Analysis Of Love In La By Dagoberto Gilb

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In the short story "Love in L.A" Dagoberto Gilb sketches the portrait of Jake, a lower-middle-class person, who is fantasizing of a luxurious life. The omniscient narrator presents his third person point of view starting by describing Jake's vehicle. Jake is daydreaming of a new, luxurious car, and "exotic colognes" and "plush, dark nightclubs" (406). Not paying attention to the traffic, he ends up hitting the car in front of him, a Toyota, whose owner is, luckily for him, a beautiful, exotic, female. Gilb shapes Jake using a touch of irony and lies, turning him into a stereotypical character. If we compare any traditional love story with the one between Mariana and Jake, we can notice the enormous difference in the way the love is described. …show more content…

Gilb shapes Jake as the stereotypical lonely male, but we can also observe the fact that everyone is looking for love. This need for affection and human interaction is evident in Jake and is also displayed in Mariana. A young, beautiful woman like her would never fall for a crook like Jake. She is definitely not interested in going along with Jake's inquiries, however, Mariana must be flattered and feel a little lonely because she smiles at his compliments and even makes small talk with him. Even though she refuses him many times, Jake continues by asking her "out to breakfast somewhere and talk it over" (407). Being an assertive type is what got him so far in life and even in his dialogue with Mariana, his intentions being on the sexual side, not nearly close to fixing the car issue. After hearing that Mariana has to go to work, Jake realizes that even though she must be younger and living with her parents, her life is so far actually better than his. She asks for his driver's license information, but Jake lies once again, stating that he didn't bring it because he is a "musician" and "left [his] wallet in the pants [he] was wearing last night" (408). The path of lies continues with Jake giving wrong information about his car insurance and his car plates. Being afraid of Mariana's judgment, and still trying to impress her,