Realism and Naturalism

Old Grannis and Miss Baker - Necessary or Needless?

June 17, 2013

In "Frank Norris' "Drama of a Broken Teacup": The Old Grannis - Miss Baker Plot in McTeague", Donna M. Campbell disagrees with the critics that have argued that the Old Grannis - Miss Baker storyline in McTeague, is out of place and unnecessary. Rather, Campbell claims that the storyline is not deserving of the abuse heaped on it, and argues the alternate, that it is essential to the plot of McTeague, helping us both with the storytelling itself, and also with advancing the naturalistic nature and style of the stories of the other two couples in McTeague, Trina and McTeague as well as Zerkow and Maria Macapa. Campbell's main argument is that based on the two types of stories in the text, naturalistic stories as well as commonplace, "local color fiction", embodied in the actions of all three couples in McTeague, Norris is able to fully examine and explore what naturalistic writing is meant to entail. Using Norris' own words in his letter to Isaac Marcosson, Norris claims that he is writing a novel of "straight naturalism with all the guts I can get into it" (P. 48). According to Campbell, "Thus each pair of lovers functions on several levels: as representatives of varying social levels and codes of manners; as unwitting victims of the world of forces; as "owners" in several senses - of money, of passions, of restraint; and finally as characters in plots suitable to the differing genres that the novel explores." (P. 44). Knowing Campbell's argument regarding the Old Grannis - Miss Baker storyline, should we accept her premise that it is crucial to Norris' examination of the realist and naturalistic genres, or is the storyline, as Donald Pizer (quoted by Campbell) claimed, "thematically and dramatically weak". Howells (as quoted by Campbell) claimed that Mcteague's "One folly is the insistence on the love-making of those silly elders." Whose words should we lend more credence to, Howells or Campbell? It would seem from a cursory examination of the text that indeed, the Old Grannis - Miss Baker storyline truly is out of place, but does that necessarily mean that it is irrelevant, "thematically and dramatically weak" or even "folly"? Upon a closer reading of the text, it would seem that there is some logic to what Campbell argues. If we look at the timeline of events regarding Old Grannis and Miss Baker, we see that changes in the status-quo of their relationship occur mainly when extraordinary events occur in the area surrounding them, events which lead to McTeague's and (mainly) Trina's drop into a truly naturalistic life. The first time they are properly introduced to one another is upon the discovery of Trina's lottery ticket being the winner, with Trina now having won $5,000. Marcus brings Old Grannis down from his room, and states: ""Well, I thought you two people knew each other long ago. Miss Baker, this is Mr. Grannis; Mr. Grannis, this is Miss Baker." Neither spoke. Like two little children they faced each other, awkward, constrained, tongue-tied with embarrassment. Then Miss Baker put out her hand shyly. Old Grannis touched it for an instant and let it fall." (P. 94) As we well know, it is Trina's winning of the lottery money which changes her lifestyle drastically and begins her descent into naturalism. The next evolution in Old Grannis and Miss Baker's relationship comes at the dinner following Trina and McTeague's wedding, when they actually sit next to each other, without a wall acting as a partition between the two of them, as during their nightly ritual. "But it happened that Marcus Schouler crowded into the seat beside Selina, towards which Old Grannis was directing himself. There was but one other chair vacant, and that at the side of Miss Baker. Old Grannis hesitated, putting his hand to his chin. However, there was no escape. In great trepidation he sat down beside the retired dressmaker. Neither of them spoke. Old Grannis dared not move, but sat rigid, his eyes riveted on his empty soup plate." (P. 132). Trina's marriage to McTeague and the events that follow chronicle her continuing descent into naturalism, beginning with the happy lifestyle of a married couple with money, McTeague's subsequent unemployment and abuse of Trina, and his eventual theft of her hoard. The final step in Old Grannis and Miss Baker's relationship comes when a truly remarkable event occurs: Trina lies, not to protect her own secret cache of collected money or to get something else out of McTeague, but rather she lies solely for someone else's benefit, when she tells Old Grannis that Miss Baker had admitted to Trina that she loves Grannis. "Well, then, she loves you. She told me so... She did. She said those very words." (P. 242). Shortly afterwards, Trina discovers Maria Macapa's body and assumes Maria's position as the lowest person in the Polk Street standings. As Trina's devolution into naturalism approaches completion, Old Grannis and Miss Baker's relationship approaches its happy ending: "...she [Miss Baker] had presented herself at the old Englishman's half-open door, and, when he [Old Grannis] had not heeded her knock, had pushed it open, and at last, after all these years, stood upon the threshold of his room. She had found courage enough to explain her intrusion. "I was making some tea, and I thought you would like to have a cup."" (P. 250). Thus ends the saga of Old Grannis and Miss Baker, "Far from the world and together they entered upon the long retarded romance of their commonplace and uneventful lives". (P. 254) As we can see, there is some truth to Campbell's argument that by using two separate story types, Norris explores naturalism to its limits. Old Grannis and Miss Baker have an important role, showing us what a happy ending looks like, so we can compare and contrast between their relationship and Trina's and McTeague's relationship. This contrast is the same contrast between the "local color fiction", a story being told merely for the story's sake, and the naturalistic fiction, the story being told to explore what naturalistic writing truly is.

Works Cited Campbell, Donna M. ""Drama of a Broken Teacup": The Old Grannis-Miss Baker Plot in "McTeague"" American Literary Realism 26.1 (1993): 40-49. Print. Howells, William Dean. "A Case in Point," Literature, 24 March 1899; rpt. in Criticism and Fiction and Other Essays, ed. Clara Marburg Kirk and Rudolf Kirk (New York: New York Univ. Press, 1959), p. 282. Norris, Frank. "Letter to Isaac Marcosson," [November 1899], in Letters of Frank Norris, p. 48. Norris, Frank. McTeague. New York, New York: New American Library, 1910. Print. Pizer, Donald. The Novels of Frank Norris. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1966. Print.