In The Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West, the author’s view of the world seems very negative and critical. This artwork represents West’s view of the world in many ways.
The author uses dark humor and a bitter tone throughout the novel, and the colors in this painting reflect this. The colors are very dark and gloomy which resembles West’s dark and obscure characters and events in the novel. Everything seems to be in the shadows, except for the city in flames in the back. This represents the two worlds (Hollywood and outside of Hollywood) that West talks about in his novel.
The face in the corner is watching over the city, similar to those in West’s book who stand around the city and stare at the masqueraders. In the novel, Tod is very fascinated by these people, and he wants to paint them. He says that he “knew very little about them except that they had come to California to die” (60).
This painting is entitled “Burning City”, and it was painted in 1965 by Richard Kreznar. In the back of this artwork, there is a city that is surrounded by what appears to be orange and red flames. This closely relates to Tod’s next artwork entitled “The Burning of Los Angeles.” This also ties in West’s idea that the city it bad and it will ultimately bring pain and suffering. This painting reflects the same mood that Tod describes in his art.
Due to the different artistic elements in this artwork, it closely resembles West’s view of the world and his novel The Day of the Locust.
Great American Novels 2020 
The art you chose really depicts the darkness present in California, and to me represents the quote you used about death. It correlates to the negativity surrounding the characters and setting in Los Angeles in The Day of the Locust.
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I think this artwork you chose is a very good description of The Day of the Locust. Another thing I noticed about the painting is that it is very abstract, and almost blurred. I feel that this relates to the lives of many of the characters in the novel, especially Homer. Homer robotically goes through each day of his life, not truly living it. His life seems blurry and faded much like the art you chose.
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