Defining the CA Dream

Since childhood, most people have heard of the illustrious “California Dream.” Those living in California may find it hard to understand this “dream” because the natural state they have become accustomed to. However, for those who are not from California, this place can be anything from devastatingly difficult to comfortably live to the essence of what they envisioned. In Nathaniel West’s novel, he sought to show that California may not be the fabled “promise land” that most want to believe. Thus, using West’s notion of a California that is not as dream-like as it seems, many find that this land of hope is more complex than originally thought to be.

Many associate California to be a place where success comes easy with little effort. An example from the excerpt states that Tod’s friends told him not to go to California because they “…were certain that he was selling out and would never paint again (pg. 333).” One of the main facets of California is this fabled effortless success. True, there are many opportunities in California, but they do not come as easily as many would like to think. In an excerpt from Denise S. Spooner, she reiterates this idea by the research she has done with many Midwest immigrants to California. She states, “… the dream was more complex than most of us realize (Spooner, “A New Perspective on the Dream,” pg. 32).” Upon arriving in Hollywood, Tod’s expectations where exceedingly different from what he conceptualized. Because of this difference, his motivation for a new painting of an apocalyptic California in “Burning of Los Angeles” was spurred on by the disappointment of those who put everything on the line for a dream that would not come true.

When coming to California, people look for this wondrous place of opportunity and adventure. However, their expectations of California are dashed upon when they learn that it is not what they believed it to be. In the excerpt, Tod sees this in the contrast between the two types of people — the ones masquerading around because they are already successful and those disillusioned immigrants who have now realized the true difficulties. West describes the immigrants in this excerpt as, “… they had come to California to die (pg. 333).” That is the thing about California, many have such high expectations and images of how it will be, but the hope gets crushed when they arrive there. Instead of coming to California to live how they thought they would, the hope of the immigrants that come will die due it not being how they envisioned it. Instead of that elevated life they believed they were following, they become embittered at the falsity of California. 

California has been the dream-like escape that many people have imagined it to be since its creation. Calfornia is purported easy success, opportunities, and everything else one could imagine. Yet, when most get to California, they become disenchanted by what is really there. In “Day of the Locust,” West shows Hollywood hiding behind the face of grandeur . The  uncovering of the facade that keeps the California image alive reveals that the complexity of this land is more than just the misconception of the “California Dream.” For this, those who come to California could be walking into a wondrous dream or a deceptive nightmare.