Los Angeles

Lonely in a Crowd

Examining lack of identity in Los Angeles

May 8, 2010

Preface

Los Angeles is an absolutely enormous city. Sprawling over 400 square miles and home to nearly ten million people, one does not need to be sitting in traffic on the 10 Freeway to know just how big and overcrowded LA really is. People come here from all around the world for the sunny weather and idealized Southern California lifestyle. For these people, Los Angeles is a dream of a better life in a new and unique place. Upon arrival however, travelers to Los Angeles often find the city different from what they expected. In addition to the beautiful homes of Hollywood and Beverley Hills, they also find the slums of neighborhoods like Compton and Watts, and cannot seem to figure out which region of the city best suits them. In the end, they ultimately feel lost in the crowd of millions of others who have chosen to live life in the Southland. As all Angelinos know, LA is a city without a center, it is a place too diverse to define or even describe. As such, there is no single factor that unites Los Angeles, or even unifies it. If anything at all, it is the sprawling massiveness, disorganization, or the lack of definition of the city that tends to best characterize LA. Throughout this course, the books assigned for study have described characters having a difficult time finding their true identity in Los Angeles. Oftentimes lost, these characters face the struggle of finding identity or changing themselves in hopes of improving their lives. It is this search for self and belonging in Los Angeles that ultimately connects all of the diverse and distinctive characters of the novels we have examined throughout the course.

Quote Anthology

“So here I am at the revival. Waiting for my turn to speak. I’m tired of waiting. Everybody has already had their say. I also got me a story to tell. I know I can tell it good, too. I’m good at stories. I’m good at singing. I’m good on those...