Free Custom «Understanding the Alienation of Young Adults in Los Angeles» Essay Paper

Los Angeles is a well noted place of fame and fortune. Standing as the second largest city in the United States, this place has been the cradling area for numerous migrants from all over the world. Basically, the city is known for it being the residence to Hollywood, the world’s most profiting entertainment industry, making the whole city, a place for the “stars”. Entertainment is the main stream life of people in Los Angeles. This is practically the reason why perhaps, young adults living in the area are basically enticed with the thought and possibility of being famous and wealthy due to the opportunities that the city provides. With all these particular description of the LA society, Bret Easton Elis tries to describe the situation of life in the city in a differently identifiable presentation. Using the character of Clay, Easton tries to show how young adults in LA are practically alienated from the basic understanding of morals and proper appreciation of the defined stages of maturity.

Clay has been presented to be a young college student who was born to a rich family. Being a young adult with enough money to spend in entertainment, bar hopping, women and other matters that almost all young men intend to desire, Clay was depicted to have less understanding of the essence of life. He was also noted to have fleeting relationships with both men and women whom he had one night stands with. He was basically in a status of living that had nothing to do with any specific plans. His mind was basically flowing through the glamour and supposed “excitement” at the prime of his life.

He enjoyed so much the company of his friends not necessarily because he liked them but because he was able to do the things he thought he wants to do. The careless concern for his future led him to drug addiction, endless toying with women and never ceasing drinking with friends who of some he did not even know of. They enjoyed sharing moments of immorality and eventual chances of reaping others of their reputation and dignity. The last of the supposed “enjoyable experience” he was to share with his friends was that of the time when he saw a young 12-year old girl tied to the bed of his friend, naked. This turn of events practically brought him back to his senses as he deeply regretted the times he spent on being wasted, the years he lost to senseless fun.

The picture that describes Clay’s life is the actual picture that describes the lives of young adults in Los Angeles. Seeing how life goes in the city and how morals are identified in the ways by which the city evolves, these young men and women are alienated to the idea that immorality pushed on by wealth is a social norm that should be well accepted and never questioned. The culture that the city imposes on the lifestyle of the people presents a rather carefree understanding of being alive. Not caring about how other people are affected by the way one lives his life makes this culture quite attractive to young adults who basically would want to run away from the many rules and regulations that their parents may have established for them to follow. Undeniably, it could be sensed that somehow, the realities of life becomes hurtful especially when they are not being cared for at the moment. The young adults in Los Angeles are less able to care as to why they are involved in a situation, what it would bring them in the future or how else would these situations turn out later on. The lines of Clay’s friend reminds of this picture as he said:

""But this road doesn't go anywhere," I told him.

"That doesn't matter."

"What does?" I asked, after a little while.

"Just that we're on it, dude," he said."

-Bret Easton Ellis (Less than Zero)

Practically, young adults are led to believe that life is composed of the joys [may it be moral or not] that they live with at present. Not caring about whom they hurt or how they live their lives, these young adults are less able to mandate the real things from the temporary presentations of enjoyment in their youth. Most likely, the appeal of the careless life upon the young adults of Los Angeles is defined as the primary influential effect that the blinding glamour of wealth and fortune has on these young individuals. Being less experienced and knowledgeable about the basic things that really matter in life, the young adults living in the city of Angels loses sight of the most important things that they should be caring about, and that is their future. Upon realizing these matters, it is sad enough that sometimes, things are already late to change. Good for Clay, he was given the chance to realize his situation and the path that he is going through in a much earlier sense of time. This realization practically brought him back to reality that what he was doing was immoral and senseless, giving him ample time to change and redeem himself off this particular experience that could have actually ruined his entire being.

Enjoying living at the prime of life is the focus of life-culture in Los Angeles. This idealism has captured the attention of numerous young adults in the city. Pushing themselves towards the edge of their being, these young adults are in dire need of realization. Their involvement in the poisonous lifestyle that embraces the culture of Los Angeles makes it harder for these young adults to see the realities of life in a much clearer vision. In this sense, the alienation of the opinions of these young minds with regards what is moral and what is not becomes the breaking point of their being as they grow towards maturity.