“Love in L.A.” is a story about two people who are in a car accident, Jake and Mariana. Jake has the tendency to cheat reality and very often tells lies so he can get out of sticky situations. He drives a a '58 Buick that is older than he is, and he does not even have a FM radio. Jake is described as a younger guy who is probably in his twenties. He tries to stay trendy, and he thinks about things like velvet interior and electric controls in his car for his summers in L.A. Most of all Jake is seen as a really easy-going, care-free kind of person. When the accident first happens, he runs into a girl with a Toyota, then gets rear ended almost immediately after. When Jake sees the damage to his car he plays it off, and to him it is seen as just a scratch. When he finally confronts the girl he hit, Mariana, he thinks that, just like every other time, he will be able to get out of trouble by being deceiving. He starts by asking Mariana out for breakfast; however, Mariana is a bit smarter then Jake and she tells him, “I don't eat breakfast” (Gilb 45). Jake continues to try to deceive Mariana. At one point Mariana asks for Jake's license, to which is response is, “I left it at home” (Gilb 45). Jake eventually manages to get Mariana's; however, he realizes during this incident that he must change his lifestyle in order to keep Mariana's interest. Upon first reading “Love in L.A.,” I did not really think much of it. It just struck me as another common story about a crooked man trying to lie his way through life. But in order to get a good critical analysis on anything, sometimes it takes more than one reading. At first glance it is clear that Jake is just a young man who is up to no good. His biggest achievement in life is only getting a few bumps and scrapes on his car (Gilb 45), but as the story tells more about him, it shows that he is just a normal human being like anyone else. While Jake is sitting at a red light on the freeway, he is distracted. Jake is too busy thinking about how life could be different if he had material objects and a job: “A steady occupation had its advantages and he couldn’t deny thinking about that too. He needed an FM radio in something better than this ’58 Buick he drove” (Gilb 45). Even though Jake is comfortable in the lifestyle he chooses, it still shows that any normal person still wishes for a different life. Changing into a new lifestyle, though, requires work, and that alone is just too much for Jake to handle: “The fact was that he’d probably have to change his whole style. Exotic colognes, plush, dark nightclubs, maitais and daiquiris, necklaced ladies in satin gowns, misty and sexy like in a tequila ad. Jake could imagine lots of possibilit