Faker

El Capitan is the scam around which Faker revolves, and its evolution reflects Trey’s own struggle to reconcile The Tension Between Deception and Honesty. El Capitan is the culmination of the work that Trey’s dad does to find the perfect con. He hits upon the idea of selling people a supposedly revolutionary electric car when Trey discovers that the people of the Pointe consider electric cars to be a status symbol. By projecting the idea that the car is both attractive and mechanically outstanding, Trey’s dad convinces people of the Pointe invest in the fake company of El Capitan, and the progression of this scheme comes to represent everything that is unethical about Trey’s family. 

However, the El Capitan car also comes to represent Trey’s decision to renounce grifting entirely. As Trey grapples with the ethical dilemmas inherent in the con, he comes to see the car’s flashy veneer as nothing more than a façade for ugliness and deception. His choice to drive the car into the lake symbolizes his decision to destroy all ties to his old life. Though he must still have a difficult conversation with his father, the act of destroying El Capitan removes the remaining barriers to this discussion.