|What are the time and place(s) in which story is set? What is the setting’s significance? |…
The ''Greasy Lake" seems to be influence by Bruce Springsteen ''Spirit in the Night". It is like used an epigraph from his song even though its not about the characters of the story. The characters and actions are completely made up. The ''Greasy Lake'' seemed to just imitate the song and take on its a free spirit.…
Greasy Lake is a world apart from the town the narrator spends his days in. During the day he would act as his parents expect, and at night, he could escape to the other worldly Greasy Lake and…
2. How would you describe the setting of the story, and how does the setting contribute to the theme of the book?…
The Chevy owner is a tough muscular character. The biker, whom is regarded as a bad older character, is said to be dangerous. The vehicles are a representation of the individuals who drive them. Another symbol of danger the young men face is Greasy Lake itself. The lake is described as being "fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans" (Boyle 189). It is a sign that nothing good lies within. Several times throughout the story, Boyle refers to not only the main characters as being greasy, but also describes a variety of other people in the same way. This ties the lake and the greasy characters together. 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. This led to violent subsequent events later on in the story, as the narrator gets chased and beaten up, and during these events, the narrator realizes he was indeed a bad kid, but learns through the tough way that there are even worse people in this…
It can easily be seen that Digdy was scared out of his wit and wanted nothing more to do with the Greasy Lake. Just as soon as they were getting in the car, a mustang appeared and two girls stepped out of the car. Digdy now was even more in a hurry to leave when he said “Come on…Let’s get out of here (Boyle 10).” This is the second time he suggested to his friend that he no longer wanted to be there and when he said, he wanted to leave this time, to me it seemed that he was even more terrified then when he said he wanted the leave the first time. They did not leave in time so they would miss the girls, so one of them come up to the car and said “hi (Boyle 10)”, and the narrator described the faces as “We looked at her like zombies (Boyle 11).” This part describes just how scared they were and to see more people at the lake did not make them feel better or safer. To me it seemed that this scared them even more and they did not really know what these girls wanted nor did they want to stay and find out and Digdy was the first one to mention so. Then they all left. Digdy and his friends were all terrified and they could never grasp a bad character vive after what they had just been…
The narrator of T.C. Boyle 's "Greasy Lake" appears to be the ultimate rebel upon first glance. The unnamed main character goes out of his way to appear "bad" to his friends and anyone around him. The narrator explains that he wore leather jackets, drove his parents ' station wagon and drank gin and grape juice 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 badass, he decides to take another route.…
The “Greasy Lake” was told in a first-person narrator that was left unnamed. The author choice to write about the character who was talking about their rebellious faze of their life. From this point of view you can tell as if the character is telling someone of their teenage years and all they dumb things they did in order to be cool. For example, “We wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine.” (306) this shows how they wanted to give off the look of being a bad boy but wanted to seem to be cool with their friends. Reading the story as if it was coming from the characters own mouth, made the tale more real instead of the possibility that it was made…
Thomas John Boyle’s short story “Greasy Lake” is about a troubled, rebellious, out of control teen that learns that being “bad” is not at all what it cuts out to be. Through the gloomy narrative the protagonist goes from having a pleasurable worry free time into a horrific night that will be forever haunting to him and his juvenile friends Digby and Jeff. In this complicated story these “bad” characters nearly took a man’s life away, all from an easy joke they thought they were performing on their pal Tony Lovett. Little did they know this prank they were playing on Tony Lovett was inaccurate; reality set in and they established they were performing a prank on another “bad” character that banged these immature kids up. The most important theme to this story is living worry free, dangerous, and carelessly will escort an individual to a life they do not want, or willing to live. This paper will elucidate how epiphany, dynamic character and foreshadowing ties into the theme of the story.…
My intent is to share with you comparisons of what the author portrays his characters to be rather than who hey really are. Allusion played a significant role in how the author described a theme throughout this story where the characters thought of themselves as the epitome of being bad in the short story “Greasy Lake”(Boyle).…
The third night of summer the narrator and three boys take off looking for adventure in their “parents whining station wagon”(S1) (Boyle 77). The narrator characterizes himself as a “dangerous character” (Boyle 77) although driving his parent’s station wagon hardly counts as being dangerous. The narrator and two of his friends drive up to “Greasy Lake” looking for something to do. “The Indians had called it Wakan a reference to the clarity of its waters” (Boyle 77) (S2). The once clear waters refers to the current state of the boys and the lake described now as “fetid and murky” (Boyle 77) (S3) refers…
The unnamed narrator and protagonist from the short story, “Greasy Lake,” by T.C. Boyle makes a shocking display of immaturity in youth. The protagonist is introduced as an upper-middle class male with lower class intentions. In pursuit of some late-night fun at the local hangout, he and his two comrades encounter a little more mischief than they were hoping for. Quickly, his rebellion against society leaves him in a dangerous and unforgiving position that causes him to rethink his outlook on life.…
T.C Boyle's, "Greasy Lake," focuses on the conflicts of three 19-year olds, set in the 1960s, between their perceived self-image and the true self within. The story tells the tale of three young kids, fueled with cheap lemon-flavored gin, a lingering high, and a hunger for danger. Bored on during their third night of summer vacation, the boys decide to go to the local…
Greasy lake The boys are seeking to gain the respect and honor that man hood has for them. They thought that bad was good of course in that time it was the cool thing to do, they went cruising around the strip sixty seven times trying to look like bad boys. Then all of a sudden Digby (one of the narrator’s friends) fought for the wheel because he saw his friend’s car at greasy lake so they thought to play a prank on him they flashed their lights and honk the horn to look like the police. But they didn’t see their friend tom when they got close to the car they saw a dead body in the water they then screamed and ran for their lives in that mucky water while they were running in terror a lady screamed out and pointed to them and said “Its them they tried to raped me”(Greasy lake 134) and a greasy fellow came up to them and said “I’m going to kill you”(134) so they try to run which isn’t manly at all they don’t get to far eventually the greasy man catches up to them and starts beating them up. The boys take on the stronger man because it’s like a right of passage like when the Indians would go hunting with their sons they would leave as boys and come back men. Well if all three of them can some how beat this man up they will be manly and no one would mess with them, they try to punch him and kick him but it seemed like nothing would work some one even tried some karate moves on him but he just got slammed on the ground and the greasy man started to kick him. The greasy man then started to mess up the narrators mothers car then all of a sudden “whack” digby hit him in the ear with the tire iron, it was silent and everyone was scared because they thought they killed him and like little boys they run away for the car only to find out that they cant start it, “We were bad characters and we were scared and hot and three steps over the line anything could happen.”(132) The boys realize about them selves and the world is that they should not try to be something that their…
There comes a time in every young man's life for him to break a barrier of reality to go from invincibility to mortality. They have to take that leap forward gradually, but as they do they will make mistakes along the way and have to learn from the bad ones. The short story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle is about three young men who have to break that barrier of reality in one horrible night by making mistake after mistake, only they have to learn from their mistakes quickly or they wont get out of their bad situation. There are two different symbols, themes, and characters that have meaning to it in this story. The symbols are the key being lost, and the water itself signifies a rebirth. The themes that are seen in this story are that the point of view was told from an older person looking back at his younger years and that he would have to learn from the mistakes of the past. The characters that have meanings to them are the main character and Bobby (the bad guy).…