Setting Analysis "Love in L.A.," written by Dagoberto Gilb, is a story full of irony and multiple themes. The story is set in Hollywood during the summer time. Written in third person objective, "Love in L.A.” Five main theme expressed throughout this short story are Life aspirations, romance, materialism, privilege, and pursuit of happiness. The story begins with Jake driving on the freeway and he is stuck in a traffic jam beneath the overpass of the 101 freeway (Hollywood freeway) on Alvarado Street, at a red light. Jake is stalled in life, he values freedom but is not as free as he thinks he is. The freeway allows jake to feel the freedom of the open road and allows himself to daydream of his ideal life. You could infer Jake is a lower-middle …show more content…
class person, how he begins to describe in thought and begins dreaming of a new, luxurious car, and "exotic colognes" and "plush, dark nightclubs. Jakes car, a 58 Buick represents Jakes personality and character, expired license plate . We can guess everything that Jake wants in his new car are symbols for what he wants new in his life, and doesn't have, “FM radio, crushed velvet interior with electric controls for the L.A summer, a nice warm heater and defroster for the winter drives at the beach, cruise control for the longer trips, mellow speaker, windows that hum closed, snuffing out that nasty exterior noise of the freeways”. The traffic holdups, is symboled as holdups of everyday life motionless, kind of like Jakes average life in his eyes. The setting takes place in Los Angeles, Hollywood, this is a city of Chapman 1 hustler, if people who dream of being rich and famous through show biz.
Jake shares those dreams, but exaggerates when he claims to be a musician and actor. Also the details description of gray concrete, smog, traffic is in a clot are leaning the story in a very negative beginning. For Jake, the negative thoughts are linked to being steadily employed, he hopes to escaped them. But even though he drives off, he is still in his old car, still stuck in a confining reality. The conflict is this story is Jake hitting Mariana, Gilb illustrates her in a way we can see she is a symbol for everything Jake doesn't have in his life, a nice new Toyota, has insurance and follows the rule, sweet and honest. From the title of the story you think maybe Jake finds love in his terrible situation but text leading up to the end you can immediately tell this is not going to be a “love story”. By the comment Jake makes to Mariana saying she must be cuban by her ethnicity. Also the statement from Jake, “ I really am sorry about hitting you like that.” He sounded genuine. Gilb wouldn't of had to tell the reader Jake sounded genuine if he was truly being genuine. I do believe the setting is the most essential part to understanding this story, the environment of L.A its self, being stuck in traffic jam too many could spark more than simply a foul mood, it can lead to severe mental disorder, a study claims. Everyday irritations such as waiting in traffic can build up over time and cause mental
problems later in life, psychologists found. Therefore we as a reader don't know exact how much the setting affected Jake to make him act this way in “ Love in L.A”. The setting effects the story action in Los Angeles traffic jam on the hollywood freeway by symbolizing L.A is a fantasy place, not real, where real love and pretend love are confused and mixed up. The freeway is just the stage for this opportunity to be acted out. Theme plays an important role when it comes to the setting of a story, the main themes I see in this story are materialism, deception. The themes is playing a game of love opposed to really showing your Chapman 1 real self. The real self often comes through and the games end. Acting like you care is like not caring and in L.A, Hollywood, acting is sometimes as good as the real thing. The theme is one the biggest parts that Gilb is getting across to the reader. For Jake it took a fender bender for his freedom to swell up. Even his license plate had “expired so long ago,” that he got one from the junkyard. Being without a job, and insurance, Jake is left with out anything to do, other than to lie to the lady he hit. These lies also reinstate Jake’s character as being one lived on the edge, with no job or set life. ” Ironically, while Jake is imagining about all of this freedom that he has, he collides with the car that is in front of him. He is telling us how work and a “steady” life will calm down the wild life that people have.
The book “A Long Way From Chicago” is an adventurous and funny story. The story takes place at Joey Dowdel’s Grandmothers farm house in the country. Joey and his sister Mary Alice were sent to their Grandma’s house during the summer because their parents had to go to Canada for their work. At first, Joey felt uncomfortable with his Grandmother because he had never met her before but eventually he got to know her and they became close friends.
Hannie Rayson’s play ‘Hotel Sorrento’ explores the changing nature of Australian cultural identity. Rayson successfully perpetuates and challenges common Australian stereotypes in order to establish how the Australian National Identity has changed over time. She presents these stereotypes through the characters expectations of gender roles, attitudes towards Australian culture and the theme of ownership.
"Love in L.A.," written by Dagoberto Gilb, is a story full of irony and multiple themes. The story is set in Hollywood during the summer time. Written in third person objective, "Love in L.A." guides the reader along through the story as opposed to an omniscient point of view.
As a journalist in 1920 for the New York Herald Tribune, Sophie Treadwell was assigned to go to Mexico to follow the situation after the Mexican Revolution. (Mexican Revolution 1910-1917) She covered many important aspects of the Mexican Revolution during this time, including relations between the U.S. and Mexico. She was even permitted an interview with Pancho Villa in August 1921 at his headquarters. This interview and other events that she experienced in Mexico are presumably what led her to write the play Gringo. In Gringo Treadwell tries to depict the stereotypical and prejudicial attitudes that Mexicans and Americans have about each other. There is a demonstration of how Mexican women are looked at in the Mexican culture and how they see themselves. The play also corresponds to similar events that occurred during the Mexican Revolution.
