Dominick Grace's Greasy Lake

The organizing of Harde’s essay is similar to a timeline; this is not a coincidence. She intentionally structures her essay in a chronological order to show how Springsteen political views and belief has changed over the years. In Springsteen’s early work Harde notices how he

In this book, everyone was part of a gang and everyone looked at each other as either a Soc ,or a Greaser. Johnny, who has been abusively beaten while getting jumped and from his own father at home, and Pony save children from a burning house. No one would expect the hoodlums to risk their lives to save children. They have a reputation for doing illegal things and getting arrested. However, newspapers have stories on the two and labelled them as “heroes”. Dally, who was the toughest and baddest of all the Greasers, kills himself. The true reason behind this was because after going to the hospital to visit Johnny, he witnessed watching him die right in front of his eyes. Johnny’s death makes him rob a store and having the police intentionally kill him. The only thing that he loved was Johnny and his beloved thing was gone. This shows that Dally, even though he’s a Greaser and does all these horrible things, has feelings. Even people who genuinely knew him, labelled him as having no feelings. Also, Randy, who is a soc, talks to Pony about Bob and how he was just a regular guy who had his own problems. The only reason that Bob would act out and drink a lot was because his parents would never set boundaries. He just wanted for someone to tell him “No”. Cherry Valance, who was Bob’s girlfriend, even said that he was actually sweet. This shows that people are individuals and that labels don’t say who you

Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.

“Greasy Lake" by Tom Coraghessan Boyle, is the story of a group of adolescents, searching for the one situation that will proclaim them as bad boys and how their minds change. As the story begins, the narrator gives the impression that he feels he and the others boys should have taken notice of some obvious clues about themselves. These clues would have led them to the conclusion that they were far from the bad guys they wished to be. However, the oblivious teenagers ignore these obvious signs and continue in search of their goal.

Imagine being separated into two different groups based on what side of town one lives on and what one wears, then imagine having to act a certain way when one feels a whole different way. In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, there are two groups, Socs and the Greasers, they have a rivalry with each other; the Greasers are known for having bad reputations that will never go anywhere in life and are poor, while the Socs can be disrespectful to the community, but an asset to the community the next day, and with a lot of money. In the novel, S.E. Hinton includes Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” to focus on the poem’s deeper meaning. When examining Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, one can analyze the usage of color, lost of innocence, and identity change.

T.C. Boyle also uses many references from literature, music, and movies that were popular during the time the story takes place. In the beginning of the story, the narrator explains how he and his friends are “dangerous characters” (144). He says “We were nineteen. We were bad. We read Andre Gide and struck elaborate poses to show that we didn’t give a shit about anything. At night we went up to Greasy Lake” (144). Andre Gide was a “controversial French writer whose novels…often show individuals in conflict with accepted morality” (144). “Gide’s work can be seen as an investigation of freedom and empowerment…” (“Andre Gide”) It is interesting that the characters in the story

Greasy Lake is the story of three friends who are bad characters. Until they run into a situation where they question, just how bad they are. Just because they act badly and look bad does not mean they are. They are teenagers in a period, “when courtesy and winning ways [are] out of style when it [is] good to be bad, when they [cultivate] decadence like a taste.” (112) They look bad, wearing torn-up leather jackets, slouching around with toothpicks in their mouths and wearing their shades morning, noon and night. They have the attitude, they drive their parents cars fast, and burn rubber as the pull out of the driveway. They have the bad habits. They drink “gin and grape juice, Tango, Thunderbird, and Bali Hai,

On the lower end of the social spectrum in Hinton’s novel is the community known as the greasers. The “greasers”, a term which arises from their overuse of hair grease, are a community of people who are thought to be “victims of the environment” and underprivileged people. The community is made up of many different people

“Greasy Lake is a short story written by T.C Boyle. The short story mostly focuses on three nineteen-year-old boys. The three of the boys went one night on a summer vacation in an area close to a shiny and muddy lake. The teenagers were looking for trouble on a summer evening and end of finding it. In the story at the author tells the reader, that it was a time when it was "good to be bad." But the story shows that the three boys are truly lost. The story shows the reader the changing of time in culture that these teenagers want to be a part of. Even though, they lack to leave the comforts of their upper middle class lifestyle.

