Irony in “Love in LA”
In the story “Love in L.A” written by Dagoberto Gilb, the main character Jake is living his life as a lie. Jake is daydreaming about a better car and life when he causes an accident on the L.A. freeway. Instead of Jake driving away, he decides to face the issue and realizes the person he hit is a beautiful young woman. From there Jake begins to tell lies to impress the women but, the truth was, Jake didn’t have a steady occupation or insurance and his fear of the unknown kept him untruthful. In the fiction story “Love in L.A.”, irony is used because, although Jake dreamed about a better life he wasn’t willing to do anything to change his current life, as well as make better decisions.
Although Jake is jobless he still
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Jake considers himself free because he has no job holding him down, he knows in order to have a “steady occupation” (248) he would be giving up his freedom. Jake thinks about a steady job once “A steady occupation had its advantages, and he couldn’t deny thinking about that too.” (248). Gilbs lets the reader know that Jake is well aware the results of having a job would give him the necessities to make his life easier as well as help achieve his goals. But instead, Jake went back to thinking about the interior of his dream car, which caused the car accident. Immediately after the accident, Jake begins to think of quick lies and begins womanizing the woman he hit. Jake begins to flirts with the women by saying “So maybe we should go to coffee somewhere and talk it over” (249). And although she rejects the invitation the reader starts to realize Jakes motive. Jake was also trying to impress the women by telling her “‘I act too’, he lied to enhance the effect more. ‘Been in a couple of movies’,” (250) Ironically in this situation he had to stop thinking about his fantasy life and had to think of lies to make everything believable. What becomes revealed is that Jakes has it worse than originally thought “She was writing down the license plate number on his Buick, ones that he’d taken off a junk because the ones that belonged to him had expired so long ago” (250). Because Jakes license plate …show more content…
Jake has experience lying to people “he took a moment or two to feel both proud and sad about his performance” (250). Unfortunately, Jake never learns his lesson “His sense of freedom swelled as he drove into the now moving street traffic, though he couldn’t stop the thought about that FM stereo radio and crushes velvet interior and the new car smell that would even make it better” (250). Jake continuous down the road he thinks is going to get him everything he wants, even though he has no job or insurance.
“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, an esteemed author, wrote the short story, “Love in L.A.” Jake is stuck in LA traffic in his ‘58 Buick on Alvarado Street, underneath the overpass of the Hollywood Freeway. He imagines having a better car with a FM radio and crushed velvet interior. He rearends the car in front of him because he is too involved in this daydream of freedom. He checks his car for damage and then goes up to the Toyota. He asks the lady how she is doing and if her car is damaged. He hopes that something is wrong so that they can talk more. He asks her out for breakfast or coffee and she rejects both offers. She asks for his driver's licence, but he claims that he left his wallet in his pants from the previous night. Instead, he writes down a fake
For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator starts by talking about Mrs. Freeman. “Besides the neutral expressions that she wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman had two others, forward and reverse, that she used for all her human dealings” (433). The irony in this first line is that she is a “Freeman,” yet only has three different expressions. Another example of an irony that is easily noticeable is when Mrs. Hopewell considered Manley Pointer as “good country people.” “He was just good country people, you know” (441). The irony in this line is that in the end, Manley Pointer, whom is supposedly is “good country people,” ends up being a thief who steals Hulga’s prosthetic leg and runs and not only steals, but admits that he is not a Christian, making the line, “good country people,” a dramatic irony. However, one of the most ironic characters in the story is Hulga herself as she understands little of herself, regardless of the high education she holds in philosophy. For example, Hulga imagines that Pointer is easily seduced. “During the night she had imagined that she seduced him” (442). Yet, when they kissed, she was the one who was seduced and having the “extra surge of adrenaline… that enables one to carry a packed trunk out of a burning house…”
Everyone will have their own hobbies and jobs, but does it really define who that person is? This use if irony is to show how little of importance these parts of one’s life can be, and is why Story A gets left to be extremely short, followed by Story B which goes into greater detail and becomes the first example of an intruding
They had a narrator read all about Scott, the teenager who is being charged with DUI. The narrator would explain how bright Scott’s future was. What he would go on to accomplish and how he was a ontrack senior in college. Now that is all gone. His future was shattered because of the choice he made to drink and drive. His job he had lined up, gone now because of the years he would spend in prison. His plan to have a family? Now shattered because how would he care for a family until he is released from prison. Each individual fact they gave about how the accident ruined Scott’s future touched the audience. Who would want to go through that all because of one dumb decision to drink and drive. Every member of the crowd in awe of how messed up his future became in the blink of an
When Denny’s late wife Eve dies, his whole world is changed. Trish and Maxwell - the evil Twins - plot against Denny by pulling him into a major court battle. As a result, Denny is forced to sacrifice major opportunities in order to win custody of his daughter, Zoë. “ “I appreciate your generous offer,” he [Denny] said. “But I’m afraid certain things prevent me from leaving this country – or even this state – at the moment. So I have to decline.” (Stein 276) Luca Pantoni – a man that worked at Ferrari – asked Denny if he wanted to move out to Italy with his family where he could test cars for a living. With the major court battle going on Denny had to politely refuse the offer. Knowing Denny’s personality it would have been difficult for him to decline such a great offer, but at that moment he had to think about his family first. Next to Eve, Zoë is the most important person in Denny’s life. The death of Eve was unexpected for both Denny and Zoë, but Denny could not let his sadness and frustration show...
