Everybody’s habits, mannerisms, and beliefs are products of their environments and the people with whom they surround themselves. Although most habitual patterns are preexisting, more often than not, they can be altered or influenced by those one considers highly important or significant. These modifiable patterns can include hygienic routines, hobbies or pastimes, or, in the case of Frank Norris’ intriguingly dramatic novel, McTeague, food and drink intake, and the way in which one dines. The story begins with a description of McTeague’s usual dinner that he takes, “at two in the afternoon at the car conductors’ coffee-joint,” where he regularly consumes, “a thick gray soup; heavy, underdone meat, very hot, on a cold plate; two kinds
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Early in the novel, when Mac is offered a drink from Mr. Heise, he declines by stating, “‘I can’t drink that stuff,’ he said. ‘It don’t agree with me, somehow; I go kinda crazy after two glasses,’” (McTeague, 153). Since this takes place at a high point in Mac’s life when his marriage with Trina is flourishing, Mac is conscious of his decisions and knows that by not drinking, he is silencing the beast within himself. However, as the story progresses, his marriage and socioeconomic position quickly degenerate, and Mac begins to drink recreationally. Instead of just alleviating his stress or turning him stupid and harmless, the alcohol brings out the worst in Mac, “he became, after the fourth glass, active, alert, quick-witted, even talkative; a certain wickedness stirred in him then; he was intractable, mean,” (McTeague, 233). And, sadly, his drunkenness also made him, “[find] a certain pleasure in annoying and exasperating Trina, even in abusing and hurting her,” (McTeague, 233). This is an incredibly disastrous yet peculiar transition, considering that in the beginning of the novel, “to hurt Trina was a positive anguish for McTeague...it was harrowing--he sweated under it--to be forced to torture her, of all women …show more content…
The story begins with the narrator’s father receiving a call from the Secret Witness Program in Spokane, asking him to come into the police station, due to speculation that, “[his] father might know something about how Jerry Vincent disappeared about ten years earlier,” (Witnesses, Secret or Not, 560). The boy’s father discloses that this is an annual request because he was one of the last people to see Jerry alive. His father mentions that, originally, everybody assumed Jerry had disappeared, which he believes to be commonplace, seeing that, “just about everybody [disappears] at one time or another. All those relocation programs sent reservation Indians to the cities, and sometimes they just got swallowed up,” (Witnesses, Secret or Not, 562). Right away, Alexie touches upon the sad truth that for Native Americans living on reservations, even the most bizarre occurrences are accepted as ordinary. Moreover, while him and his father are on their way to the police station, they notice, “Indians passed out in doorways, staggering down the sidewalk,” (Witnesses, Secret or Not, 571), and his father spots his friend Jimmy Shit Pants. Albeit Jimmy did not look entirely intoxicated, after the boy’s father asks, “Been drinking
Early in the novel, when Mac is offered a drink from Mr. Heise, he declines by stating, “‘I can’t drink that stuff,’ he said. ‘It don’t agree with me, somehow; I go kinda crazy after two glasses,’” (McTeague, 153). Since this takes place at a high point in Mac’s life when his marriage with Trina is flourishing, Mac is conscious of his decisions and knows that by not drinking, he is silencing the beast within himself. However, as the story progresses, his marriage and socioeconomic position quickly degenerate, and Mac begins to drink recreationally. Instead of just alleviating his stress or turning him stupid and harmless, the alcohol brings out the worst in Mac, “he became, after the fourth glass, active, alert, quick-witted, even talkative; a certain wickedness stirred in him then; he was intractable, mean,” (McTeague, 233). And, sadly, his drunkenness also made him, “[find] a certain pleasure in annoying and exasperating Trina, even in abusing and hurting her,” (McTeague, 233). This is an incredibly disastrous yet peculiar transition, considering that in the beginning of the novel, “to hurt Trina was a positive anguish for McTeague...it was harrowing--he sweated under it--to be forced to torture her, of all women …show more content…
The story begins with the narrator’s father receiving a call from the Secret Witness Program in Spokane, asking him to come into the police station, due to speculation that, “[his] father might know something about how Jerry Vincent disappeared about ten years earlier,” (Witnesses, Secret or Not, 560). The boy’s father discloses that this is an annual request because he was one of the last people to see Jerry alive. His father mentions that, originally, everybody assumed Jerry had disappeared, which he believes to be commonplace, seeing that, “just about everybody [disappears] at one time or another. All those relocation programs sent reservation Indians to the cities, and sometimes they just got swallowed up,” (Witnesses, Secret or Not, 562). Right away, Alexie touches upon the sad truth that for Native Americans living on reservations, even the most bizarre occurrences are accepted as ordinary. Moreover, while him and his father are on their way to the police station, they notice, “Indians passed out in doorways, staggering down the sidewalk,” (Witnesses, Secret or Not, 571), and his father spots his friend Jimmy Shit Pants. Albeit Jimmy did not look entirely intoxicated, after the boy’s father asks, “Been drinking