The characters in “Greasy Lake” can be viewed in different lights. The narrator and his two friends, Digby and Jeff, are three mean boys whose lives seem to be centered around getting drunk and high from dusk until dawn. The narrator praises Digby and Jeff for their slick and dangerous lifestyles. Their skills consist of dancing, drinking, and “rolling a joint as compact as a Tootsie Roll Pop stick” (65) while on a bumpy drive. These characters scream trouble. They seem like harmless teenagers out to have a good time but it can be interpreted that these characters will attract mischief. After a night of bar-hopping, dancing, eating, drinking, and smoking, they decide to continue the party with a bottle of gin on the shores of broken glass and charred wood. These characters can be interpreted as young, naive, wild, reckless fools. The decisions these kids have been making the entire night have not been good ones. They have driven to bar after bar, consuming drink after drink. Obviously, their decision making is impaired. The reader should realize that the road the boys are travelling on is one that leads to a bad place. It is a place that has everything to do with Greasy Lake. It’s a place where dangerous things happen. The allegorical element that is found in the boys is

Additionally we see his rebelliousness, targeted at what he views as a life that is normal and boring. He rebels by dressing in punk style clothes, paid for by his parents.he read’s book’s by author such as André Gide (Boyle, 115) who was noted for works that explored conflict and rebellion. His behaviors and those of his friends are used to set themself’s outside of society , to be perceived as rebels .With their use of drugs ,drinking, cruising all night long and gliding off to the hoped for glory of Greasy Lake.They strike a pose of teenage rebellion ,all paid for by their parents. By being” expert in the social graces” (Boyle, 115) they are “slick and quick” (Boyle, 115) in an rebellious stand against what their parents want for them

The stories “A&P” and “Greasy Lake” are similer to each other due to the fact that they both are about a young man still trying to figure out what they plan to do with there life, they both feel that rebellion is cool, and they both learn a lesson threw there rebellious acts. Both charactors are the age of nineteen. This is a time of life when you start to experience some new freedoms. Most of your friends own and can drive cars so you are no longer bound by your parents and the bus to get you to points a and b, You can buy cigarrets, see a R rated movie in theaters. This is also a coming of age time when you are pressure to find out what you plan to do the rest of your life. Other adults start to look at you as your equill instead of

In his short story “Greasy Lake,” the lake with the community teenagers create a stereotypical scene of current youth pop culture. Many youth who read this story can find the ironic references and similarities with their lifestyle in today’s world. T. Coraghessan Boyle uses the setting of the story to expose a world lacking self-discipline and showing immorality amongst a community youth, which can sometimes be rather common today. This also aids in creating an atmosphere that surrounds suspense and impaired judgement to better develop the characters of the story. Boyle is able to achieve this by creating a setting with the story of the Greasy Lake and describing the Lake as both a setting and main character.

T. Coraghessan Boyle’s story “Greasy Lake” (1985) revolves around three teenagers: the unnamed narrator and his two friends, Digby and Jeff. The teenagers gallivant around town for a for a few nights. One evening, the narrator and his companions get into a fight, discover a corpse, and attempt to sexually assault a woman. In this story, the author attempts to convey the following: boys seek to become men, they want to prove they are men, and many boys will become mature men. Adolescent boys envision themselves becoming men and often have an image they aspire to.

When you pick up the 1982 album, Nebraska, you get little to no indication of Bruce Springsteen other than his name emboldened in blood red capital letters across the front. You won’t find a smirking Dylan-esque portrait like the album that came before it, or a baseball cap hanging from his blue jean pocket like the album that came after it. The black and white photo of a sprawling country landscape coupled with the contrasting red text immediately gives the feeling of despondence. If anything, this picture is a warning to the listener: we are alone now. The album insert provides little to no comfort, either. There is very little reassurance in the content of this album as a whole, but that is especially true about these pages. All you receive