The Day of the Locust Chapter 20 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
When he had finished, there was a great deal of applause. The young man shook himself and became an actor again. [...] His imitation of a man was awkward and obscene. (20.59)
For context, this dude has just finished a drag performance that greatly impressed Tod with its effortless femininity. Note the irony here: the performer only becomes an actor when he steps off stage and resumes his life as a male-presenting person. That makes us wonder how many other characters are stuck in similar positions.
Quote 2
His servility was like that of a cringing, clumsy dog, who is always anticipating a blow [...] and in a way that makes overwhelming the desire to strike him. (20.3)
As the novel continues, Tod loses sympathy for Homer and instead starts despising him for being passive. Maybe he's fed up. Maybe he's jealous of Homer's relationship with Faye. Or maybe he just realizes that Homer is incapable of change.
Quote 3
He opened his mouth to reply and she poured the brandy into it, then clapped her hands over his lips so that he couldn't spit it back. (20.25)
Wow—does this count as assault? If not, then it's at least a party foul, right? Jokes aside, you know that you're being overly passive when someone can just shove a drink down your throat without repercussions. How does something like that even happen?
Quote 4
When she turned to Homer again, he leaned away as though she were going to hit him. She flushed with shame at this and looked at Tod to see if he had noticed (20.126)
This passage seems to imply that Faye is literally physically abusive toward Homer. This shouldn't be all that surprising, of course, given that we've already witnessed Faye punching her dad in the face for laughing too hard. Plus, we're pretty confident that Homer would never raise a finger towards her if she did hit him, no matter how hard her pint-sized punches got.