T. Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake

It is ironic that not only is the lake named Greasy Lake, but the individuals who hang out there are also referred to as being greasy characters as well. The 3 main characters find themselves surrounded by “dangerous” characters, and get stuck in the middle of a huge fight. As if things aren’t bad enough, the main characters then attempt to rape a girl that is with the man they just fought. Very soon after more people show up ready to join in the deviant behavior, all while in the presence of this dirty, disgusting lake. “I’d struck down one greasy character, and blundered into the waterlogged carcass of a second” (128). No matter what the main characters do, or how they react to the conflicts presented, they constantly find themselves in the presence of more greasy characters at the greasy lake.

The discovery of the biker’s body is the turning point in not only the story, but also in the narrator’s life. In a short time, he has been beaten, has knocked out someone with a tire iron, almost raped a woman, found a dead body, and watched his mother’s Bel Air station wagon be destroyed. Which was all done for the rush of excitement. While hiding in the water that was previously seen as a tarn of doom, with all the nights occurrences spinning in his head, he has an epiphany. Standing there he realizes what becomes of “tough-guys” and discovers that he has found his salvation within his true self. Accordingly, as the narrator emerges from Greasy Lake, he is a new person with a newly discovered perspective. As the sun is rising and the songs of birds replace the sounds of crickets, he leaves the pool of once dismal waters (Boyle 118). This signals his rebirth and his baptism as a reformed adolescent.

T. C. Boyle uses many military and political terms from the Vietnam War to describe events in the story. In “Greasy Lake,” T.C. Boyle describes the mistake that worsened the situation ten fold:

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,

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

“Greasy Lake” by T. C. Bolyle narrated from the perspective of an unnamed narrator, told as a reflective account of his youth. In the story, he recounts details of his experiences on a summer evening with two friends. The reader experiences the misadventures of the protagonist that night along as told from the viewpoint of the now mature narrators retrospective. Exposed in the story are two character traits of the protagonist. Those traits are immaturity and rebellion, along with the trait of introspection on the part of the narrator.

Greasy Lake is described by the narrator as an aura of possessiveness and suspense to the average reader. However, while somewhat stereotypical, the narrator and his friends see the lake as the most ideal location to get together on late nights. This can be translated as the beginning of setting a scene for a location in which the adolescent youth can meet, with the reference to Bruce Springsteen’s words from a song that opens the story: “It’s about a mile down on the dark side of Route 88” (Boyle, 125). The words from the song create a scene of how the youth had essentially treated the lake as their own place. The image is further made clear when the faint island in the middle of the lake is described as “a single ravaged island a hundred yards from

Boyle, Tom Coraghessan. "Greasy Lake." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.

In “Greasy Lake,” T. Coraghessan Boyle uses setting to portray the theme of the journey that one goes on to transition from childhood to adulthood. At the beginning of the short story, “greasy lake” was seen as this fun place that “bad guys” went to hangout. They smoked cigarettes, drank liquor, and gave their best attempt at finding girls. By the end of the story, it was a completely different place. The speaker found a dead body, his buddies almost raped an innocent girl, he nearly ruined

T.C. Boyle's "Greasy Lake" (1985), exposes the narrator to be the ultimate dissenter upon first glimpse. The anonymous main character goes beyond to appear rebellious to his friends, and anyone around him. Aside from the main character, two friends, Digby and Jeff, accompany the narrator on his journey to be bad on this “the third night of summer vacation” (Boyle, 1985, p. 615). The narrator explains that he and his friends were 19 years old, sported leather jackets, drank Tango and Thunderbird, and smoked marijuana, to produce the effect of being intimidating and cool to others. By the end of the story when the narrator has the chance to continue his false image of being a rebel, he decides to take another route, one that contradicts

The year was 1972, and I was 14 years old. Boyles Joyland was an establishment noted for having school carnivals as well as operating a year round public fun park. The park consisted of your typical fair rides such as a Merry-go-round, Tilt-a-whirl, Roller coaster, Ferris wheel, Train Ride, Go-Karts, etc. During the summer months Boyles had several Cushman three wheeled ice cream scooters which would vend Ice cream novelties to the public.

In T.C. Boyles “Greasy Lake,” the narrator claims that he and his friends are “dangerous characters” (57). However, as the story concludes the description of him and his friends are inaccurate. So how do the narrator and his friends undermine their self-proclaimed “bad”-ness? That the narrator and his friends are regretful by the end of the story discredits the claim. Also, they are confounded when a situation turns out bad which makes it seem like they haven’t been in that situation before. Finally, when their self-proclaimed badness is tested, they falter and are uncommitted to being bad anymore. In conclusion, being regretful, confounded and uncommitted undermines their claim of being bad.

“Greasy Lake’s” first person narration exhibits and immediate emotional effect on its readers; Charters’ explains first person narration tells the story from his or her own accounts or perspective. Secondly, it is further stated the first person narrator is only able to tell the direct action of what’s taking place or his/her own ability top mentally process what is taking place (1793). Similarly we can see in the beginning of the story on how he is setting the tone of a 1st person narration through a reminiscent tone of the past. Boyle uses of past tense words such as when, were and then at the beginning of the story gives us an account of sitting in the room with this character being told story before our very eyes. Furthermore the opening sentence is a powerful way to set the narration “There was a time

However you cannot have the good without the evil and in this religion Hell as it is called isn’t a pretty place. As stated by the same book in the Bible there is a river of burning sulfur. Revelations 20 verses 10-15 explain this in better detail. “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

Omar is very influenced by Fr. Boyle when Fr. Boyle tells Omar that the death of gang members will end when Omar decides it ends