Blind Fate In Mcteague And Sister Carrie: Social Determinism
Social Determinism and Blind Fate in McTeague and Sister Carrie In the nineteenth century, many writers were influenced by several theories. One of these theories is the theory of social determinism. Social determinism is a belief in the central nature of people whose society has a strong effect to shape their characters according to their needs. Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser, considered as Naturalist writers, have employed the theory of determinism in their works. Both of them argue that people have shaped by certain social forces, and these social forces play an important role to control people’s fate. Frank Norris’s McTeague is set in San Francisco, California, in poor neighborhoods populated by lower-class and middle class residents. It is about McTeague who is much in love with Trina and wants to marry her. At the …show more content…
Society has a strong effect on McTeague and Hurstwood and forces them to think only about their needs. McTeague and Hurstwood follow their passion for getting what they do not have. For example, McTeague is a former miner who works as a dentist in a cheap hired room on Polk Street in San Francisco. He has no license or degree, but he is a successful dentist. Before McTeague and Trina get married, Trina’s lottery ticket won five thousand dollars. McTeague becomes only concerned about getting that money, and his motive is to buy a new house. Unfortunately, Trina refuses to give him any penny from her money, so McTeague’s behavior begins to change. McTeague says, "Miser, nasty little old miser. You’re worse than old Zerkow, always nagging about money, money, and you got five thousand dollars. You got more, an’ you live in that stinking hole of a room, and you won’t drink any decent beer." McTeague meets Trina by chance, but the chance that is making a man of him and a woman of Trina is preparing their
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1192 Words | 5 PagesAll in all, the permanent theme of S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is nothing gold can stay; Nothing good lasts forever. In other words, this means that good times always come to and end happiness cannot thrive too far, you're never having too much joy in life. Early in the book , and in the boys lives there is an underlying message that tells the reader nothing gold can stay. When Soda was ten, he got a horse named Mickey Mouse, He loved the horse and then later it was sold.
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Rex And Rose Mary Walls In Battle Mountain By Jeanette Walls
771 Words | 4 PagesLife had never been easy for Jeanette Walls, growing up she consistently faced several forms of adversity at the hands of her parents, such as hunger, sexual assault, practical homelessness, and abuse. With so many tribulations, one would expect her to have become another low income statistic. However, just like a mountain goat, who does not actually belong to the goat family, Jeanette is of a different breed. While her parents exposed her to many harsh realities, they also instilled many important life lessons, whether they were aware of it or not. If it weren't for Rex and Rose Mary Walls, Jeanette would not have been as tough, driven, or creative enough to have survived in Manhattan.
Miss Hendricks In Miriam Allen Deford's 'Mortmain'
492 Words | 2 PagesCharacter Analysis People say money can’t buy you happiness, yet many still strive for it and will stoop to the lowest of levels to get more. In the short story Mortmain, written by Miriam Allen Deford, the female protagonist, Miss Hendricks, proves to be just another example of how one would drop all morals just for a little more money in their pocket. By analyzing Miss Hendricks personal history and motivations, the reader will understand the significance of her character to the overall story. Deford’s main character of this short story, Miss Hendricks, was a nurse who fell in love with a previous patient named Terry, who also happened to be a “professional bank-robber” (Deford 331).
Corruption In Allison's Reputation By Allison Mackenzie
520 Words | 3 PagesThe main character of the book, Allison Mackenzie, came from a middle-class family that owned a home off Chestnut Street. Her mother, Constance, owned a shop in town called the Thrifty Corner Apparel Shoppe. Allison was born out of wedlock and her father was out of the picture. Constance was ashamed of this fact and hide her secret past from society. The situation surrounding Allison was an example of the time period’s denial of family dysfunction.
