The cage, possession, and identity in McTeague

In McTeague, the canary functions as a symbol of McTeague. While he is in San Francisco,  the canary is stuck in a gilded cage. The cage replaces McTeague's lust for the gold tooth, both of which are representations of the capitalism that was arising at this time in the West. During his time in the city, McTeague is consumed by this capitalist spirit -- he is the canary stuck in the cage. The degree to which McTeague's life is ruled by capitalism is apparent from the moment that Trina wins the lottery on. He has dreams of spending her $5000 "in some lavish fashion" and on opulent items that, in existing in his posession, can communicate to the rest of the world that he has wealth (132). McTeague's obsession with his spending demonstrates how he is trapped in the cage, a slave to the rituals of capitalist society. Even when he leaves the city for the desert, he must bring the cage and the bird with him, despite that they are completely out of place there. Bringing the cage into the desert shows how deeply manifest capitalism has become within McTeague, even in light of how brutish he is. Through McTeague's relationship with money, the novel makes a commentary about the state of the West and the way that urbanization has changed it and created new structures of status, unlike the more rugged images we saw in previous books in the course.