The Impossible Love—A Literature Analysis of Love in L.A.

The Impossible Love—A Literature Analysis of Love in L.A.

There is an old Chinese saying “those who are well-fed and well-clad are inclined to be lustful; whereas hunger and cold breed the temptation to steal” (Hujiang). Similarly, there is also popular saying in the western world that the economic basis determines the superstructure. Dagoberto Gilb’s Love in L.A. presents us an irony love story. When people are still struggling for their life, love is hard to come by.

The story starts in an early morning on Alvarado Street in L.A., and the main character Jake is trapped in a traffic jam beneath an overpass. Unlike most people, he doesn’t bother about the bad traffic at all. To the contrary, he takes delight in immersing himself in fancying a lot of good things and possibilities. That implies there is still a very long way to go for him to get all the things he wants. Such a setting, full of crowded and hasty traffics, the peculiar gray of concrete and smog, is selected for the story. It usually makes people emotionally depressed, at the same time, it also remind us that life in city L.A. is busy and pressing. Certainly, L.A. also has its charming sides, which are just what Jake can’t help dreaming. However, misfortunes never come alone. A traffic accident happens. Failure to pay attention to the change of traffic lights, he goes ahead and hits the Toyota in front of him. And then the other character Mariana appears. Towards this accident, the two show entirely different reactions. That is also the climax of this story. In plotting this story, it doesn’t follow through to the consequences of that accident. It mainly focuses on describing the psychological activities and actions taken as well as the conversation details between Jake and Mariana. The other background has been left out by the author intentionally. Through this incident, the various personalities can be easily identified by some details, such as personal speech, thought, behavior, dressing style and, etc. Different kinds of people will have different story endings. So it is redundant to give an end to this story. As the story develops, the theme gets clear that when no solid economic foundation but only lies exist, the real relationship cannot be established.

As the first character appears in the story, Jake is portrayed like a typical commuter. He already gets used to living in such a large thronged city. Heavy traffic is only a part of his life. Jake is smart and intelligent as he can always make correct decisions for himself. He knows it won’t be better if he changes the direction on the freeway when trapped. Talkative and sociable, but prudent, he sizes up the situation before he starts the conversation with the counterpart. However, he takes advantage of his talents and skills not only in doing good things but also in doing wrong things. Facing the car damages of Mariana, he turns thoughtless with lies and irresponsible. For example, Jake makes up his profession as a musician and later as a movie actor. He lies that he forgets his driver license in the pants. Being afraid of endless trouble, he also makes up a name, address, and telephone number, as well as the insurance company name. Besides that, he even use a license plate that doesn’t belong to his. Moreover, even no guilty feeling can be found from him when he finally gets out of that tangle. As soon as he drives into the street, he regains his sense of freedom and dreams of his new car again. He is such a creature.

One more thing, from Jake’s “less than new but not unhip clothes” (Gilb, 114) and what he fantasy about, e.g. a high-end configuration and luxury car, top grade perfume and high-class entertainment clubs, beautiful and sexy ladies, we can see Jake is an extremely materialist. But being materialistic doesn’t mean he is generous. In opposition, he is mean and calculating, doing his best to protect himself from handling the accident. The less money spent, the happier he will be. So it can be justified that the first reaction to him is to get away after the crash occurs. The repeatedly checking for his car is to ensure no big loss for himself. The confirmed good condition for his car, he pretends to show care for Mariana’s car. As soon as he finds things are going far beyond his expectation, he panics and fakes everything he can, except for his feeling for love to Mariana. Thus, when he restarts his car, a conflicted sentiment strikes him. He feels proud that he successfully covers up his fact and avoids the expense. He gets sad that he can’t fall in love with Mariana though “her hand felt so warm and soft he felt like he’d been kissed” (Gilb). He can’t even tell her his real phone number. The love is ended up with Jake’s surrender to the reality. It is a fact that he can’t provide an insurance account or a license plate number for his car.

Regarding the other character Mariana, her first look is the “added complication” (Gilb, 113). In the eye of Jake, she is an only green-hand. From the carefully-chosen words, we can see that Mariana is a rather quiet and prudent girl, who is polite and friendly. She handles the accident carefully. But this time she encounters a complicated opponent, which is more skillful and tricky in society. Handling the accident by the procedure as she learns, she is still deceived by Jake’s mature and faultless performance. Only some seemingly random greeting words makes her relaxed towards Jake. It gives Jake a chance to continue with his tricks. Then the origin, marriage status, and social experience of Mariana have all been figured out. When Jake lies that he sometimes acts in movies, she believes and she “smiled like a fan” (Gilb, 115). Particularly, when Jake compliments her beauty, she responds timidly just like an inexperienced young girl. Also, the car is not bought by herself, and she doesn’t live alone. She is on the way to work. This information can as well give us a hint about her current economic condition. She is possibly still not economically independent.

What’s more, there are also two meanings for the title of Love in L.A. that can be interpreted. The first is the literal meaning. It is only an ordinary love in L.A. The second, it shows an irony. It is not a real love between people. It is created for a defined purpose and can be probably developed into a true love under a good condition. In the story, although the two characters seem to fall in love with each other, they hide their real thoughts that they both want to evade the responsibility for the accident. Jake’s several attempts to invite Mariana is based on his purpose. He wishes to minimize the crash influence and fix the problem by a romantic way. After all, the probability of meeting each other is not much in such a crowded, busy, and prosperous metropolis. Surprisingly, his way is not appreciated by Mariana. Mariana prefers her way, which she thinks it will be safer. The author sets the scene in L.A., indicating the beautiful but virtual life and emotion. Supposing Jake already got everything he wants and led a very decent life, there would have been another story for him and Mariana. At least, he wouldn’t have been in such an awkward position.

In short, it is a successful work, featuring the direct conversations and psychological activities while excluding the final ending and other situations about the characters. As the theme states, we must get “bread” first, and then love. “Bread” is the basis of love. A love between Jake and Mariana should have happened but miscarried because of the embarrassing conditions. Meantime, it warns us, with lies and cheats to build up a relationship will not go on for long, either. Only a better economic basis can foster a better relationship.

Works Cited

Gilb, Dagoberto. Love in L.A. Publish 1993. Print

Usage of “whereas”. Hujiang. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May. 2015 <http://www.hujiang.com/ciku/whereas/>.

Dagoberto Gilb – Love in L.A./Genius. Genius. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May. 2015 <http://genius.com/Dagoberto-gilb-love-in-la-annotated>.