But whether he was happy or not is hard to say. Probably he was neither, just as a plant is neither. He had memories to disturb him and a plant hasn't, but after the first bad night his memories were quiet.
It's hard for most people to say of they're happy or not. It's interesting that his memories go quiet after one bad night. Is this supposed to allude to his death or another tragic event?
There was also a bathroom and a kitchen.
This seems like an odd place to end the chapter, almost like a few sentences got cut out or are missing.
amuse. We were looking at the pool one day and some-body, Jerry Appis, I think, said that it needed a dead horse on the bottom, so Alice got one. Don't you think it look
I feel like this is commentary on how the rich choose to spend their money. Instead of investing it into the community. donating some to charity, etc., they bought a rubber horse for the bottom of their pool for 'amusement.' That rubber horse probably cost a lot of money, and while people can spend their money on whatever they want, a rubber horse for the bottom of the pool is something so ridiculous.
But not even the soft wash of dusk could help the houses
It's such a simple sentence but his word choice makes it so much more descriptive.
The groan ofleather mingled with the jangle of iron and over all beat the tattoo of a thou-sand hooves. He hurried to the window.
It's only the second sentence and you can already get a sense of West's descriptive narrative voice.
The bitter pill of taking help, of feeling weakly grateful, stuck in her throat.
I feel this one sentence reflects her personality strongly; she clearly is very independent even at a time where women were discouraged from being so, and she doesn't like taking help, even from someone she's very close with, in this case, her husband of all people.