McTeague
by Frank Norris
This graphic depiction of urban American life centers around McTheag, a dentist who worked in San Francisco at the beginning of the 20th century. Although initially satisfied with his life and friendship with an ambitious man named Marcus, McTheag eventually sues and marries Trina, a parsimical young woman who wins a large amount of money in the lottery. The greed of many of the characters in the novel creates a chain of events that leads to many painful, terrible deaths. Norris's work, strikingly different from the work of his contemporaries, is a great example of social realism that provides America with a shocking reflection of its gloomy sense of survival. From the original description of San Francisco to McTheag's last desperate flight from the Tooth Halls, this novel examines human greed in a way that forces readers to pause and reflect more than a hundred years later.
