Nathanael West Biography

Nathanael West was born Nathan Weinstein in New York City on October 17, 1903, the first child of Max and Anna Weinstein. Both his parents were German-speaking Lithuanian Jews, who married in 1902, shortly after their arrival in America. West’s father was a hard-working and successful building contractor until the […]

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Character Analysis Fay Doyle

Fay Doyle’s name suggests a combination of lightness and crudity, the lightness paralleling her delusions of her girlish charm, and the crudity corresponding to her muscular build, sexual aggressiveness, and her disregard for the feelings of others. Like the novel’s other women, she is always acting a role of which […]

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Character Analysis Betty

Betty’s name, her manners, memories, and acts suggest that she is an innocent country girl trying to make her way in the frightening city. She displays enough solicitude, kindness, and patience with Miss Lonelyhearts to fool some readers into thinking her to be an attractive voice of sanity. But the […]

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