Date of Award

2010

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Master's Paper

Degree Awarded

Master of Arts (MA)

Program

English

Department

English

College

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Faculty Advisor

Totten, Gary

Description

In McTeague: A Story of San Francisco, Frank Norris explores life among the working class of Polk Street. Through his unflattering portrayal of all the immigrant characters in the novel, Norris demonstrates his well-documented beliefs in inherited degeneracy. The relationship between Zerkow, a Polish Jew, and Maria Macapa, a Mexican maid, especially highlights these beliefs. 111 Though many scholars have approached Zerkow and Maria as individual characters, it is the complex dynamic of their relationship which this paper explores. Through the utilization of Marxist notions of commodity and feminist notions of the body and reproduction, Maria's sacrifices as an immigrant woman hoping to achieve the social normalcy of marriage and family become clear. Maria's story (with connections to her racial heritage) and body become commodities, and ultimately her power to (re )produce is compromised. Zerkow's greed, apparent not only in his stereotypical Jewish desire for gold, but also in his desire to possess Maria's story and body, leads to the devaluing of Maria and to her murder. Maria and Zerkow are two "racially inferior" characters united through a marriage based not on love, but opportunity and convenience. Their story demonstrates not only late nineteenth century ideas about race and immigration, but also Norris's personal contempt for the immigrant population.

Rights

NDSU policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/33554

Download

Share

COinS