An Analysis of Californian Dream in The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West Essay

Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust is filled with examples of people who have come to California in search of their dreams. They leave their often miserable lives to head out west where they believe their lives will get better. They dream of a life where they can become their own boss, have lots of money, and live happily ever after. They begin to realize soon, however, that the sunshine and sea cannot fulfill their dreams. The characters in the novel become discontented with their lives and angry at the world. This leads to the eventual downfall of Hollywood's society and certain characters in the story. Tod Hackett, Faye Greener, and Homer Simpson all exemplify the failed attempts to achieve the Californian dream in The Day of the Locust. Tod Hackett, a central character in The Day of the Locust, lives his life with the constant threat of failure while attempting to achieve his personal dreams amongst the kooks of Hollywood. Hackett comes to California hoping for a career designing movie scenes, but has many obstacles to overcome before achieving this career oriented goal. He aspires to climb the ladder of fame, but find himself continuously associating with the lower levels of the movie scene. It is with these people that Tod's life begins to get fuzzy. They show him an often darker side of Hollywood, and their actions play with his emotions and beliefs. Another of Tod's distractions while he attempts to live out his Californian dream lifestyle is his attraction to the beautiful Faye Greener. His advances go unseen by her, as his dreams of a life with her slowly die. He tries to focus his life on different aspects, but his mind and his heart eventually lead back to Faye. In one particular scene, Tod is getting ready to go out, but "his eyes kept straying to the photograph...a picture of Faye Greener" (West 67). As in this scene, Tod's whole...

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