Mcteague -

The novel concludes with a harrowing sequence in Death Valley. McTeague, having murdered Trina for her gold, is hunted down by Marcus. In their final struggle, McTeague kills Marcus, only to realize his victim has handcuffed them together. The book ends with McTeague stranded in the salt flats—rich with gold, but doomed to die of thirst next to a corpse. Key Themes

McTeague (1899) is Frank Norris’s masterpiece of American Naturalism, a gritty exploration of human degradation set against the fog-shrouded streets of late 19th-century San Francisco. The Plot: A Descent into Animalism McTeague

descends into pathological greed, hoarding her gold coins while her husband starves. The novel concludes with a harrowing sequence in