Frank Norris' "McTeague": The Three Major Themes The novel, McTeague, written by Frank Norris has many ways to understand the events. The relationships between the characters in the story are strange. First, it seems that the first half of the story many of the characters come together. For example, Marcus and McTeague become friends, Trina and McTeague get married, Maria and Zerkow get married. As the story ends, the friendships of the characters breaks down into violence and death. First, Zerkow killed Maria and himself, next McTeague kills Trina, and then Marcus tracks down McTea