The first chapter of the book had to probably be the most descriptive in terms of setting, in which Norris went all out in describing the atmosphere in which this story was to take place. In the first chapter Norris paints a picture of a town setting. He describes Polk Street as “one of those cross streets peculiar to Western cities, situated in the heart of the residence quarter, but occupied by small trades people who lived in the rooms above their shops. There were corner drug stores with huge jars of red, yellow and green liquids in their windows, very brave and gay; stationers’ stores, where illustrated weeklies were tacked upon bulletin boards; barber shops

Researching San Francisco at the turn of the century, it became obvious how the actions of certain characters depicted the social environment at the time. In the development and climax of this novel, the reader sees a depiction of natural selection to accompany the social theme that is shown at the beginning of the novel in the description of the town goers. As the story concludes, the social interaction of the characters breaks down into violence and death. First, Zerkow killed Maria and himself. Then McTeague kills Trina. Finally, Marcus tracks down McTeague in the desert and they both die as McTeague kills Marcus and then he himself dies. It can be determined that this pattern is based on a sort of accepted selection. Thus, the survival of the fittest is illustrated, where the strong survive and of the weak we dispose. In this case, the strong survive longer than the weak, but in the end they are all dead.

This is also an essential part of Norris’ mood setting. Here the reader can see plain as day the separation of the classes of this time period. The fact of the matter is that San Francisco was not only different because of its physical setting. The social position of people at the time in San Francisco was also worth commenting on. These people described in this paragraph are separated by their occupation, which also determines their activity on Polk Street. In noticing this activity, one can s

Some topics in this essay:
Polk Street, San Francisco, Finally Marcus, Maria Zerkow, san francisco, Francisco Throughout, Frank Norris’, polk street, , throughout novel, 19th century, Maria McTeague, strong survive weak, survive weak, separation classes, late 19th, town setting, novel reader, greed deception, late 19th century, san francisco century,