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz covers the issue of Love and Violence thoroughly throughout the book, and shows how anger and love influence the impulsive and reckless decisions the characters made. Searching for Zion, by Emily Raboteau on the other hand shows that love comes in different forms and may be easily misunderstood. Abelard, Belicia, Lola, and Emily show love can be a devastating force if not handled carefully and, could be very dangerous. As others commonly have, Oscar confuses passion or lust with love, which in many ways can be critical when conveyed in violence. Similarly, Emily doesn’t fully understand the love that she shares with her father and it leads her to dangerous encounters.
“Love in L.A.” uses irony to teach its readers, showing us that unless we put in the time and effort, we will not reach our goals. Jake wanted better for his life but didn’t want to do what it took to get that better life. Instead of Jake is going for it, he spent all of his time daydreaming and lying instead of growing up and working for it. It is clear Jake has been stuck in this phase of his life for a long time. In fear of loosing his freedom in life, Jake made his life harder than what it needed to
Dagoberto Gilb was born in Los Angeles in 1950. A mix of gritty humor, mundane terror, and economic misfortune distinguishes his short stories. His life has been neither easy nor subdued, and these influences are reflected in his writing style and choice of subject matter. 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 and how all is stories combine in someway.
Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” introduces readers to Clemencia. Cisneros eludes Clemencia as a woman who appears proud of her Mexican heritage, yet knows not how the slanderous phrase “Never marry a Mexican” uttered from her well-meaning mother’s trusty lips about Clemencia’s own Mexican father negatively foreshadows her seedy life and gloomy world perspective later down her destructive journey of adulthood.
Stereotypes. Something that many women are subjected to in society and are forced to accept it like it is something that should happen. “What do women want”(Addonizio) examines the stereotypes most women face when wearing certain clothing, and the objectification of women, that is frowned upon but all women secretly want. It points out the objectification and stereotypes that women are subjected to, challenges them, and connects them to everyday life.
Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust is said by many to be the best novel to be written about Hollywood. When we immediately think of Hollywood, we think of a glamorous story, in the picturesque setting of Los Angeles, full of characters with abundance of talent living the much sought after American dream. This is perhaps what sets West’s novel apart from the rest. The story is full of characters that have a vague impression of the difference in reality and fantasy in life. The characters are submerged in their lives in Hollywood, with what seems to be a false reality on how the world works. The untalented would-be actors, withering vaudeville performers and prostitutes place a certain grotesque over the novel from the beginning, and in a world of certain fantasy and chaos like this, violence is bound to come to the fore as a theme in many different forms. The protagonist of the story, Tod Hackett, is different to the rest of the characters in the novel. Tom is a talented artist, but still has a good view of reality by times, so Tom can act part as an observer in the novel. Tom however has been sucked in to the fantasy world also life has become somewhat submerged in the fantasy world.
This Book seems to be quite current; however I would say that it more than likely took place during the 90's. There are many facts supporting my conclusion such as their knowledge of Cancer, the type of cars driven, the public transportation, and the descriptions of the buildings and stores in their town! The setting is important because Simon is from a different time. So the differences in their characteristics and manners are really what give this book an edge that appealed to me! Plus I really don't think this story would have been as interesting as it is if the characters were in a different time. Silver Kiss could have been set in any mid- sized town in America. The story gives me the impression that the town they are in isn't quite as small as Amboy, mainly because it has a huge hospital and a Public Bus.
...la. These are characters that while overly dramatic at times, are relatable because they are not perfect and they don’t struggle with being the perfect wife or machismo husband. Instead they are in constant struggle with their inner demons and desire just to be loved in a way which they deserve without prescribing to society’s norm.
The short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver, is about two married couples drinking gin and having a talk about the nature of love. The conversation is a little sloppy, and the characters make some comments which could either be meaningless because of excessive alcohol in the bloodstream, or could be the characters' true feelings because of excessive alcohol in the bloodstream. Overall, the author uses this conversation to show that when a relationship first begins, the people involved may have misconceptions about their love, but this love will eventually die off or develop into something much more meaningful.
Simone de Beauvoir, the author of the novel The Second Sex, was a writer and a philosopher as well as a political activist and feminist. She was born in 1908 in Paris, France to an upper-middle class family. Although as a child Beauvoir was extremely religious, mostly due to training from her mother as well as from her education, at the age of fourteen she decided that there was no God, and remained an atheist until she died. While attending her postgraduate school she met Jean Paul Sartre who encouraged her to write a book. In 1949 she wrote her most popular book, The Second Sex. This book would become a powerful guide for modern feminism. Before writing this book de Beauvoir did not believe herself to be a feminist. Originally she believed that “women were largely responsible for much of their own situation”. Eventually her views changed and she began to believe that people were in fact products of their upbringing. Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986 at the age of 78.
A person's ability to develop is due to two factors, maturation and learning. Although maturation, or the biological development of genes, is important, it is the learning - the process through which we develop through our experiences, which make us who we are (Shaffer, 8). In pre-modern times, a child was not treated like they are today. The child was dressed like and worked along side adults, in hope that they would become them, yet more modern times the child's need to play and be treated differently than adults has become recognized. Along with these notions of pre-modern children and their developmental skills came the ideas of original sin and innate purity. These philosophical ideas about children were the views that children were either born "good" or "bad" and that these were the basis for what would come of their life.