When Jake returns to his
car, he feels "both proud and sad about his performance," as he has pretended to be
someone else with Mariana. He is clearly broke, but he pretends to be an actor and a musician.
He also tries to woo her, and she gives him her number in the end. Therefore, he has conducted a
kind of performance with her, and he feels proud about it because he believes that he has fooled
her into believing he is greater than he truly is. He also feels sad because he has lied
consistently and pretended to be someone he isn't in an attempt to deceive her. He might also
feel sad because he can't measure up to the person he pretends to be.
The
author, Gilb, writes that he identified with Jake because he was also confused about who he was.
The author writes, "Was I a construction worker pretending to be a writer? Writing was this
full-of-it dude who was getting me." Gilb was trying to make a living as a construction
worker, but the beauty and sexiness of writing intrigued him (much in the same way that Mariana
intrigued Jake). Gilb felt he was kidding himself about being a writer, much in the same way
that Jake was kidding himself about being a glamorous actor and musician.
Jake is a fairly consistent character. At the beginning of the story, he dreams about
the new car he will get and how glamorous it will be, with its "crushed velvet
interior." Even after he gets in the accident, he is still, at the end of the story,
dreaming about the interior of the new car he wants. The fact that he has consistently lied to
Mariana does not trouble him. Though Jake is a static character in many ways (because he doesn't
change), he is a round rather than flat character. The reader wants to know more about Jake's
motivations. For example, why does Jake lie consistently? Does he dream about being a star, and
what has held him back from reaching his dreams? As a character, Jake troubles and confuses the
reader, causing the reader to want to know more about him.
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