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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in McTeague, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed and Self-Destruction
Naturalism
Gender Stereotypes
Class Struggle
Isolation vs. Connection
Summary
Analysis
Eventually, McTeague arrives in a town called Keeler. There, he meets a man named Cribbens, who invites him to join a prospecting expedition to Gold Gulch through Panamint Valley. Cribbens realizes that McTeague needs a horse to travel efficiently in the area and lends him an extra saddle and headstall. McTeague ends up buying a mule for $40, which proves to be a good investment as it handles the rough terrain well. Cribbens is amazed when he sees McTeague has the money on his person. McTeague lies and says he recently sold a claim, which is why he has the money on hand.
Cribbens is the first connection with another human being that McTeague has made in a long time. However, like many of the other people in McTeague’s life, Cribbens’s primary motivation is to accrue wealth. Even though such motivations have always caused problems for McTeague in the past, his instincts drive him to gain more resources, so he joins Cribbens’s prospecting expedition.
Themes
On an early morning in May, Cribbens and McTeague, now partners, leave Keeler with their mule and burro. Cribbens suggests leaving McTeague’s canary behind, but McTeague insists on bringing it along. They travel southeast, camping in the Panamint Valley and encountering cowboys along the way. As they climb the Panamint Range, the terrain becomes increasingly dry and hot. They search for water, eventually finding a small stream where they set up camp. The partners spend their days prospecting separately, searching for signs of gold. One day, after a week of searching, they meet and decide to move south due to low water supplies.
This section of the novel demonstrates how life in the city merely hides the “natural” impulses of human beings—it does not destroy them. Through social customs and propriety, societies can hide the base survival instincts that govern people. However, now that McTeague has experienced both, the veneer of civility is stripped away. Just like Marcus and Trina, the people living away from civilization are looking for ways to gain wealth for themselves. The canary on McTeague’s back represents his inability to escape the forces that drive his actions and ultimately guide him to his fate.
Themes
During their exploration, they discover evidence of a previous prospector’s camp, which frustrates Cribbens. He suggests moving to Gold Mountain, a difficult-to-reach area rumored to have gold. The next day, they find a promising contact zone between slate and granodiorite rocks with a quartz vein. Excited, they work together to extract and analyze the quartz. When they find traces of gold, Cribbens is ecstatic and begins celebrating. They hurriedly stake their claim. Cribbens gives McTeague a gun and tells him to shoot anybody who comes near their claim if need be.
The find of the quartz vein and traces of gold represent the tantalizing promise of wealth and success. Meanwhile. Cribbens’s instructions to McTeague to protect their claim with violence demonstrates the ruthless nature of their pursuit. Although staking the claim might be a triumph, it comes with the possibility of violence, as other vie for the land.
Themes
Cribbens exclaims in disbelief as he drives the first stake, marveling at how others had camped so close to their find without discovering it. Together, Cribbens and McTeague stake out their claim and put up the notice of location, finishing as night falls. Additionally, Cribbens collects more quartz to examine later. Returning to camp, Cribbens excitedly anticipates the rush to their claim once news spreads in Keeler. They discuss naming the site “Last Chance,” reflecting their near miss with fortune. Suddenly, McTeague pauses, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease. Though he sees and hears nothing, he remains on edge.
The excitement of naming the site "Last Chance" highlights the precariousness and desperation of their venture. To make matters worse, McTeague’s sudden unease introduces a foreboding sense of danger, suggesting an impending threat is on its way. Last time McTeague had this feeling, he was right. However, now he has a potential fortune that he wants to protect and moving away from it will be difficult because there are competing base impulses at play.
Themes
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Later, around the campfire, McTeague continues to feel uneasy, suspecting something unseen. Despite Cribbens’s reassurances, McTeague’s strange instinct persists, as though warning him of danger. He struggles with the urge to flee, torn between his newfound wealth and the instinct to move on. McTeague spends the night restless and constantly on alert. He climbs a nearby hill to watch and listen but finds nothing. As dawn approaches, the feeling of impending danger intensifies. Despite his resolve to stay and protect the claim, he eventually gives in to the instinct to leave.
The internal conflict between staying to protect his claim and fleeing for safety reflects McTeague’s desire for survival over ambition. Fundamentally, he trusts his instincts to lead him in the right direction and does not tie himself to the possibility of wealth. Notably, he has no alliance to Cribbens whatsoever, which he demonstrates when he abandons Cribbens almost as quickly as he initially joined him.
Themes
By early morning, McTeague is already several miles away, heading eastward. He drives his mule, laden with supplies and the precious sack of gold, while carrying the canary in its cage. Along the way, he finds a water hole to refill his canteen and dampen the birdcage coverings to protect the canary from the heat. Although he does not want to go farther into the desert, McTeague still feels like he is in danger and does not have any other choice.
The care McTeague takes to protect the canary amid his escape reflects his lingering attachment to small comforts of his past life. However, every step McTeague takes into the desert is another step he takes away from civilization, both literary and metaphorically. Although he senses that he is being pursued, his survival instinct does not account for how he is going to survive the harsh terrain of Death Valley.
Themes
After traveling for over a day, McTeague feels the full brunt of Death Valley’s oppressive heat, which becomes increasingly unbearable. He drinks sparingly from his canteen, aware that his water supply is limited. By eleven o’clock, the heat is so intense that the ground burns through the soles of his boots. He decides to stop and create some shade using his blanket, but the ground is too hot to touch, forcing him to dig a trench before lying down. As he tries to rest, McTeague is plagued by disturbing dreams and a persistent sense that someone is following him. He wakes up in a panic. Despite seeing nothing around him, the sense of danger compels him to keep moving.
Naturalist literature often situates its narratives within oppressive natural environments, using these settings to reinforce themes of human struggle, determinism, and the inescapable force of nature. In naturalist works, nature is not merely a backdrop: it is also an active, often antagonistic force that shapes the characters’ lives and fates. Although McTeague is subtitled “A Tale of San Francisco,” it ends in Death Valley, where the natural world poses the greatest threat to McTeague.
Themes
Throughout the day, McTeague and his mule struggle under the relentless sun. By three o’clock, the mule collapses from exhaustion. McTeague, desperate for relief, creates a makeshift shade but finds no comfort. McTeague continues his march through the night and into the next day, stopping only briefly to rest and water the mule. The heat remains unbearable, and the landscape offers no respite. He pushes on, still feeling a primal urge to flee, even though he is exhausted.
The mule’s collapse signals that McTeague’s journey is coming to an end, as he has arrived in a place where neither humans nor animals can survive. Although he does not realize it, his primal urges have led him astray. And, like Trina, who hoarded her wealth to the very end, he continues to trust them.
Themes
By the third night, McTeague is deep into the desert and still paranoid that someone or something is coming for him. He stops at midnight, determined to rest, but wakes the next day to even hotter temperatures. His water supply is critically low, and he forgoes making coffee to conserve it. As he trudges forward, McTeague searches for a place to camp but can’t find one. The desert stretches endlessly around him, a monotonous expanse of white-hot alkali. Just as he resolves to make camp in a hollow between two mounds, he hears someone shout: “Hands up. By damn, I got the drop on you!” McTeague looks up and sees Marcus.
The endless and monotonous expanse of desert suggests that McTeague’s flight is futile. Although characters are often lonely and isolated in the novel, none of them experience isolation to this extent, which is why it is such a surprise when Marcus suddenly appears. Just as it seems the desert is about to kill McTeague, his old friend and antagonist shows up, presumably to do the job himself.
Themes
