The Day of the Locust

What is the author's style in The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West?

Asked by
Last updated by Jill W
1 Answers
Log in to answer

Chapters form the structure of this novel, and their brevity gives the book a particularly fast pace, much like episodic scenes in a movie. Many of the twenty-seven chapters are only one or two pages long, occur in one place, and cover only a few minutes or an hour. The longer chapters cover events that move from place to place and may last throughout an afternoon or evening, such as chapter fifteen, in which Tod tags along with Earle and Faye on their date. The final, climactic chapter, in which Tod is trapped by the mob at the movie premiere, is also one of the longer ones.

Source(s)

The Day of the Locust