middle class and his way of pursuing beauty and aesthetic. He makes a comment in chapter 18 that ties back to these notions of the working machine, "A fifth week passed, and a sixth, during which he lived and toiled as a machine, with just a spark of something more in him, just a glimmering bit of soul, that compelled him, at each week-end, to scorch off the hundred and forty miles. But this was not rest. It was super-machinelike, and it helped to crush out the glimmering bit of soul that was all that was left him from former life." This reflects Martin's life in the laundry, having become emotionless in his duties and robbed of the energy he needs to ascend to the middle-class. This sense of machine-like form may also be a reflection of his state at the beginning of the novel wherein he embodies the romanticized version of the the working class "man." In that portion of the novel he is described using very human defining terms such as vigorous, rough, warm, rough, and full of vitality and experience. This, of course is an extreme delta to the end of the novel in which Martin Eden becomes almost robotic in that he loses all sense of emotion, empathy, and excitement. Once he obtains his goal, he becomes apathetic and almost seems to "malfunction" as he no longer cared for the people he once tried to please.