L.A.'s Traffic Causes Trouble

Marxist literary criticism as defined by Peter Barry approaches a literary text through terms introduced in Karl Marx’ and Friedrich Engels’ Communist economic theory. Their jointly written text titled The Communist Manifesto called for a society with “state ownership on industry… rather than private ownership”. The social theory later became known as Marxism. As stated in Barry’s text, “The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange” (156). One of the theory’s main aspects looks to the “exploitation of one social class by another. The result leaves one class alienated.” Central to Marxism is a belief in its ability to change the material world, which it theorizes. According to Marxist theorists, only through conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, can the status quo positively change (157).

"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 Portrayal of the Plight of Women by the Author, In Their Particular Period of Time

     The structure of the freeways illustrates the lack of freedom in the protagonist's social life. In the beginning of the story, the author uses "sleep under the freeway" repetitively to emphasize Antonio's low social status (9). Freeways represent work and economic activity, but Antonio has fallen off the track. He is now under the freeway because he has dropped from the flow of the busy city life to the lowest level in Los Angeles. Antonio was a scholar in Guatemala, but he works as a bus boy and later becomes homeless after he moved to Los Angeles. The author states, "Los Angeles made him [Antonio] short" (53). Antonio's social status is lowered by the city. He has become so "short" that it is almost impossible for the others to notice him. A factor that lowers Antonio's social status is communication. Antonio meets Frank in the homeless camp who says that people are switching lane so

Jake is consciously aware that there is a problem, which is more than can be said about his friends. Perhaps the people that surround Jake are the issue, though. His close friends and the people whom he travels with include Lady Brett Ashley, Robert Cohn, Bill, and Mike. Brett, the target of Jake’s unrequited affections, is likely someone whom he should stop spending time with; however, it seems that he just can’t get away from her. She is a very strong and independent woman who isn’t known to behave in a traditionally feminine way. Jakes does remark that although she is very independent, “She can’t go anywhere alone.” Robert Cohn is a Jewish, wealthy expatriate; but unlike many of his friends, did not spend any time in the war. Cohn also falls head over heels in love with Brett, who soon rejects his affections as well. As a wealthy, Jewish, non war veteran Cohn stands out in the group and his fumbling attempts to court Brett are the source of much mockery and leads to many fights. Bill is also an American veteran who seems to be always drinking. He tends to use humor to try and deal with the emotional scars of war; however, is not immune to the immaturity and cruelty sometimes characterized by Jake and his friends. Finally, Mike is a very heavy drinking Scottish war veteran who is completely bankrupt. He is seen to have a terrible temper, which most often displays while he is drunk. Mike is also not comfortable with the

The characteristic of slow work repeats in the two types of stories told by Fr. Boyle. The one that grabs the readers’ attention more describes the lives of people in detail and with resolution. Whether the youth he met ends up going to a jail or finds a job and a home in Homeboy Industries, we know to an extent what their stories are. We can understand and imagine the lives of the youth from childhood, the problems they faced, the way they went about handling them, and what Fr. Boyle thought and did during those times. The other type consists of brief mentions of the people Fr. Boyle ran into. He can only tell us what happened and what he hoped at the time, but we are left without fuller stories of the people. These unsatisfying accounts, however, are proof of the author’s intention for writing this book. We are not supposed to read about the lives and, really, the challenging situations of the youth and attempt to find solutions. Especially as a stereotypical student studying at Georgetown University, I tend to think I need to fix the problem and make the world a better place. But the purpose of the book is really to teach me to have compassion. So, the readers can notice from the two types of stories Fr. Boyle

Talbot beings her essay with a relatable spokesperson by the name of Alex, who is a graduate from Harvard and establishing an informal and personal tone to her article. By creating a personal tone to begin her article she draws the reader’s attention by giving them someone to relate to was well as what Alex is going through. She gives the readers experiences

