The parallels to Milton’s Paradise Lost in Focus Lost extend well beyond the title. Just as Milton expands the story of Adam, Eve, and Satan as told in Genesis into a detailed, narrative poem, Focus Lost draws inspiration from the same tale and extends it into a full-length, modern literary thriller.
The main characters Gabe Adams, Eva Florez and Levi Combs symbolize, in name and action, Adam, Eve, and Satan in this contemporary Fall of Man story set in Los Angeles.
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Gabe Adams: Nature photographer Gabe Adams aspires to be as the name Adam suggests: son of the earth. Thrust into the role of guardian of his younger sister after the death of their parents, Gabe, similar to archangel Gabriel, is a protector and represents mercy, joy, truth, and dreams. Focused on landscape, coastline, and waterfall photography, he has never even heard of movie star Levi Combs and definitely didn’t have any interest in celebrity photos. But when he inadvertently photographs Levi and underage starlet Emily James at a waterfall in the California wilderness and those photos get sold to the Forbidden Fotos tabloid site by Gabe’s sister, the focus of all of their lives transform from passion to obsession to revenge.
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Eva Florez: Eva, an alternative form of Eve, means life and evokes purity and strength. Her last name Florez representative of the Spanish Flores, is the plural of flower and another allusion to the Garden of Eden. But much like her archetypal namesake, she is more complex than her simple name suggests and is manipulative and an agent of temptation. She discovered Levi on the big screen at a college football game and built his and her career from nothing. Power-hungry and controlling, Eva’s loyalties are only to herself, and she is willing to do whatever it takes, whether that means seducing Gabe or sabotaging Levi’s career, to protect what she has built.
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Levi Combs: An anagram of “evil”, Levi, when combined with the sound of his last name Combs intimates the foreboding warning “evil comes”. Levi, which means joined or attached, never wanted to be famous, but once he achieves A-list celebrity status, he will do anything to hold his position among the stars. But when the photos of him with Emily surface and the public relations and legal issues mount, Levi is cast from the celestial world of stardom, much like Satan was from Heaven. With his life spiraling out of control and unwilling to take responsibility for any of his actions, he vows revenge and retribution for those he blames for his fall.
The allegory and symbolism with the characters do not stop with these three. Read Focus Lost to find the clues and meanings of other characters like the previously mentioned young starlet Emily James, Gabe’s sister Abbie, Deputy District Attorney Marcus Ambrose, Hannah, Levi’s pet water python, and more. Share your findings in the comments and on social media with hashtag #deeperlook.
