McTeague recap

McTeague, an unlicensed San Francisco dentist, marries Trina Sieppe after she wins five thousand dollars in a lottery. Trina refuses to spend the principal and develops an obsessive attachment to money, while Marcus Schouler, who yielded Trina to his friend, grows jealous of both the marriage and the prize. Marcus reports McTeague's lack of credentials, destroying his practice. As the couple descend into poverty, McTeague becomes abusive and Trina's hoarding becomes more extreme. He leaves, returns to rob her, and kills her for the savings she has hidden. Pursued after fleeing to mining country, McTeague crosses Death Valley. Marcus catches him there and handcuffs them together during their final struggle. McTeague kills Marcus, but the key is lost, their water is gone, and he is left chained to the body in the desert beside the stolen gold.

McTeague lives alone above Polk Street, where he works as a dentist without formal qualifications and follows a simple daily routine. His friend Marcus Schouler brings his cousin Trina Sieppe to have a damaged tooth treated. McTeague is immediately attracted to her, though he has little experience of courtship or of examining his own feelings. The building's other residents include the shy older neighbors Old Grannis and Miss Baker, each privately attached to the other, and Maria Macapa, who cleans rooms and sells discarded objects. Maria tells the junk dealer Zerkow an uncertain story about gold plate once owned by her family; Zerkow cares less about her than about the treasure he imagines behind the tale.

McTeague's interest in Trina becomes a determined courtship. Marcus, who had hoped to marry his cousin himself, steps aside and takes pride in giving his friend the opportunity. Trina initially resists McTeague's proposal but eventually accepts him. At the same time, a lottery ticket she bought from Maria wins five thousand dollars. The prize transforms the match in Marcus's eyes: what he once regarded as a generous sacrifice begins to look like the loss of a wealthy wife. McTeague and Trina marry and establish their own household. Trina insists that the lottery capital remain invested, allowing them to use only its interest, and her careful management at first appears to promise security.

Marcus's resentment surfaces in increasingly open hostility toward McTeague. Their former companionship breaks down, and a violent quarrel makes clear that Marcus now believes he surrendered both Trina and her fortune. Before leaving San Francisco, he retaliates by informing the authorities that McTeague has no diploma or license. McTeague is ordered to stop practicing dentistry, removing the work on which the household depends. Trina will not draw upon the five-thousand-dollar principal to cushion the loss. The couple begin selling possessions and moving into poorer rooms, while McTeague struggles to replace a trade that had defined his limited but stable life.

Poverty magnifies the traits that had already shaped the marriage. Trina cuts every expense and becomes consumed by the security and physical presence of her savings, even as she earns small sums by carving wooden animals. McTeague, deprived of his practice and comforts, grows coarse and violent. He abuses Trina and pressures her for money, while she accepts worsening conditions rather than touch the lottery principal. Elsewhere, Zerkow's fixation on Maria's supposed lost treasure turns their household into another destructive struggle over imagined wealth. Old Grannis and Miss Baker, by contrast, finally move beyond their long silence and find modest companionship with one another.

McTeague separates from Trina but returns when he needs money. Trina now lives cheaply and hides her savings while taking intense pleasure in handling the coins. McTeague attacks and kills her, then takes the money and flees San Francisco. He travels through California mining country and finds work, briefly returning to the labor of his youth. News that officers are searching for him forces him onward again. Rather than remain near settlement, he heads into increasingly barren country, relying on his great strength and an instinctive awareness that pursuit is closing in behind him.

McTeague enters Death Valley with a mule, limited water, and the money stolen from Trina. Marcus is among the pursuers and follows him into the desert. The former friends confront each other in the extreme heat. During their fight Marcus handcuffs his wrist to McTeague's and throws away the key, ensuring that McTeague cannot simply escape. McTeague kills Marcus, but the victory leaves him trapped: the mule has died, the water container has been destroyed, and no key can free him from the corpse. With Trina's gold still beside him, McTeague is stranded in Death Valley without water or any practical hope of survival.

After killing Trina and taking her savings, McTeague escapes San Francisco. He works at a remote mine until the prospect of arrest drives him farther into the desert. Marcus, now part of the pursuing party, follows him into Death Valley. McTeague has found water and could survive, but Marcus catches him and the former friends fight beside McTeague's exhausted mule. McTeague kills Marcus, only to discover that Marcus has handcuffed their wrists together and thrown away the key. The mule is dead, the water has spilled, and the stolen money lies nearby. The novel closes with McTeague stranded in lethal heat, chained to Marcus's corpse and without a means of escape.