The Tattooed Soldier Los Angeles example essay topic

Buildings, Freeways and Shadows of The Tattooed Soldier (Final Draft) Downtown Los Angeles is one of the busiest commercial centers in the United States. However, the city holds two groups of people in different economic level-the homeless and the working class. Hector Tobar frequently includes the landscape of the setting in downtown Los Angeles in The Tattooed Soldier. The novel is about two immigrants from Guatemala who have moved to Los Angeles. The protagonist, Antonio, takes a revenge on the antagonist, Longoria because he murdered Antonio's wife and son when he was a Guatemalan soldier.

Tobar applies a number of metaphors to connect the buildings and freeways in downtown to Antonio's position in the city. Buildings, freeways, and shadows are metaphors for Antonio's economic and social status. Tobar uses description of buildings to reinforce Antonio's economic and social position in life. He informs the reader about the squat apartment buildings when the protagonist is on the way to a homeless camp, which have a significant contrast with the skyscrapers where Antonio observes later. Everyone can see the skyscrapers, but not many people know the existence of the short apartments. Tobar uses the invisibility of these apartments to reflect the inferiority of the protagonist in Los Angeles.

Antonio's existence is the least significant as an illegal immigrant. He is seen as a parasite that is not accepted by the city. The apartment owner, Hwang, even forces him to leave with a call to the police (9). On the other hand, the author also mentions the building with the! SS Pacific Stock Exchange!" sign and the windowless office buildings (12).

The stock exchange building represents material life and the windowless building represents security. Antonio can observe these buildings that illustrate an ideal life, but he belongs to none of the qualities that are associated with these buildings. He is exposed to all the danger of the city with no money at all. Clearly, this reflects the poverty level of the protagonist compared to the working class in Los Angeles. The people who are inside these buildings are having a good life, but Antonio is homeless; he does not even have money to rent a shelter to protect himself. 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! SS 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, !

Solos Angeles made him [Antonio] short!" (53). Antonio's social status is lowered by the city. He has become so! SS 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 much that results in accidents on the Harbor Freeway (47).

Tobar uses traffic accidents to reflect Antonio's limited role in the society because of difficulties in communication. In Los Angeles, Antonio is! SS switching lane!" from his mother tongue to English. He is having an! SS accident!" to interact with the majority of people in Los Angles who mainly speak English. The protagonist would not fit in Los Angeles.