# Chapter XX explained — McTeague > Chapter companion for McTeague by Frank Norris. ## What happens McTeague returns to the Big Dipper mine, where he worked before becoming a dentist, and secures a job as a chuck-tender on the night shift. He adapts quickly to the mining life, finding a brutal satisfaction in the work. However, a growing paranoia drives him to flee the camp two days before the sheriff and deputies arrive to arrest him. ## Themes in this chapter ### Determinism and Heredity McTeague's return to mining and his instinctual behavior suggest an inescapable hereditary pull toward a brutish, primal existence, as if his past and nature determine his fate. ### Nature vs. Civilization The chapter contrasts the civilized world of dentistry with the raw, colossal power of the mountains and mining, which McTeague embraces as a 'returning prodigal,' reflecting his innate brutality. ### Isolation and Loneliness McTeague's solitary flight and his paranoid prowling at night underscore his isolation from society and his growing alienation, even among the miners. ## Character check-ins ### McTeague Returns to the Big Dipper mine, assumes the alias 'Burlington,' and works as a chuck-tender. He feels a primal connection to the mountains and mining life, but his paranoia grows, leading him to flee with his money and canary. ## Key lines > Straight as a homing pigeon, and following a blind and unreasoned instinct, McTeague had returned to the Big Dipper mine. McTeague returned to the Big Dipper mine as if guided by an innate, unthinking instinct, like a pigeon flying home. _Highlights the theme of determinism and McTeague's animal-like return to his origins._ > It was the same work he had so often performed in his Parlors, only magnified, made monstrous, distorted, and grotesqued, the caricature of dentistry. His mining work was a grotesque, oversized parody of his former dental practice. _Emphasizes the contrast between civilization and the brutal, natural world._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/mcteague_se/chapters/xx - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/mcteague_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/mcteague_se/chapters