Passivity Quotes in The Day of the Locust

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

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.

Quote #8

"But that'll only get rid of the Mexican," Tod said. "You have to throw Earle out yourself." (22.80)

At this point, Homer is hopeless. Faye's ex-boyfriend is living in Homer's garage. That ex-boyfriend's best friend is hosting chicken fights in the front yard. Both of them flirt with Faye like whoa. If that's not grounds to boot them, then we don't know what is.

Quote #9

The red velvet curtains were all drawn tight, but he could see Homer sitting on the couch and staring at the back of his hands. (24.4)

Faye's departure sends Homer into a passive trance the likes of which the world has never seen: he hardly moves or says a word. If you're asking us, we'd say that the overwhelming emotional experience of the past few days just straight-up broke the dude.