Last week, I wrote about how uncomfortable I got reading McTeague,
this week, I am going to write about how chaos unfolds throughout the novel. It
starts with a kiss, albeit, a nonconsensual kiss that the other party knows
nothing about; which is a chaotic event because of what happens in the moments
leading up to the kiss. McTeague then decides he is going to marry Trina
despite the fact that she has already denied his proposal, and sets off to do
just that. After a strange day spent in the company of her family, which is a
chaotic excursion to say the least, McTeague spends the night in her room and
fawns over every item that he knows belongs to her. Then, after Trina and
McTeague gets married, the chaos spirals out of control. Trina begins hoarding
her money like a miser and won’t let McTeague use any money that she believes
belongs to her. McTeague and Marcus get into a fight because Marcus is still in
love with Trina which leads to Marcus leaving town and telling the authorities
that McTeague doesn’t have a license to practice dentistry. Once McTeague loses
his practice, Trina continues to hoard her money which leads to McTeague
robbing her, running away, and eventually killing her. And of course, the novel
wouldn’t be complete without McTeague killing Marcus in the middle of Death
Valley and eventually dying himself, or at least I’m pretty sure he will die,
because he is handcuffed to Marcus’ dead body. All of these events are
completely chaotic and all stem from McTeague being unable to handle change.
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