"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.
The author then looks back upon the time in his life when her mother decided to drive Hunter Jordan’s old car. However, she didn’t know how to drive, and was generally afraid to get behind the wheel. On that day, she drove crazily on the road, and declared to never drive again. James McBride also reflected on his life up to a teenager, who knew that bad things would occur in the not too distant future if he didn’t change his ways and behavior.
Revenge is the opportunity to retaliate or gain satisfaction for a real or perceived slight ("revenge"). In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Montresor, the narrator, is out for revenge. Montressor seeks revenge against Fortunato and thinks he has developed the perfect plan for “revenge with impunity” (Baym). Montresor never tells the reader why he feels Fortunato deserves punishment. He only says that Fortunato causes him “a thousand injuries”until “[venturing] upon insult” (Baym ?). As a result, Montresor plans to bury Fortunato alive.
In The City of Ember, irony occurs throughout the novel.For example, Doon and Lina find the mayor's storage room:“ ‘The mayor has a secret treasure room in the pipeworks’ ”(158) Lina’s message had led her and Doon to the pipeworks, but Doon was the one who found the door to the room. They were spacious and thought it was Looper, but ended up being the mayor which surprised us all. We were expecting for the mayor to help the people out Ember, but it was the exact opposite.The mayor stole some items from the supplies the people had left. He had stolen the supplies for his own protection, and security.They mayor was being selfish and only looking out for himself instead of the people he was suppose to be protecting. His greed will lead to his
Threats made him great because they made him think about what he was going to do with his life if he did not behave, and his future didn't look so bright. Also, others not reacting when he misbehaved made Jake a greater person because he just wanted attention and when he didn't get it he stopped. Finally, discovering his passion made Jake great because it gave him joy and he started to relate to others and want to also give them happiness. To summarize, Jake went through a lot, his parents were in jail, he moved in with a new family, and was threatened to be locked up. Jake's life was an emotional roller coaster, and he could have sat around feeling sorry for himself. But instead, he helped the Applewhites, worked hard and tried to please others. He realized that he could change his future. He stepped up to the challenge and made a difference in his life. Jake became
For example, in the first paragraph, he tries to grab sympathy as an SUV owner
“Car Crash While Hitchhiking” and “Work” both follow the stream of consciousness of the narrator, which shows the influence of drug on people’s mentality. Both stories are confusing with the narrator moving around the time and place; it seems as if the narrator is talking about whatever comes into his mind without specific plot or message. In “Car Crash While Hitchhiking,” the narrator talks about the family that picked him up, and suddenly switches to the story of him and salesman by saying “…But before any of this, that afternoon, the salesman and I …” (4) In “Work,” narrator says “And then came one of those moments,” (52) when he recalls a memory about his wife while talking about Wayne. Both stories shift abruptly without proper conjunction. In everyday lives, people think of numerous things. However, what they say are limited, as they talk consistently with a specific purpose, considering factors such as time, place, and appropriateness before they speak. On the other ha...
The issue of Betty being resistant in accepting Jake is genuine since she has always being welcoming children with special needs without discrimination. However, the issue of Jake could bring legal implication because Betty did not raise any alarm on the different state of Jake. When she noted that he had behaviors associated with ADHD, she
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
The irony is also an example of showing character appeal. He is showing his attitude toward the society. As the reader reads his humorous and satirical essay, the reader would notice that there is irony everywhere. One example is when the Mark Twain discussed on page 7 paragraph 3 “Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers and sometimes to others.” (7). Even though he is telling the youth to respect your superiors. He also tells the youth that if they are ever offended or think you were offended, hit them with a brick. With that said how is the youth supposed to respect their superiors? Also, he mentions that in paragraph 3 “yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the times has gone by for such things,” (7) but he says hit people with bricks. Another example of irony is on page 7 paragraph 5 “you want to be very careful about lying,” (7) but he doesn’t tell the youth not to lie at all. Unlike most elderly people if they were giving advice. Which is very ironic how he is trying to let the youth know that it is appropriate to lie, but don’t get caught. Also, this is what brings me back to the quote “truth is mighty and will prevail.” If the youth are good liars, would this quote be truth? Can the truth over power a lie? That is what Mark Twain is trying to say, with good practice how would you ever get caught? He also refers to the lying