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Vaughn Smith
J.Rodrick
English 115
11/18/2017
A Literary Analysis of Native to The Place
In the short story, Native to The Place by Lynell George, she writes about her

experiences as a native of Los Angeles. She begins her story talking about some guy on the street

who is shirtless, yelling and waving bowling pins at the people who pass by in their cars. Ms.

George gives a vivid description of the event taking place and then says that this doesnt disturb

traffic. Scenes like this are normal in the city of Los Angeles. She goes on to discuss how normal

Los Angeles really is, she states, Its normal in the same way that tuxedos in the afternoon are.

Or sunglasses at night. Or that the earth roils unexpectedly sometimes; rises like a scared cats

back beneath ones feet. Its normal. (George 1). She also says that everything in Los Angeles

operates just a little differently than in other cities, that the people in Los Angeles are all in a

constant mad push to get ahead, and this creates a chaos that overshadows the city. People in Los

Angeles have become so accustomed to the constant chaos that it has become the norm.

Ms. Lynell George continues to talk about the norms of Los Angeles and begins to talk

about what it is like to grow up in the city of Los Angeles. She mentions that school fieldtrips in

Los Angeles arent the stereotypical trip to the museum, instead, her fieldtrip was a studio tour.

She also talks about how growing up in Los Angeles gave her the opportunity to kiss your idols.

Or discover that they are balding, date minors, and despite being married and father to three

have an insatiable appetite for transvestites And though all this, as well, is normal blemished

and unfiltered for a time, I could no longer bear it. (George 2). Another normal part of

living in Los Angeles for Ms. George is the noise. The helicopters, police sirens, and maybe the
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pop-pop-pop of a .22. (George 2). She says that even these have become normal and a part of

her everyday life.

Later in her story Ms. George talks about her friend Sonia who is from Rio De Janeiro,

Brazil. She describes Sonia as a tiny woman with an amphitheater-sized voice, wrapped head-

to-toe in canary yellow She is alive and grateful, a conductor of energy. (George 3). Despite

Sonias heavy accent and vivacious personality, Ms. George says that she is surrounded by

Sonias friends because she was born and raised in Los Angeles. There is no such thing as a

native. Not from this place, is what she has been told. She is confused on how the natives of Los

Angeles have become so well hidden. Ms. Lynell George states that part of the reason for why

people are fascinated with her being a native of Los Angeles has to do with the regions fast-

forward evolution. (George 3). California, and specifically the city of Los Angeles has always

been a sort of landing pad for all kinds of people, the number of people migrating to Los Angeles

has increased in recent years. People move to Los Angeles from all over the U.S. and around the

world, so meeting someone who was born and raised in L.A can be a unique experience.

The city of Los Angeles is home to Hollywood, the movie capital of the world. When

people think about Los Angeles they are probably thinking about the beaches, Hollywood,

Beverly Hills, and celebrities. Ms. George describes how beaches such as Dockwieler, Marina

Del Ray, and Venice were within the noisy, gritty flight path of LAX, and at least one offered a

contemplative landscape of smokestacks and industrial tubing that youd never see on TV.

(George 9). The picture-perfect beaches that were often shown in Hollywood films were Leo

Carillo, Zuma and Point Mugu, and were much father north of Los Angeles. The way people

think of Los Angeles is because how the its portrayed in media, Ms. George states, Those who

know the city understand that Los Angeles puts on its face before it steps out into the world
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Natives know. L.A. is messy outside of its curated center. (George 10). She also says, L.A. has

long been too narrowly defined surf guitar, beach bunnies, Cool School, and Hockneys blue

pools Ive often wondered, that those who come from elsewhere become the definition of

Angeleno, that what and whom the place attracts has overwhelmed what it actually is? (George

10). Ms. George is saying that Los Angeles is falling in to the stereotypes people place on it

because the people who move her are being called the Angelenos, not the people who have lived

here and know what Los Angeles really is.

In the end Ms. Lynell George says, For me, there is beauty in the confusion and chaos

within the elusiveness and the nonsense There is joy in having the space to create or journey

towards something new everyday, to be an expatriate on my own soil. (George 11). Although

the real Los Angeles is chaotic and completely unlike its stereotypical Hollywood depiction, Ms.

Lynell George is able to appreciate the beauty in Los Angeles. The real Los Angeles is

unpredictable, true Angelenos know that everyday can become a journey. In the great city of Los

Angeles it has become the norm to expect the unexpected.

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Work Cited

Ulin, David L. Native to The Place. Another City: Writing from Los Angeles, City Lights,

2001, pp. 149162.