The Day of the Locust

The Day of the Locust Summary | Chapter 1 Summary

Tod Hackett watches the approaching cavalry and infantrymen with mild interest. They are resplendent in their epaulets and fluttering plumes. The noise of horse hooves and swords in shields is broken by a voice, amplified through a megaphone, that informs the group that they are headed the wrong way.

Tod looks out through his window at a Hollywood sound stage. The little man with the megaphone chases after the celluloid army to get them to the correct stage. Tod watches them until they disappear and decides that it's time to leave for the day. He'll take a streetcar to Vine Street and then walk the rest of the way.

Tod has been in Hollywood not quite three months. He still finds it fascinating every day. A talent scout hired him on the strength of some drawings he exhibited at the Yale School of Fine Arts. Tod is here to learn set and costume design, although he feels too gawky to undertake such aesthetic work.

On the way home, Tod studies the people he encounters. They are like none he ever met back east. Scattered among the contented, in their sports clothes and evening wear, are others who scowl at him with hatred in their eyes. He can only think that they have come to California to die.

These are the people Tod wants to paint, and he vows to learn more about them. He's finished with painting still life and old barns. He's interested in Goya and Daumier now, and he thinks he has found his new subjects. Fortunately, Tod discovered these artists when he was almost ready to give up painting altogether. He was tired of studying color and composition, so when the Hollywood job came along, he grabbed it despite the cautions of his friends.

As Tod finishes his walk home, he falls in love again with the purplish haze of the trees in the dusk, but he doesn't feel that way toward the houses. They are of every cultural design, and he thinks dynamite is the only thing lacking. He tries to be charitable, though, because it is hard to laugh at people's need for beauty, no matter how tasteless.