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How Does Zerkow Use Economic Hindrance In Mcteague

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In the novel Mcteague, the naturalistic theme, economic hindrances plays a significant role throughout the story. Economic Hindrances are shown through the greed of many of the characters and is highlighted in the relationship between McTeague and Trina, Marcus’s jealousy, and Zerkow’s relationship with Maria. Greed overtook all of these character’s lives, ruining relationships, causing violent outbursts, and even ending lives. By the end of the novel it is evident that greed can take over someone’s life for the bad. One way economic hindrances was exemplified in McTeague was through the greed that arose during McTeague and Trina’s relationship. When Trina won the lottery, they were happy and she even bought him the golden tooth that he had …show more content…

It is plausible that Zerkow’s greed stands out the most from all of the other characters. His greed was always present, Trina even states “Zerkow is after money and gold and those sorts of things ( Norris 167). That statement was proven to be correct right after Maria tells him the story about her family’s golden plate. Zerkow immediately obtains an obsession with the gold, and the narrator stated that, "the story ravished him with delight" (Norris 36). Throughout the novel, he continuously holds onto the idea that that story could be true because of this he ends up marrying maria. This later results in him becoming abusive telling her “i’ll find a way to make you tell me where it is” (Norris 145). All he wanted out of their relationship was the gold and nothing more. In conclusion, economic hindrances played a significant role in the novel McTeague. The economic hindrances were shown through the devastating effects of greed. Greed could be seen in McTeague and Trina’s relationship, Marcus’s jealously, and Zarkow and Maria’s relationship. Those three factors showed how greed can largely affect how a person lives their life and how they affect the people around them. However, without greed McTeague would not be the same tragic story it

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