Day of the Locust follows a group of people desperate to find success in the film industry despite the immense hardship of the Great Depression. Nathaniel West paints a picture of the grim realities of the film industry hidden underneath the its shiny Hollywood exterior. The main characters of the book have been broken down by one failure after another until they have reached the point of giving in to their basic desires to seek out pleasure at any cost. This plot point seems to revolve around Faye, who seems to become the target of sexual desire for every man she meets. Her relationships are emotionless and she can never be genuine with anybody in her life. Faye’s desirability causes several fights throughout the book as men vie for her attention. They choose to fight rather than acting civilized because their failures have made them more animals than people. Nathaniel West uses Day of the Locust to comment on how things that look nice on the outside aren’t always good when you take a closer look. Therelevance of this message in the modern world is that it is still very much true. Hollywood still remains an excellent example of this as sexual assaults by people like Harvey Weinstein continue to be revealed.
Categories
Great American Novels 