The city viewed from the highway has little to do with the place he had seen on the ground.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Almost as soon as Patrick arrives in Hollywood, he is overwhelmingly disoriented. In this passage, he observes the view of the city and surrounding landscape from a car window. The manner in which the narrator describes the scene illustrates Patrick's feelings of dislocation. The world feels synthetic and fabricated, as it is not only unfamiliar but obscured by his vantage point. This moment develops the author's interest in exploring imitation, illusion, and reality.

In the ephemeral rendered luminously concrete. It's the machinery of dreams.
-- Horseshoe (chapter 1)

Importance: While driving with Horseshoe and the Arm, Patrick listens to their conversation about the film industry. The way that Horseshoe describes the industry and what it offers, contributes to the author's commentary on contemporary American culture and society. Not unlike Hollywood, a microcosm of the American dream...