Love in L.A. by Dagoberto Gilb

The setting of this short story is on the freeway of Los Angeles. Jake is a self-absorbed, lazy, irresponsible, protagonist, who is driving along the freeway. He begins daydreaming about a car better than his 58’ Buick, with crushed velvet interior and an FM radio. His daydreaming causes him to hit the car in front of him. The driver of the other car is a naïve, innocent women, named Mariana. Mariana is on her way to work, driving a car given to her by her father. Jake approaches Mariana with confidence and tries to smooth things over by flattering her and asking her for her phone number. Jake is a very dishonest person looking to keep his freedom and willing to do whatever it takes to do so. He
Red Sammy Butts is the owner of The Tower. He talks with the grandmother about what the world is coming to and how you cannot trust anyone these days. The 2 escapee criminals that are with The Misfit do all of The Misfit's dirty work. They are the ones who murder the entire family except for the grandmother. I believe they have given their life to The Misfit in order to stay alive. There are 3 symbolic pieces in this story: the grandmother’s hat, the town of Toomsboro, and The Misfits car. I believe the grandmother’s hat in this story symbolizes the old days. It symbolizes the lady she is and her beliefs. The town of Toomsboro symbolizes "Doomsboro", because the family is doomed once they hit this town and run into The Misfit. I feel The Misfits car symbolizes death. It is described as hearse like, something you would see at a funeral. The theme of this story is trust. Throughout the entirety of the story the subject of trust is spoken about, and ultimately in the end the family could not trust The Misfit. I believe the irony in this title is that the good man who is hard to find is Jesus. The grandmother speaks of Jesus multiple times and The Misfit could not find Jesus. The grandmother does have morals and is a Christian lady. She seems to have been raised by good people and her experiences tell her not to trust anyone. The Misfit does not seem to have morals as he is a killer, who has killed