Theme Of Greasy Lake

The author also makes a connection between the lake and the characters in his use of the word “nature.” Fairly early in the story Boyle explains that the characters go to the lake to “plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars” which again shows us the connection between the disgusting lake and the deviant teen boys. (125). Boyle then concludes the paragraph by saying, “This was nature,” which describes the attitudes and behaviors of the teenagers that go to the lake (125). Yet towards

The entire story centers around three main characters: Uncle trash and the two brothers. Although the boys’ mother and father are mentioned briefly in the beginning, the mother comes off as unstable and out of her right mind, causing her to run away and the father going after her, both leaving the kids behind not taking into consideration that they are too young for the responsibility of independence, much less their living conditions are barely enough to support a decent quality of life. Despite Uncle Trash being given the responsibility to look after the boys, he’s not necessarily one to care for much of what goes on outside of a bar, especially the boys well being since upon his arrival his first

In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s short story “Greasy Lake,” there are many subtle historical references. These references pertain to different events that were happening during the time period that the story takes place, and help to describe different parts of the plot. Casual readers may not even notice these interesting little bits of information, but upon paying closer attention; they would become aware of the small, almost unnecessary references that make this story so fascinating.

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

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 characteristic of slow work repeats in the two types of stories told by Fr. Boyle. The one that grabs the readers’ attention more describes the lives of people in detail and with resolution. Whether the youth he met ends up going to a jail or finds a job and a home in Homeboy Industries, we know to an extent what their stories are. We can understand and imagine the lives of the youth from childhood, the problems they faced, the way they went about handling them, and what Fr. Boyle thought and did during those times. The other type consists of brief mentions of the people Fr. Boyle ran into. He can only tell us what happened and what he hoped at the time, but we are left without fuller stories of the people. These unsatisfying accounts, however, are proof of the author’s intention for writing this book. We are not supposed to read about the lives and, really, the challenging situations of the youth and attempt to find solutions. Especially as a stereotypical student studying at Georgetown University, I tend to think I need to fix the problem and make the world a better place. But the purpose of the book is really to teach me to have compassion. So, the readers can notice from the two types of stories Fr. Boyle

Biographical criticism is used to identify and establish certain aspects of stories from an author’s experience. Most authors have demonstrated this theory by writing from their own personal memories. From Emily Dickinson to Stephen King, countless authors have either written from their own background or put him/herself into a story. Some have even re-written a terrible memory into the way they wanted that moment to turn out. John Updike and T.C. Boyle brought this theory to life in their works “A&P” and “Greasy Lake”. By reading these stories, one can feel a personal connection to them because they feel so profoundly relatable. Therefore, in “A&P” and “Greasy Lake”, one can grasp the actuality of the stories by putting themselves in the author’s shoes and remembering their youth.

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.

Anyone who has ever been a high school student can probably find some way to relate to the characters in the film. The movie revolves around 5 students who for various reasons have been sent to Saturday detention by principle Vernon. The principle asks each of the students to write a one-page paper on who they think they are. As the day progresses, we see the teens begin to bond with each other and find out about each other and themselves.

The lake is where Grendel and his mother reside. Unlike the heavenly features of Herot Hall, the lake is steamy with boiling water and compares to the features of Hell. In passage eleven a deer gets chased by snarling hounds. If the deer wanted to escape, it could jump into the lake and swim away, however, it would rather stay on the sandy banks and get massacred by the hounds that are trailing it. After the battle with Beowulf, Grendel retreats back to his home, leaving a bloody trail behind him. He dies in the bottom of the lake, suggesting that the lake represents death. My last example of imagery in this poem would be Beowulf’s last battle. Beowulf is described as having a grey beard with matching grey hair. However, his frail body refuses to back down from the mighty dragon. The dragon spits fire at Beowulf, but it does not phase him. It coils and uncoils its scaly and slithering body. Beowulf refuses to give in to the beast, even in the smoky haze of the cave. However, the dragon impales the warrior’s neck with a fatal blow. With the assistance of Wiglaf, Beowulf is able to have the last punch and conquers the dragon in their deadly

In the story four teenagers Julia James, Raymond Bronson, helen Rivers, and Barry Cox were involved in a hit and run incident killing a ten-year old boy named Daniel Gregg. Who was last seen on a bike without reflectors and with no helmet on. And with their mercenary action of not going back to see if they can save the boy's life, instead they ditched the scene because Barry Cox (the driver) was high and did not want to go to jail. Since this accident the teens are getting hints on who knew what happened that summer of the accident. For

Teenagers often tend to follow the popular morality, as they grow and acquire maturity. In the story Greasy Lake, by T.Coraghessan Boyle, three 19 years old men are trying to be bad as the new popular morality depicts at this time. These three boys decide to finish their night at Greasy Lake. The story becomes disturbed when a “bad” greaser, Tony, arrives and the boys begin fighting until he is completely defeated, lying on the ground. Then, Tony’s girlfriend appears, but before going bad again, everything suddenly turns out the situation when the narrator faces a dead body. By the use of characterization and symbolism, the author suggests that the coming of age comes from experiences and from changes in moral development.

Greasy Lake written by T. Coraghessan Boyle is written in first person point of view. The whole story seems to follow this point of view. The main character whose name is not mentioned in the story is the one re-counting the story he is also depicting his story as an older version of himself. He uses past terms to let the reader know that he is now older such as “We were all dangerous characters then (Boyle 529).” He also tells them they wore torn up leather jackets (Boyle 529). It lets the reader know that this story is not present day, but a memory. It also lends to a sense of what the story might have in store. According to an article written by Joseph Quevedo, he states “There is foreshadowing in the beginning of the story when the narrator states, “There was a time when . . . it was good to be bad . . . We were all dangerous characters then” (Quevedo).”