Greasy Lake literary analysis essay

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GREASY LAKE ANALYSISIn the short story ‘Greasy Lake’, the author T Boyles talks about three young boys who are eager to get the experience of being men. The boys think that they can jump from the teenage phase to adulthood and face the problems and decisions like men in just one day. They want to be bad boys and do all the bad things such as drugs, sexual activities, and other mischievous activities. Through these experiments, the teens realize that it is not what they thought; they just have to go through the stages and learn to make right decisions in life.
On the third night of the summer vacation the 19-year-old teenagers, the narrator and his friends Jeff and Digby see themselves as bad boys who have nothing to worry about. This is ironic because Jeff does not even know what wants in life, