Write on the destortion of reality in the book `The Day of the Locust`

The Day of the Locust

The Day of the Locust is a HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /1939_in_literature " \o "1939 in literature " 1939 novel by American author HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Nathanael_West " \o "Nathanael West Nathanael West , set in HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Hollywood 2C_California " \o "Hollywood California " Hollywood , California during the HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Great_Depression " \o "Great Depression Great Depression , depicting the alienation and desperation of a disparate group of individuals whose dreams of success have effectively failed . The characters in West 's novel

are based on the actors , artists , businessmen , dreamers and vagabonds West met while working as a screenwriter in 1930s Hollywood . All of the characters are outcasts who have come to Hollywood in search of something or another . For the most part , West 's characters are intentionally shallow and iconic , and . derive from all the B-grade genre films of the period (Simon , 523 . West 's characters are Hollywood stereotypes . The novel 's protagonist , Tod Hackett , is a set painter who aspires to artistic greatness . In the first chapter of the novel , the narrative voice announces " Yes , despite his appearance HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /w /index .php ?title Tod action edit redlink 1 " \o "Tod (page does not exist " Tod was really a very complicated young man with a whole set of personalities , one inside the other like a nest of HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Chinese_boxes " \o "Chinese boxes " Chinese boxes . And ' The Burning of Los Angeles ' a picture hew as soon to paint , definitely proved he had talent " Over the course the novel , we are introduced to several minor characters , each corresponding to a given Hollywood trope . There is Harry Greener the fading HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Vaudeville " \o "Vaudeville " vaudevillian , his daughter , Faye the starlet , Claude Estee the big-time producer Homer Simpson ,the hopelessly clumsy " HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Everyman " \o "Everyman " everyman ,Abe Kusich the diminutive , yet vicious gangster , Earle Shoop the cowboy and Miguel the Mexican his sidekick , Adore Loomis the child star /prima donna and Adore 's doting mother

The theme of illusions forms the basis for much of what happens in the novel . West includes unreal and illusory images throughout the novel to indicate that what keeps Hollywood functioning are fantasies and dreams . Like the movie sets Tod designs and often has to walk through when he is at the studio , life in Hollywood in the 1930s is one-dimensional and flimsy . Nathanael West 's The Day of the Locust is a realistic novel about an unreal city Centered in Hollywood and the world of movie-making , the story avoids the glitter of stardom to concentrate on the life of the disenchanted It presents the disillusioned , those who find themselves cheated of the glamour their fantasies promised and the movies provided . The novel emphasizes the spiritual and moral death of the city , symptomatic of the condition within the country as a whole

The main character is Tod Hackett...