"Only dynamite would be of any use against the Mexican ranch houses, Samoan huts, Mediterranean villas, Egyptian and Japanese temples, Swiss chalets, Tudor cottages, and every possible combination of these styles that lined the slopes of the canyon. When he noticed that they were all of plaster, lath and paper, he was charitable and blamed their shape on the materials used." (West 61).
Los Angeles Architecture in West's eyes is synonymous with a clumsy mishmash of structures from a set designer's dream. The buildings are anything but authentic, and West's emphasis here suggests that the occupants of such houses, like the "plaster, lath and paper" from which their homes are built, "know now law, not even that of gravity." His implication is that Angelenos are mostly aloof, airy, and mocked-up. Unlike the presumably grounded occupants of the "[s]teel, stone, and brick" houses classically associated with the older Eastern cities of the United States, West implies that those who build and inhabit homes like the "miniature Rhine castle" of Los Angeles are woefully insincere to others and to themselves (West 61). Hackett, an East Coast transplant, is specially equipped to notice these details for the reader.
But West's fascination with inauthenticity goes beyond the physical elements of his scenes. Faye Greener, beautiful but ultimately devoid of any great complexity, is a key expression of West's interest in false identity. Tod, who informs the novel's primary perspective, looks down on Faye as both an object and as prey. His desire to exert control over Faye by raping her suggests Tod (a member of the East Coast establishment) believes there is something heinously wrong with the inauthentic way in which Faye behaves. And yet, Faye represents the "ultimate achievement" for almost every character in the novel: they want to sleep with her, and yet they seem to hate Faye's conniving and narcissistic tendencies. In the promotional poster for the 1975 film adaptation of the novel, Faye Greener (portrayed by Karen Black) is front and center, positioned above the remaining characters, gleefully holding a cocktail, suggesting blissful ignorance of anyone but herself:
Another poster for the same film, in a nod to The Burning of Los Angeles, illustrates the clamoring masses struggling to reach out to Faye:
The Faye we see, both on paper and on screen is certainly a caricature of the archetypal vapid actress. And West's other areas of exploration, which I will truncate, also underscore the presence of inauthenticity in Los Angeles. For instance, West portrays the developing consumer economy as a shell for selling beauty, and it becomes the catalyst for the climatic riot at the end of the novel.
It is unsurprising then that West himself struggled with his own identity. Born Nathanael Weinstein, West was accepted to Tufts on a forged high school transcript, expelled for the offense, and later accepted to Brown University by using the transcript of another student from Tufts named Nathan Weinstein. At Brown, he called himself Nathanael von Wallenstein Weinstein, using his mother's maiden name. As the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he did not easily fit into the existing social structure of the University or of the Eastern upper class in general, and eventually anglicised his name to West before moving to California. Of every character and scene he created as an author, it's possible that the man himself was the most elaborate fake of all.
Sources:
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Nathanael_West.html
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0609041.txt
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/65685.Nathanael_West
Images from Wikipedia
The idea that the fakeness that surrounds the entire novel actually surpasses the novel and reaches to the author himself is an interesting one. Obviously, West identified heavily with Tod, yet Tod's place in the artificiality of Hollywood is an odd one. If West believed himself to be a fake, why would he choose to represent himself through Tod? Tod Hackett did not come to California under similar pretenses to West's. As far as we know, Tod is relatively authentic. Although similar to Nick from The Great Gatsby in his detachedness from the story, Tod provides us with a real look inside the mind of the leader of the locusts that descend upon Hollywood. Tod isn't one of the locusts ravaging Los Angeles, but he's adding to the agitation, throwing a stone behind him as he runs. So perhaps West is the same way. He doesn't think of himself as Faye-level fake. West sees himself as someone who can dip his toe in the fakeness of Hollywood without drowning in its lies.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ezra for the interesting bit about West and the struggle with his own identity! I find it ironic that the man who writes so critically about the empty promises and falsehoods of Hollywood both directly (“dream dump”) and indirectly (seen through the character of Faye) is in fact a big fake himself. I wonder if perhaps West’s inability to fit into the scenery of his own time is slightly echoed in The Day of the Locust perhaps in his descriptions of Hollywood/the sets or his descriptions of the random architecture? Possibly through Todd who doesn't quite fit in to the Hollywood scene as well. I also wonder if West finally felt content with his identity and ideas when he began to write? Maybe writing was, for West, his escape from the world he didn’t belong in to a world in which he could create and control.
ReplyDeleteI think Nathanael West's own struggle with his identity may be an impetus for his unflattering portrayals of people in The Day of the Locust. Unable to truly be "authentic" himself, possibly even changing his name to better fit in with the commercialized "white" America, West cannot accept a world where people are truly satisfied with themselves, so he portrays Los Angeles and Hollywood as a place full of self-conscious, commercial people.
