Leprosy

In Martin Eden’s account to Ruth Morse, leprosy is both the reason for a hidden settlement’s isolation and the condition that makes his escape morally complicated. The story presents the disease through the settlement’s secrecy, the inhabitants’ confinement, and Martin’s remembered sympathy for a young woman who helps him leave while appearing to be in its early stages.

The hidden settlement

Martin says he had fever while living in a secret colony of thirty people with leprosy on one of the Hawaiian Islands. Unaware of the inhabitants’ condition, he reached their secluded valley after three days of living on wild guavas, ohia-apples, and bananas, then following a narrow trail inland and uphill. The settlement occupied a pocket among lava peaks, with terraced taro patches, fruit trees, and eight or ten grass huts.

The colony was founded in a place Martin describes as a hiding-place, and its establishment was against the law. Its elderly, seriously ill leader nevertheless ruled with authority and had guns and ample ammunition. Those defenses helped keep the settlement isolated and made leaving difficult for Martin; he remained there for three months.

Martin’s illness and escape

Martin recounts the episode after Ruth asks whether he has had the fever too. His arrival was accidental: he says he did not know about the lepers and had not imagined he would find them. Once inside the valley, he saw the inhabitants and understood what the settlement was. He later tells Ruth that he would have remained there if a young woman in the colony had not secured his release.

The woman was of mixed Chinese, white, and Hawaiian ancestry, and was well educated. Her mother, who lived in Honolulu and was wealthy, financed the settlement. That connection meant the daughter did not fear punishment for helping Martin escape. Before letting him go, however, she made him swear never to reveal the hiding-place. He says he kept that promise, and that his conversation with Ruth was the first time he had even mentioned it.

The young woman and the meaning of the disease

Martin describes the woman as beautiful in appearance and spirit, but says she already showed slight signs of leprosy: the fingers of her right hand were somewhat twisted, and a small spot had appeared on her arm. He assumes she is dead by the time he tells the story. Her early symptoms make his account of the colony personal rather than merely adventurous: the person who enables his escape is herself facing the disease and the isolation attached to it.

Martin admits that he was frightened at first, but says he grew accustomed to the danger and that pity for the woman displaced his fear. He imagines her as doomed to remain in the valley, living primitively and slowly deteriorating, and insists that leprosy is more terrible than Ruth can imagine. His language expresses compassion for her, while also framing her life through the disease’s physical and social confinement. The episode therefore turns on a contrast: Martin leaves the hidden settlement, but the woman who helps him appears to have no comparable way out.