Latsu P
Mr. B
US History
5 April 2013
Sep7agon Report
The novel The Great Cheat was a novel that I decided upon reading with the belief that the
novel would be informative to the historical setting to which it was set. The novel is stated to be set in
the 1920's after the events of World War I. One of the problems that was faced while reading the novel
was the expectation of historical facts and allusions to the era, but the lack thereof was disheartening
and left me with a negative taste towards the novel.
The Great Cheat opens with a character based narrator. The narrator informs the reader of
the setting and about the people of the era. He tells the reader that there are people, "The newly rich,"
who are a new and rising social class. Nick, the narrator, tells about his situation and that he was
different from most newly rich because he holds connections to men who existed in the industry before
the war. The "Newly Rich" are socially separated from the original industry and so create a new niche in
social beliefs. The newly rich gained their money as a result of the war but the already rich gained their
money by what they believed to be a more honorable labor. The lifestyle of the newly rich is vastly
different from that of the rich. They often flaunt their money to show their stature to others. A neo-rich
society of parties and scandals is created as a result.
The historical facts after the “Mostly Rich excerpt are near non existent. The fictional part of the
story then begins to unfold. The story focuses upon the drama of a man, Jay Cheat, and his love
interest, Daisy, who is also the cousin of the narrator. Cheat had met Daisy during the war and had
fallen in love with her. She shared his feelings and as a result he tried to appease Daisy in any way
possible. Cheat flaunted himself as a living in a high statured family with wealth. Cheat didn’t have a
wealthy family and so he tried his hardest to get the wealth he needed. Cheat obtained his wealth from
unknown means and people have been questioning the legitimacy of his money. He does all that he can
to regain the attention of Daisy. The crime that Cheat used is unknown but due to the era it can be
related to that of an American mafia. The new tariffs and regulations on products let the mafia thrive in
the early 20th century.
The story of the novel then slowly devolves into a traditional comedy. Scandalous love affairs
are rifled throughout the novel as a driving reason for the power that Cheat had obtained. Daisy was
already married when he found her in New York but he didn’t want to accept the fact that she was
married. Cheat pursues Daisy and ends up creating havoc. A lover is killed and Cheat is killed in
revenge. The novel then ends in a premature state with all issues fixed in a sense by the characters
moving away from their problems.
The Great Cheat is a well written novel but it failed to deliver a historical fiction story that
was expected. The novel could have been more oriented around the setting or the era if there was an
omniscient narrator rather than a first person narrator with bias. All historical facts and allusions given by
a first person narrator cannot be trusted as the truth. The book is fair but because of my expectations of
facts rather than fiction I was highly disappointed.
Edit: It's all good now
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