Grotesque

The story of The Day of the Locust is chalk full of grotesque characters and images. While i agree with Kristian that Harry is a grotesque, as is Abe, I believe that the painting The Burning of Los Angeles is in itself a grotesque "character" or image and is probably the most important part of the story. Tod dreams up his painting of a complex piece of art which depicts many different, and often dark images. While the city itself is on fire and seems to be the key part of the work of art, there are many little depictions of dark images which are scattered throughout the entire piece. One of the important minor images in my mind within the painting is Faye running through the city naked with a pack of men and women chasing after her trying to rape her. This dark image is one of many including faye and the rape fantasies of tod. Tod is not as complex a character as the statement that West makes in the first chapter about him. He is a very simple character...while he does seem to unravel through the novel into an animalistic type of person, his character still is rather underdeveloped and simple.