ReplyDeleteFaye is a particularly interesting because she is a self-sufficient character. When forced to pay for her father’s funeral, she went into prostitution rather than accepting money from Tod. Vapid and self-absorbed, Faye’s self-absorbedness makes her appealing to every character, and, because every character wants her, she feels entitled to become even more self-absorbed. Faye rejects everybody except for Miguel, and Miguel doesn’t want her as badly as everyone else. West portrays this kind of self-confidence negatively and unrealistically – nobody really likes Faye, in the words of Pisk, “she is not sufficiently human.” Perhaps, through Tod’s daydreams of raping Faye, West is illustrating his personal disdain for somebody who can be self-sufficient like Faye. Tod’s desire to squash Faye’s “egglike self-sufficiency” is actually tied to West’s personal internal struggle. In the violence felt towards Faye, West is showing that nobody, including himself, can be truly self-sufficient and free from the influences of society.
I thought Kayla makes a good point by proposing that West uses his writing to escape a world he can't control. Through the forgeries and manipulations Ezra mentioned at the end of his post, it is clear that West had a desire to control his world and did not have the means to do so. If West is living through Tod then his rape fantasy, which we decided was a power thing, fits well with this theory. Especially if we take our conclusion that Faye is a symbol of Hollywood into the context of West, living in LA and being involved in screenwriting. West is symbolically taking control of the elements in his life he cannot control through his writing.
ReplyDeleteThe fraud and chicanery in Los Angeles are a constant topic of interest in both West’s work and many people’s views of Los Angeles. Because of Hollywood and the stars that it contains, Los Angeles can easily be perceived as a place where fraud is necessary for success. In Fitzgerald’s “ The Last Kiss”, Pamela feels that she has to be fake in order to make it to the top. “Fakeness” is everywhere. It is in the movie sets that Tod walks through and in the makeup that Faye is always smearing on. Even Faye’s dreams are fake. She only dreams so that she can seem like the type of person with wild dreams, and the dreams she has are ones stolen from classic stories.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that Tod does not want to rape Faye just because he believes there is something wrong in the way she behaves. I think that his main motive is to feel like he is in control, and if Faye represents Hollywood, then Tod would be the people who moved to LA to make a name for themselves. Once he finds out that Faye (Hollywood) does not really notice him or have a place for him, he wants to show that he is powerful by raping her, or in the immigrants’ case, by rioting.
Once again we have brought another author to his knees. The validity of Nathanael West’s self-comparison to Todd is brought into question, posing a revelation of West’s character as many have already said. West impresses his ideal on Todd, the unintentionally successful and emotionally detached character who’s only purpose is to relay the story and describe his painting. However, Tod becomes attached to Faye through his fantasies, eventually asking her to sleep with him, reflecting West’s connection to the falsities of Hollywood and his muddled educational past. It is clear that West does not have the best impression of LA or Hollywood through his characters expressions, but why not leave? Why not shed off the “plaster, lath and paper” façade of the “miniature Rhine castle” and go somewhere less fake? West died on his way back to Los Angeles, could it be that on a subconscious level he could not leave the place that was as inauthentic as himself?
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting fact about West that does not surprise me at all. West is so insecure about himself that he is unable to see how people can be content with themselves. Because of this, The Day of the Locust becomes a book about Hollywood through the eyes of an impostor. The people in Hollywood here seem to be desperate for an escape. They will do anything to evade the boringness of everyday life. They partake in the strangest activities like a cockfight, dreaming of rape, or starting a riot. Its almost as if the characters in the book are attempting to recreate their lives into something more stimulating. While doing this, they are completely blurs the line between fakeness and reality. The fact that West, an impostor, wrote a book about the fakeness in the place he resides is very interesting. Was this book an escape for West to explore a world away from the one where he wasn’t participating? Or was it a way for West to destroy the idea that everyone has his or her own individual uniqueness?
ReplyDeleteI think rather than modeling Tod after his own story, West molds Faye in an image much more similar to himself. Clearly, West is very self sufficient and clearly possesses lofty goals for himself if he feels the need to forge transcipts, lie, steal, and cheat his way to a top university. At the same time though, these are very self-sufficient acts that, although not completely moral, he does to advance his own knowledge. Much like Faye entering a prostitution ring rather than accept Tod's money, West would rather cheat his way to a top university than enter an average one on his own merits. Furthermore, Faye is almost always working, that term used ever so slightly, to at least keep her dreams of being an actress alive. West also constantly worked to further his learning as best as he could in his pursuit of writing. Obviously, there are some major holes in this comparison, but it is an interesting thing to think about.