Analysis Of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle
615 Words | 3 PagesAlthough they are both educated and well off they choose to live as vagrants on the streets, feeding the family with what they manage to pick from the garbage. Jeannette remembers, “worrying about Mom and Dad huddled on a sidewalk grate somewhere… while my parents were busy keeping warm and finding something to eat.” Uniquely, Jeanette's parents, having well enough money,
Marigolds By Eugenia Collier Summary
123 Words | 1 PagesIn Eugenia W. Collier’s short story “Marigolds”, Lizabeth and her family experience an external conflict against society when the Great Depression’s burdens fall onto them, creating both emotional and financial stress; in this, Collier reveals that external struggle may lead to reckless actions. Early on, Lizabeth describes poverty as “...the cage in which [her family] was trapped…”, alluding to her desire to be free from the bars of impoverishment (Collier 126). Towards the climax in the story, Lizabeth hears her father crying about his inability to support his family without a steady income, which leads to her “...feelings [combining] in one great impulse toward destruction” (Collier 126). In this, Collier projects the idea that strenuous
Comparison Between 'Of Mice And Men And Suitcase Lady'
637 Words | 3 PagesOne obstacle is gender equality, the ranch is a “male-dominant” society where women are seen as untrustworthy. The fact that Curly’s wife is the bosses wife is the true cause of her alienation. However, the simple fact that she is a female separates her from interactions with others as seen when the men refer to her as having “the eye” (28). Here the men refer to everything they think women are – a distraction and temptation for men, instead of actual human beings. Candy is also oppressed in a social inequality as he is afraid that when he is too old to work, he will be thrown out of the “ash heap”, a victim of a society that discriminates against the disabled and has no value for age or experience.
The American Dream In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
1053 Words | 5 PagesAt age forty-eight, Mr. Clutter was prosperous, morally inclined, religious, with four successful children, and a twenty five year marriage to his sweetheart. He was one of the most-well known and respected individuals in Holcomb as a result of a hard work, but even then, he hadn’t achieved perfection, rather, he lived behind the mask of the town’s perception. To them, Mr. Clutter achieved the idyllic lifestyle of the American Dream; he had the land, the wealth, the status, but his wife, Bonnie Clutter, suffered from
The Glass Castle Essay
1543 Words | 7 PagesThey leapt out of and fell back into poverty. They roamed. They rejected civilization. However, poverty always wound its way back into Jeannette's childhood. As the family’s financial situation worsened, the family gradually fell apart, and poverty always remained a blotch to their
Migrant Farm Workers In Salinas Valley During The Great Depression
129 Words | 1 PagesThe setting mainly took place in south of Soledad, California, near the Salinas Valley, during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Salinas Valley had many substantial farms during the Depression. This was essential because colossal farms employed a massive number of workers, often up to hundreds. Since farm workers with no steady employment, would often head to these communities, it was logical that Salinas Valley was George and Lennie’s destination. Migrant farm workers were perfect examples, to highlight the solitude and loneliness engendered by the Depression. These men had no place to call home, and had only a few belongings to call their own.
Logan Land Quotes
1185 Words | 5 PagesTaylor, the main character, Cassie Logan, a 9-year-old African-American girl who lived in southern Mississippi in the early 1930s, learns that to truly learn the value of something, it needs to be put on the line. This is because at first, Cassie didn’t understand the value of the land. However, after learning about the legacy of the land and why it is important to her family, she finally realizes the value of it and cherishes it. The theme of the novel, “Sometimes to truly learn the value of something, it needs to be put on the line,” connects to my younger self because, when I was younger, I never valued the money that my parents gave me to buy snacks and spent it recklessly. One day, a kid stole the money that my parents had given me to buy snacks, and at that moment, I got so angry that I realized how much that money was worth and how valuable it is to me.
Ageism In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
1262 Words | 6 PagesThey all face discrimination and it makes a hard task, achieving their American Dream, almost impossible. Curley’s Wife, Candy, and Crooks all have an American Dream, but they never achieve it. They all want a simple life where they are treated with respect and allowed to support themselves. None of them get what they want. Curley’s wife ends up dead and Candy and Crooks end up with nowhere to go but back to the ranch and a life where they are hated and shunned.
Diction In Mcteague
614 Words | 3 PagesIn the 1899 novel McTeague by Frank Norris, the author presents a strong opinion about McTeague through diction, tone, detail, and syntax. McTeague is introduced as a “young giant . . . six feet three inches . . . [wth] immense limbs, heavy with ropes of muscle . . .
Comparing 'The Yellow Wallpaper And A Jury Of Her Peers'
1006 Words | 5 PagesThe story opens with Mrs. Wright imprisoned for strangling her husband. A group, the mostly composed of men, travel to the Wright house in the hopes that they find incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright. Instead, the two women of the group discover evidence of Mr. Wright’s abuse of his wife. Through the women’s unique perspective, the reader glimpses the reality of the situation and realizes that, though it seemed unreasonable at the time, Mrs. Wright had carefully calculated her actions. When asked about the Wrights, one of the women, Mrs. Hale, replies “I don’t think a place would be a cheerful for John Wright’s being in it” (“A Jury of Her Peers” 7).
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