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Chapter 2
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
Once every month, Maria spends the day bothering everyone in McTeague’s building because she wants her to give them their junk, which she can then sell to a junk shop owner named Zerkow. This month, Maria starts with Old Grannis and Miss Baker. Neither Old Grannis nor Miss Baker have anything they want to give to Maria, so Maria searches through their homes and bullies them into giving her what she wants. Because the items Maria finds are not particularly valuable, they let her have them just so she will go away.
It appears that Maria has a number of scams she regularly inflicts on the residents in McTeague’s building, as she also pushes lottery tickets on them. Greed is present in nearly all the novel’s characters, though some characters are greedier than others and some have nobler motivations than others. In Maria’s case, she is simply desperate for money to support herself.
Themes
Eventually, Maria makes her way to McTeague. It has been a full week since Trina rejected him, but McTeague is not over it. At this point, he is fully committed to marrying Trina and will do anything to make it happen. Maria convinces McTeague to give her some valuable dental instruments and also steals some sponge-gold from him when he is not looking.
Again, McTeague appears obsessed with Trina, who appeared in his life by mere happenstance. He feels powerless to do anything other than continue to pursue her. Maria, who is always willing to take advantage of others, notices McTeague’s distracted state of mind and uses it to enrich herself. Here and elsewhere in the novel, someone always pays a price when they acquire wealth. This builds on the book’s naturalist
Themes
Once Maria wrangles something out of everyone in the building, she walks to an alley where Zerkow’s junk shop sits. Zerkow is a Polish Jewish man who is known for his “inordinate, insatiable greed.” Zerkow haggles with Maria over every item she brings him. Zerkow is particularly excited when he sees Maria has brought him gold. Maria eventually gets Zerkow to give her a reasonable deal by promising to bring him more gold in the future.
In the context of Frank Norris’s naturalism, Zerkow’s greed is a deterministic trait, suggesting that his behavior stems from his innate nature. Norris’s naturalism often portrays characters as products of their environment and heredity, focusing on basic instincts and societal pressures. However, Norris’s antisemitic portrayal of Zerkow reflects the bias within his naturalistic approach, where he reduces his characters to negative stereotypes.
Themes
After they are done haggling, Zerkow asks Maria to tell him about a gold plate that her family used to own—a story she has told him (and many others) before. Maria claims that she comes from a rich family with millions of dollars. She tells Zerkow that her family house is furnished with all sorts of golden objects. Although it is unlikely Maria is telling the truth, Zerkow luxuriates in the details, as he dreams about one day acquiring the level of wealth Maria is describing. Zerkow encourages Maria to keep coming back to see him even if she does not have anything else to sell to him because he wants her to tell him more about her family’s wealth.
The novel uses repetition to suggest that characters are biologically and socially conditioned to partake in certain behaviors. Just as Maria repeats a nonsensical phrase after saying her name, Zerkow is compelled to make Maria repeat her story, which fuels his greed. Indeed, Maria’s story is almost certainly fabricated—though she might believe it is real—given her present circumstances. Still, the story forms a perverse bond between the two characters, perhaps foreshadowing the development of a twisted sort of romance between them.
Themes
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