Context: Among the characters that make this novel great is Wilkins Micawber, a perpetually improvident man who considers himself most deserving of good fortune, but who is unwilling to work for it. He lives in a climate of affected dignity and empty respectability and is aided in maintaining his delusions and pretensions by his wife, who states that "Mr. Micawber is a man of great talent. . . ." After Micawber's release from debtor's prison, she reports that her family, in Plymouth, feels that he should come to their city, where their influence may help him find a suitable job in the customs house. The family influence is not of certain effect, however, and they want him to be at hand when, with the help of luck, a position may be vacant. The situation is typical of the haphazard and shoddy manner in which Micawber's life proceeds.