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Jimmy Saechao

Professor Lisa Orta

English 205B

23rd April 2019

The Hustler

The Madonnas of Echo Park is a novel written by Brando Skyhorse that introduces

different characters and their story in each chapter. In chapter six “The Hustler”, we’re

introduced to Freddy Blas who was born in Mexico and raised in L.A. Freddy is forty-two years

old and has spent nineteen of those years incarcerated. He dropped out of high school when he

was younger because he wasn’t interested in a “straight life”, he wanted to do something

different. Freddy began doing bad things like stealing cars and TV’s and deceiving people with

gambling, he illustrates The Rebel archetype because of this behavior.

Freddy illustrates The Rebel archetype at his first job as a cook at a taco stand, there were

some black people stealing food which other customers ordered and when his boss, Jimmy found

out, he got mad at Freddy. Since that day, Freddy always kept his eyes on the counter. One day, a

customer left some bills on the counter and Freddy stole it. After that, he started stealing money

and wallets from drunk customers. “Wasn’t long before Jimmy wanted a cut. Lend me your van,

I said, so I can get rid of the wallets. He gave me the keys, and I never drove back. No point in

negotiating with a thief” (108). This was a good example of the motto, “Rules are made to be

broken”, Freddy took advantage of his situation even though it meant breaking the rules. It’s

quite ironic that he mentions not negotiating with a thief after he just stole his bosses van.

Freddy’s personality correlates with The Rebel archetype through his actions at his first job.

Skyhorse uses point of view for this example, which allows the reader to gain a better connection
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to Freddy and his actions. There’s also some irony that is used by Skyhorse, this was used to

show readers how delusional Freddy was because he called someone else a thief as if he wasn’t

one himself.

Another example of The Rebel archetype being illustrated by Freddy happens during the

plot, when he gets a job as a valet at a club in West Hollywood. While working there, he sees an

open wallet with several one-hundred-dollar bills sticking out. Freddy can’t control his habit of

stealing and tries to take one, while doing so he misses, and the customer catches him in the act.

In a panic, Freddy punches the accelerator and runs over his coworker with the Mercedes and

crashes the car at a center divider. This ordeal put Freddy in jail for 12 years, his actions reflect

the strategy of the rebel archetype because he was willing to disrupt and destroy in order to get

away with stealing. The plot showed that Freddy wasn’t a good person and was willing to do

whatever it took to get away, even if it meant hurting others. Skyhorse uses point of view to put

the reader in the driver seat of everything that was transpiring between Freddy and the customer.

He also uses characterization, we learned about Freddy’s past and it showed in his actions

throughout the chapter.

There are many elements of fiction that is used by Skyhorse in this story.

Characterization is probably the most important one that was used because Freddy introduced

himself and gave us his background information. Freddy is more of a static character and

everyone he’s involved with in this story are more so dynamic characters. Freddy mentioned that

there was “no point in negotiating with a thief” (108) and I think we can sometimes fall into that

same dilemma because what we think of ourselves can differ from what others think of us. The

plot of this story cemented what we already knew about Freddy, it was just shocking to see how
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far he took it. The setting was very important because it was also the symbol, Echo Park made

Freddy realize that he had to move on from home in order to change.

The theme of this story is that no matter how many mistakes we make in life, it’s never

too late to set things right and it applies to Freddy because it wasn’t possible for him unless he

moved on from the place where he has always been, which is Echo Park. Freddy was always up

to no good and always getting himself in trouble. After being locked up for 12 years, he returned

to Echo Park and was back to his old ways. Freddy illustrates The Rebel archetype and through

his actions, we’re able to understand his character and the theme of the story.
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Works Cited

Skyhorse, Brando. The Madonnas of Echo Park: a Novel. Free Press, 2011.