ReplyDeleteAs Ezra pointed out, West appears to have this disgusted fascination with the inauthenticity of Los Angeles that manifests itself through the city's architecture and image as a whole. I wonder then, why the man who epitomizes inauthenticity would call attention--and find fault with--the very quality in his surroundings that he possesses. Whereas Alex brings up the idea that this book is a mode of escape for West, I believe it may rather be a space for him to express the side of himself he hates. Although he may be unable to control his desire to embody someone other than himself, essentially being inauthentic, I think he hates this side of his character so much that he is driven to find fault with the inauthentic side to Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteI think there's something to be said about the relationship between expectations and authenticity. As with Lee in East of Eden, many people in the book base their reality (as well as their definition of authenticity) on unrealistic expectations, and when these expectations aren't met, they accuse whatever object upon which they've placed their expectations of inauthenticity. I think West's fascination with this perceived inauthenticity as an easterner shows an interest with the expectations that create this dichotomy of real versus fake. The midwesterners in the book flock to Los Angeles and Hollywood under a set of pretenses that turn out to be false, and once the veil is lifted they become bored. Feeling tricked and betrayed, they denounce LA as a "fake", comparing it unfairly to the urban communities of the east.
ReplyDeleteI always find it very interesting to see how an author's own life ties into and influences the story that is being written. Is West's criticism of Hollywood's artifice a criticism of himself? Was he even aware of the parallel? West writes of fakeness with apparent distaste, but embodies that quality at the same time, has relied on it for a good portion of his life. One can only wonder how much he was aware of this. (Okay so the blog did that really annoying thing where it made me sign in again--I was already signed in--and deleted my whole comment, and I'm having some trouble remembering exactly what else I said at this point and beyond.)
ReplyDeleteSome of the characters that West created for his novel seem to correlate to different parts of his personality. Tod has obvious parallels to West, yet also embodies more of who West wants to be, and admires most. Faye, on the other hand, seems to represent parts of West's character for which he has less respect. Other characters may mirror other parts of West's nature. I apologize, this theory really isn't fleshed out at all; it's just an idea.
A lot has been said about how West might have modeled the characters after himself due to his false identity and self-image issues, although, I don't believe his possible motives for this have been mentioned. He must have been very insecure about his academic performance if he felt the need to fake his way into two highly-selective universities. Even though he did get kicked out of Tufts, from Ezra's description, it seems that he had successfully faked his way into, and all through, his time at Brown. In the book, all of Hollywood seems fake, but why is Hollywood portrayed as this hub of superficial facades? He might be arguing that to be accepted into these communities (Brown and the Hollywood movie industry), you must "fake" your way into them. He was able to draw on his own history of fraudulent activity and applied it to a highly-selective industry.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading/skimming through most of these blog posts, I wonder where West's particular kind of joking" comes into play. Most of these posts talk about how West manifested many of his personality traits within these characters, but after our discussion in class today, I am not so sure. What I was struck by today in class was that this book is essentially one big joke. West pokes fun at Communism, Marxism, consumerism, etc…He paints the masses in a very negative light, and he angers really every literary critic there is. West maintains that these critics just do not understand his "particular kind of joking," and maybe this is because he wants them to realize that he is poking fun at everything and everyone including himself. He came to California for a fresh start after realizing that he did not fit in with the culture and social structure of the East coast. He understands that he got into two major universities under false pretenses, and he understands that he lied and cheated to get to the top. These characters take the flaws of West, drastically exaggerate them, and portray them in an extremely negative light as well. Tod's desperate desire for control and power is a hyperbolized version of West's desires, and Faye's annoying self-sufficiency is a manifestation of West's self-sufficiency. What I think I am trying to say is that yes, West does put pieces of himself into these characters, but it is done is a manner that aims to make fun of himself. These characters and their flaws only enhance West's "particular kind of joking," but in this case, they are poking fun at the author himself.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Ezra’s statement that the desire to rape Faye indicates that Tod “believes there is something heinously wrong with the inauthentic way in which Faye behaves.” I don’t think Tod cares about Faye’s inauthenticity. It is West that is disgusted by his own authenticity. West seems to hate on himself when he depicts the rape scene. He projects his own lack of authenticity onto Faye, and attempts to vanquish what he could not in real life – the lack of identity. Raping Faye is a way for West to come to terms with his self-loathing. I see Faye as a young and lost West who is constantly changing his identity, while Tod (in the rape seen) is who and what West strives to be – a man in control.
ReplyDeleteI think that the relationship between Faye and Homer (Hollywood and the Locusts) is fascinating and sophisticated in its own right, but analyzing it solely removes West and his perspective from the dialogue. It makes sense, then, that the movie posters are centered on Faye and the locusts–the meat of the novel is more heavily emphasized at the cost of making a character like Tod a mere witness, a vehicle to watch the dynamic unfold rather than a cynical prophet who takes pleasure in watching it all burn. Part of what makes Tod so odd to classify is his similarity with West himself–suspended between Hollywood bourgeois and locust "proletariat," allied with the movie business yet sympathetic to the cause of the masses. If we take Tod to characterize West himself, does The Burning of Los Angeles correspond with the novel itself as a prophetic work? Or is Day of the Locust more of a contemporary "kind of joking"?
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