Essay About Love and Selfishness in Love in LA by Dagoberto Gilb

“Love in L.A.” by Dagoberto Gilb is a third-person objective short story based in 1993. Portraying an opposite demonstration of the definition of love. Through “Jake,” the portrayed definition of “love” is demonstrated in different fashions, none of which results in a favorable result; He portrays being indolent, irresponsible, somewhat poor, and conceivably a scam artist, searching for freedom. Consequently, he is captivated by his daydream of better opportunities that he ends up slamming the car ahead of him. Jake considers fleeing the accident however, he stops and discovers the owner of the Toyota he hit was a beautiful girl. Subsequently, Jake switches into an alter ego and becomes a smooth talker with the Toyota owner, Mariana. Jake then tries to con her by saying he doesn't have his driver’s license with him and falsely states he has insurance. However, deceitfully assures her that he will pay for the damages. As he drives away, he notices Mariana is following him writing down the license plate numbers that he stole from another car. Mariana is not originally from Los Angeles, foreign, and is distinctly gullible. This crash of destiny results in the noticeably amiable and highly mendacious Jake getting away.  The satire of the tile and narcissistic tone set by the narrative reveals the main characters bartering at the cost of the continued pursuit of freedom.

Jake controls how well he behaves, using his self-perception as a dominant piece of his motivation. First, Gilb demonstrates Jake's concerns towards his Buicks bumper damages before thinking of others involved in the collision. As soon as inspecting his car and finding out that there is not an 'impressionable' scratch, alters his demeanor. While discussing with Mariana, while he aside from attempting to straighten out the mess with the car accident, his true womanizing character reveals when he immediately uses this opportunity to try to pick Mariana up, he “straightened out his less than new but not unhip clothes” (Gilb 530). This illustration of imagery on himself portrays his lack of respect for others and vanity when it comes to what is most meaningful to him. Jake can be seen as vain and pompous in his cause. Furthermore, towards the end of the story, “Back in his car he took a moment or two to feel both proud and sad about his performance” (Gilb 531). The reader can portray that he is pleased with getting away with such rambunctious behavior and attempting to pursue the lady all throughout the accident. With no success, in the end, his efforts are to no purpose and a distant dream. and during the entire encounter, he is lying to her and himself.