McTeague · Chapter
Chapter XIX explained
Trina, now living alone and working at a kindergarten, becomes consumed by her obsession with the five thousand dollars she won in the lottery.
What happens
Trina, now living alone and working at a kindergarten, becomes consumed by her obsession with the five thousand dollars she won in the lottery. She withdraws her entire capital from Uncle Oelbermann's keeping and hoards the gold in her room, finding ecstatic happiness in its presence. McTeague, having spent the money he stole from her, returns one night begging for food and shelter, but Trina coldly refuses. Later, McTeague, drunk and violent, breaks into the kindergarten, brutally attacks Trina, and steals the entire five thousand dollars, leaving her dead.
Themes in this chapter
Greed and Avarice
Trina's obsessive hoarding of gold and her refusal to share even a cent with her starving husband illustrate the destructive power of greed.
Violence and Brutality
McTeague's brutal attack on Trina, culminating in her murder, highlights the extreme violence that arises from his drunken rage and desperation.
Obsession and Possession
Trina's mania for her money, sleeping on it and withdrawing it all at once, demonstrates an all-consuming obsession that ultimately leads to her death.
Characters to notice
- Trina Sieppe
Trina becomes increasingly obsessed with her lottery winnings, withdrawing all her money from Uncle Oelbermann and hoarding it. She refuses to help McTeague when he returns destitute, and is later murdered by him when he steals the money.
- McTeague
McTeague returns to Trina, impoverished and desperate, but is turned away. Later, in a drunken rage, he breaks into the kindergarten, attacks Trina, and steals her entire hoard of five thousand dollars.
- Uncle Oelbermann
Uncle Oelbermann manages Trina's money and expresses frustration at her irregular withdrawals, eventually allowing her to withdraw the entire remaining sum.
Key passages
“Trina even told herself at last that she was happy once more. McTeague became a memory—a memory that faded a little every day—dim and indistinct in the golden splendor of five thousand dollars.”
Trina convinced herself she was finally happy, as McTeague's memory faded daily, overshadowed by the allure of her five thousand dollars.
Trina's emotional detachment from McTeague is replaced by her fixation on wealth.
“It was a passion with her, a mania, a veritable mental disease; a temptation such as drunkards only know.”
Her desire to spend her capital became an uncontrollable compulsion, akin to an addiction.
The narrator compares Trina's spending to a disease or drunkenness, emphasizing its irrationality.
“Then it became abominable. In the schoolroom outside, behind the coal scuttle, the cat listened to the sounds of stamping and struggling and the muffled noise of blows, wildly terrified, his eyes bulging like brass knobs.”
The violence escalated horribly, with the cat outside hearing the struggle and blows, terrified by the sounds.
The cat's perspective underscores the brutality of McTeague's attack on Trina.