In the story “Love in L.A.,” throughout the entire story the reader is able to understand and identify gender roles, associations and stereotyped characterization throughout the conversation between the characters, the thoughts of characters, and how Dagoberto Gilb wants us to put our own ideas of the male and female stereotypes. Gender roles are first shown when Jake, one of the main characters, is giving a brilliant sketch of a car he’d rather be driving and have freedom than actually working and living a steady good life. From the description of the car we can see that he is interested in features that would attract and impress any woman, and these same features are not particularly well-matched to him, “the fact was that he’d probably have to change his whole style” (275). Jake

It shows how Jake is persistent and dedicated to his job, even if it always seems like he is in over his head. Jake, however, also departs from the film noir tradition when he lets his emotions get the best of him. The greatest example of this is seen during the exchange between him and Evelyn when he is trying to find out the truth about Katherine. Resorting for the first time to violence against a woman, the near desperation with which Jake pushes Evelyn to confess is an expression of his fears and anxieties about being completely lost amidst the lies that surround him. The result is the humanization of Jake Giddes’ character. He simply is not perfect, and ultimately fails to see the bigger picture of what he is involved with until .

The main characters, Jacob Barnes, often finds himself in unfavorable situations with the formidable Lady Brett Ashley. Even though he is aware of Brett’s romantic associations, he still chases after this idea of them being together and living a comfortable life in Paris. However, with Brett divorcing her current husband to marry the pilot Michael Campbell, lines become blurred and thus enters Robert Cohn: awkward Jewish friend of Jake. Robert takes an interest in Brett, they go to England together (unbeknownst to Jake) and when the whole party goes to Spain for a fishing trip, conflict sparks. The climax in Jake and Robert’s friendship for action-reaction has been reached and thus…“The funny thing is he’s nice, too. I like him. But he’s just so awful.” (Hemingway 107). Jake and an acquaintance’s feelings are revealed about Cohn’s shady meet-ups with Brett. The dialogue is short and to the point while the description of the setting is detailed and accurately depicts Barnes’s world. Also, Brett’s projected masculine character reflects the women of the twenties. The short hair and loose clothing, the unrestricted parties and smoking; their morals

In most of their literary works, a significant percentage of novelists aim at presenting to the reader important information in the most effective ways. To attain this, they explore a host of literary devices and develop their plots with utmost coherence. The ideas that they present are in most instances reflective of the social and economic scenarios that are apparent in their respective settings. Just like other renowned novelists, Richard Hughes has explored various themes in his literary works. Among these are the aspects of morality and survival that he has explores at length. Notably, the manner in which his characters face their challenges offers useful insights regarding

" 36-37), The narrator changes to become more controlling and more psychotically dominant and deliberate in thought process. Here we see the narrator begin to adopt an ideal similar to that of the Victorian society, one of male dominance over female sexuality and promiscuity. This is further emphasized by the

Foremost, we will be exploring how the story would differ if the novel was written in the modern day. This book was written in the fifties and is mildly outdated. Since the writing of this book a tremendous amount has evolved in these past seventy years. For one the way women are treated.

In everyday use the story is about a black family consists of two daughters and a mother. Its main idea is the attachment between each character to the past and to their family. Each character has different perspective towards the past. In my following essay I intend to look deeply in the characters' mind by applying the psychoanalytical reading which can present details not only about the text but also about the author. There are different angles of this field and I'm going to tackle some of them; by means of using some Freudian terms I will depend on the character analysis method and by referring to the characters in relation with the author

Mexico City and Los Angeles, two immense cities of very different characteristics and cultures, are brought together by Octavio Paz’s “Identical Time” and Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian”. Because through featuring certain individuals as particularly alive in their cities, they each have, in common, a theme of aliveness: in “Identical Time”, the old man is alive in the busy dawn of the Mexico City, and in “The Pedestrian”, the protagonist Mr. Mead is alive in the quiet night of a future Los Angeles envisioned by Bradbury. Though manifested as stillness in “Identical Time” and, quite the contrary, motion in “The Pedestrian”, aliveness signifies in both, likewise, as living a human life freely in the present and through the beauty of nature. Furthermore, with their portrayals of the individual's struggles and quests to be alive in their own cities, the two pieces speak together to how both cities, and indeed city lives in general, might hinder our own aliveness and, by that, humanity.