This is Tod's method for getting over Faye, and it actually works pretty well. It also confirms to us that Tod's art amplifies his feelings (whether he realizes it or not) in some borderline unhealthy ways.

Huh, you think? Although Tod is adept at looking at other people and identifying their repressed feelings of disappointment, he frequently proves himself incapable of diagnosing the same sickness in himself.

In other words, the fact that people respond positively to this dude's crazy words is more meaningful than the craziness of those words. After all, people wouldn't latch on to such blatant tomfoolery unless they were already hopeless, having endured so many disappointments in their lives that snake-oil salesmen are their only hope.

Faye's seeming innocence is what draws so many men to her. Though she tries to cover up this aspect of herself at times, acting instead like the grizzled leading ladies from her favorite Hollywood movies, she can never fully escape her youthful innocence. And why would she want to?

Of course, it wouldn't be California without some good old-fashioned hippie wackadoodles. (Okay, there weren't actually any hippies around at this point, but whatever.) To Tod, this is more evidence of the emptiness of modern American life. After all, how bad must things have become for people to buy so readily into the false promises of snake-oil salesmen?

Here's another example of the weird nonsense Hollywood-ians flock to like bees to honey. As Tod mentions, however, the ridiculousness of this message isn't as important as the fact that the entire audience buys into it hook, line, and sinker. There will always be crazy people out there, but you know things are bad when the crazy people are the leaders.

Once Tod realizes that he'll never get with Faye, his lust for her takes a noticeably dark turn. In these twisted fantasies, he sees her innocence as something to be squashed and her strength as something to be dominated. What a scumbag, right? The scummiest of all the bags, even.

It's a little weird, sure, but if this arrangement actually helps Faye reach stardom, then it can't be that bad, right? Of course, Homer's obvious attraction toward Faye will make this "business" deal more complicated than a customer service call to Comcast.

At first, Tod thinks that living with Faye will do wonders for Homer and his lack of self-confidence. After all, what's a better pick-me-up than a sexy lady running around the house? Ah, if only it were that simple...

Instead of empowering Homer, Faye turns him into a bona fide servant. Homer doesn't mind too much, naturally, as he's always found a great deal of relief in doing housework. Regardless, Tod sees Faye taking advantage of Homer, but he knows that the big galoot is incapable of putting his foot down, so, like much else in this novel, there's not anything Tod himself can do about it.