To be honest, we never see Tod actually work on "The Burning of Los Angeles." Instead, we only see him imagine working on it in order to avoid thinking about something else. Why do you think that is? Is he just another one of those people who come to California to die?

This makes us think that Tod never really gets over Faye—instead, he simply shifts his obsession from her to his painting. Works well, sure, but it's not too healthy. In this way, Tod has practically become one of the people who inspired him to paint—a person who comes to Hollywood with big hopes only to see them disappointed.

Tod gets up close and personal with these people who come to California to die during the riot that closes the book. It's actually quite odd—the riot is a close parallel to the scene depicted in "The Burning of Los Angeles." Maybe the dude is a prophet, after all. Or maybe it's his artistic vision that helps him see what's really going on under the surface among the denizens of L.A.

Finally, during the riot that closes the novel, Tod fully explains his theory on "the people who come to California to die." To our surprise, they're just regular people: working stiffs who slaved away their entire lives for a blissful, preferably tropical retirement. Their only mistake was landing in Los Angeles. Should have kept flying, folks.

After retirement, these people realize they've been sold a bill of goods. Silly rabbit: retirement is for the rich. Additionally, it's important to note that The Day of the Locust was written in the midst of the Great Depression, when the disparity between the haves and have-nots was higher than at any other period in American history.

Here is another cause of the widespread disappointment critiqued by The Day of the Locust. Having been raised in a modern, media-saturated environment, individuals have been conditioned to expect excitement in their lives. But, as we all know (hopefully), life isn't like the movies. It's dull at times. It's painful at others. If you can't admit that to yourself, you're going to have a rough ride.

This is Tod's diagnosis of "the people who come to California to die." After working hard their entire lives, these people fulfill their dreams of retiring to Los Angeles, only to learn that it isn't all it's cracked up to be. That's a horrifying realization.

This, we think, is the perfect metaphor for ambition in The Day of Locust: as soon as you reach the prize you've been working toward, it's abruptly stolen away from you. After all, do we meet any character who actually realizes his or her ambitions? Claude might fit the bill, sure, but he seems pretty discontent about his life as a producer.

Yup, good old Hollywood pretty much turns people into robots. It makes sense: if everything and everyone in Hollywood is fake, just a surface with nothing substantial underneath it, then the only way to get by is to become just a surface yourself. Just about everyone in this book has been so busy hiding his or her true self that it's hard to say if any true selves are even left anywhere.