Since 1985 Oates has returned to the unmitigated look at violence that drew negative criticism in her early work. In Marya, You Must Remember This, and Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart she looks at violence in the lower and middle classes, while in American Appetites (1989) she shows that the American appetite for material and intellectual success can turn as nightmarish as the appetites of any of the social classes. With its theme of racism, Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart most recalls them (1969), although Oates in her later fiction is spending less time creating a consciousness of violence and more time using art to shape a way to respond to violence.