Love is a powerful force that drives one person to draw a deep affection towards another. When analyzed, the short story entitled "Love in L.A.," by Dagoberto Gilb, shows how one can see many reasons in seeing irony and even satire by the story's title. Through "Jake," the protagonist's definition of "love" is expressed in different fashions, none results in anything positive; He portrays being lazy, irresponsible, somewhat poor, and perhaps something of a scam artist, looking for his freedom. Several essences reveal the main character true identity throughout the story: a love for image, self-conceit, and daydreaming.
Jake controls how well he behaves, using image as a grand part of his motivation. First, the author portrays Jake's worries towards the bumpers of the car before thinking of the other people involved in the accident. After finding out that there is not an 'impressionable' scratch,"he perks up". Then, while talking to Mariana, "he straightened out his less than new but not "unhip" clothes," while he is attempting to straighten out the mess with the car accident.
View of downtown Los Angeles, California at night.
English: Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles as se...
English: Downtown Los Angeles as seen from my Amer...This description of imagery on himself depicts his lack of respect for others and conceit when it came to what is more important according to him.
Jake can be seen as vein and egotistical in his cause. Near the end of the story he gets back into the car and he "...took a moment or two to feel both proud and sad about his performance". The reader believes it means he is proud of getting away with such rambunctious behavior and attempting to court the young lady all throughout the ordeal. With no such luck, in the end, his efforts are in vein and a distant dream and during the whole thing he is lying to her and himself.
Another trait which Jake...