(no subject)
Eileen Gaffney
LOA Writing Assignment 2
Word Count: 1,562
Through the novel “The Day of the Locust,” by Nathanael West, how does West convey the degradation of people in society?
Nathanael West’s novel, “The Day of the Locust,” is a prime piece of literature which portrays the degradation of people in society. West depicts this notion to the reader through the novels two overriding themes of illusions and masquerading. He conveys to the reader that the array of people living in Los Angeles, California are able to keep going and functioning day to day by holding on to their fantasies and dreams (illusions). There is also the group of people who are masqueraders; those who live their lives and conduct their actions in falsehood. These themes both relate to the degradation of society because if the people in society were morally “healthy” they wouldn’t need to live their lives in fantasy. These themes are made apparent through West’s characterization especially of Faye Greener, the young, shallow, aspiring actress and Tod Hackett, the initial outsider to the Hollywood scene who by the novels end, is wrapped up in the enthrallments of the other characters. Lastly, West employs symbolism, both of a painting and of the grotesque physical appearance of the characters to further demonstrate the degradation of people in society.
The prevailing themes in the novel provide the reader with insight into the degradation of society. The theme of masquerading is introduced in the novel in the first chapter when a fake army runs across a movie set. Even though they are merely actors, their presence in the first chapter sets the scene for the masquerade of Hollywood during this time. The term masquerade is used to describe the theme in order to portray the almost “masks” that many of the characters live behind. For instance, when Harry Greener sells his shoe polish, he puts on an act in order to gain business. He fakes feeling sick when he is in the potential-customers house. Furthermore, he brings his beautiful, seducing, daughter Faye along with him to hopefully catch the customers eye and have his daughter participate in his ploy to sell his polish. This whole act is a masquerade. Faye and Harry are outright “playing” the customer in hopes that by the end of their act, the person will buy the shoe polish. This highlights the degradation of people because it shows that people will go to any lengths for money, including lying and deceit. West implies that his other main theme, illusions, is what keeps people going from day to day. Architecture plays an important role in the theme of illusions. For instance Claude Estee’s house was an exact reproduction of the old Dupuy mansion near Biloxi, Mississippi. Claude emulates a southern gentlemen to mirror the southern architecture of his mansion. Claude is putting on the mask of a southern gentlemen and is essentially convincing himself that this is what he is. “He teetered back and forth on his heels like a Civil War colonel and made believe he had a large belly. He had no belly at all,”(page 68). Claude is no more than a dried up once-successful screenwriter. But it is this illusion of a southern gentlemen that keeps Claude going and interested in his actual hollow life. Furthermore, his wife Alice Estee keeps a fake life-sized dead horse in the pool for her own amusement. She tells all of her guests and visitors that the horse is real and she demands for them to play into her childish illusions. Mrs. Estee does not appreciate when others dispel her illusions and becomes very angry when Tod Hackett points out that the horse is dead. The dead horse in the pool is a horrific joke, but it highlights how the high class in society function behind their masks living in their illusionary world. They are so bored with reality, money and their degrading lives that they create these illusions, dreams and masquerades in order to survive day to day.
Nathanael West’s characters play an important part in depicting the degradation of people in society. Faye Greener is a 17 year old aspiring actress. She is in illusion by her talent in acting. “She had only one line to speak, ‘Oh Mr. Smith!’ and spoke it badly,” (page 67). It is evident that Faye is a poor actress, but she is kept going purely on her hopes to become a successful one. Also, despite her lack of ability, people are still convinced of her acting because of her beauty and seducing appeal. This shows the degradation of people in society because Faye is using her sexual forwardness to her advantage and people are buying into it. Furthermore, Faye epitomizes the myriad of other young aspiring actresses in Hollywood at the time who are also quite shallow. “He had nothing to offer her, neither money nor looks, and she could only love a handsome man and would only let a wealthy man love her. Tod was a ‘good hearted man,’ and she liked ‘good-hearted men,’ but only as friends,” (page 67). This highlights the degrading values among people in society. The population of “good-hearted men” and people in general diminish among the empty, shallow mobs of society. The characterization of Tod Hackett is different than that of Faye and the other characters. Most of the novel is told from Tod’s point of view. In the beginning of the book, he has been in LA for three months working on set design. He is for the most part “above” the Hollywood scene and an outside observer. Tod’s change throughout the novel exemplifies the horrors of the degradation of society. By the novels demise, Tod, the once outside observer, is now corrupted by the angry middle-class mobs, and the empty, illusioned, upper-class. He becomes significantly more sexually violent towards Faye in reality and in his fantasies towards the end of the book. Lastly, at the end of novel, Tod begins to laugh and imitate the police siren as loud as he could. This represents the fact that Tod, along with many others, have been driven mad by the craziness of the ongoing downward spiral of people in society.
Nathanael West utilizes symbolism to further demonstrate his picture of the degradation of society. West’s grotesque descriptions and non proportioned physical appearances of his characters outwardly represent their ugly and monstrous demeaning ways. In describing Homer Simpson, West emphasizes Homer’s grossly large hands. The hands seem to have a mind of their own. They are squirmish, which represents the nervousness Homer experiences from the encroaching societal debauchery of Hollywood. When describing Faye, West writes, “She was a tall girl with wide, straight shoulders and long, swordlike legs. Her neck was long, too, and columnar. Her face was much fuller than the rest of her body would lead you to expect and much larger.” Later on in the novel, West writes the grotesque description of Faye as depicted in Tod Hackett’s “The Burning of Los Angeles” painting. In the painting, Hackett draws Faye as a naked girl fleeing from a smaller mob of men and women. “She is running with her eyes closed and a strange half-smile on her lips. Despite the dreamy repose of her face, her body is straining to hurl her along at top speed,” (page 108). The contrast between Faye’s face and body is a grotesque image that points out the sexual violence Faye draws to herself which is an aspect of the degradation of society. These grotesque images become to symbolize Hollywood as a whole. The immense grotesqueness in society is embodied in Tod Hackett’s “the Burning of Los Angeles” painting, which is another reoccurring symbol throughout the book. This is a painting Tod Hackett decides he needs to paint when he comes to Hollywood. His goal is to capture the angry mobs of people who “had come to California to die,” (page 60). This group of people encompasses the angry vagrants who came to California in search for something that simply was not there, and now they are just waiting to die. This painting is a symbol of the degradation of society because it captures all the chaos and puts it on a canvas. It is supposed to be Tod’s escape from the craziness of Hollywood. However, it symbolizes that nothing can escape the sleaze of Hollywood because at the novels close, Tod is apart of the angry mob. In his painting he draws himself with a rock in his hand, which signifies that he has become apart of the angry mob, and his escape of painting could not even save him.
It is evident that Nathanael West’s novel, “The Day of the Locust,” is a prime piece of literature which portrays the degradation of people in society. Through West’s themes of masquerading and illusions, his characterization of Faye Greener and Tod Hackett, and the symbols he uses, Nathanael West conveys this belief. Knowing that West is trying to send the message that societal values are plummeting can help the reader to understand why West employs such grotesque symbols and creates characters with such distinct traits. One can certainly see that he is not commending society because he writes in such a violent and passionate way that undoubtedly conveys his disgust. In Nathanael West’s book “Miss Lonelyhearts,” it seemed as though West was focusing on the failure of religion in modern society. But it is apparent now that West is criticizing the overall downfall and failure of the human race in society.