The Day of the Locust Chapter 17 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Tod shows up drunk to Harry's funeral. He hasn't seen Faye since the day after Harry's death.
  • Tod sees Faye and pulls her into an empty room. He makes a rambling argument about why she shouldn't be a prostitute, telling her that venereal diseases will destroy her beauty.
  • Understandably, Faye runs off in tears. Tod hesitates for a moment before returning to the funeral parlor for the service.
  • The only people who want to look at Harry's body are the Gingo family, a group of Inuit actors to whom Harry had "been a good friend" (17.19).
  • As other people line up to look at the body, Tod takes the opportunity to hightail it out of there.