Mcteague Essay

1345 Words6 Pages
The novel, McTeague, written by Frank Norris has many ways to understand the events. The relationships between the characters in the story are strange. First, it seems that the first half of the story many of the characters come together. For example, Marcus and McTeague become friends, Trina and McTeague get married, Maria and Zerkow get married. As the story ends, the friendships of the characters breaks down into violence and death. First, Zerkow killed Maria and himself, next McTeague kills Trina, and then Marcus tracks down McTeague in the desert and they both die as McTeague kills Marcus and then dies himself of dehydration. It seems the strong survive and the weak die. In this case the strong survive longer than the weak. The theme that connects most of the conflicts together is that of greed. Greed is one of the three major themes in the novel "McTeague". McTeague shows the dangers of greed and how it can get the best of you. This novel shows how money can make you from a caring person into a evil person. Zerkow was greatly obsessed with gold and riches. The same obsession for money was in all of the characters. Zerkow was viewed as a "lost" soul and Trina as a proper young lady, yet they were both almost exactly alike. Here are some quotes on greed. "Miser, nasty little old miser. You're worse than old Zerkow, always nagging about money, money, and you got five thousand dollars. You got more, an' you live in that stinking hole of a room, and you won't drink any decent beer." "She don't care if I get wet and get a cold and die. No, she don't, as long as she's warm and got her money." Greed in the novel is one of the strongest point. Social Darwinism's problem is having to keep on gaining in order to have the things you can not possible have. Once the greed shows you get what you want, you might not get what you really need. Greed is a
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