The Day Of The Locust Analysis

When Looking in goes Wrong The Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture defined the American Dream as “the idea that the US is a place where everyone has the chance of becoming rich and successful.”But those principles have changed. It has become something that is further out of reach for most people without facing misfortune. It has been tainted by greed, power, anger, and jealously. J. G. Ballard said “the American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. [It is] no more. It 's over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam.” The American Dream has causes destruction. The American Dream is disillusionment.

The tone alone of The Day of the Locust is satirical, cynical, monotonic, and unsympathetic. Tod Hackett’s narration and point of view is intellectually critical of his surroundings and situations but strange and detached. Homer’s point of view and narration is unhappy yet innocent while he is living in a world working against him, and disconnected as well. The characters of the novel also further develop this black cloud hovering throughout the novel as well as Hollywood and its occupants. For instance, Faye Greener’s character: she is a young beautiful untalented wannabe actress. Her exterior is a façade like Hollywood. Her beauty is her only asset. She uses it to lure men, similar to the American Dream, to do her bidding, for fame, recognition, which does not pan out because of her lack of talent and intelligence. Like the American dream, her beautiful exterior is what is seen and marveled upon, ends in betrayal, disappointment, hurt, and ultimately tragedy. Faye plays roles, unable to be genuine, but has an alluring characteristic about her that seems to offer intimacy but never delivers. She, as Hollywood, is the failure of the American Dream, unable to deliver what she promises and only offering false hope. This can be seen when she prostitutes herself to pay for her father’s funeral that beauty, dreams, and fantasies are

Azar Nafisi, Iranian writer and professor of English literature, once said “the negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream" and “the best work of literature to represent the American Dream is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It shows us how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and that if you don 't compromise, you may suffer (Brainy Quote).” The novel illustrates a world where if you work endlessly until you die, you will eventually gain some success, but in the end you are not happy. Monroe Stahr himself serves as example. Stahr is a workaholic which has caused his health is dwindle, his house unfinished, and he has no life outside of work. Stahr’s house being unfinished is very noteworthy because it is symbolizing an impracticality of giving a completed life due to his determined pursuits and overworking. The character of Kathleen Moore is also significant in cultivating Fitzgerald’s American dream. Kathleen is a reminder of Stahr’s deceased wife. Stahr’s illusory conviction that he can, in some way, relive the blissful love he experienced with his wife, the only time he seems happy, is impractical. Although Kathleen offers some fulfillment, his brief relationship with her ends with little joy and betrayal with her running away and get married. The American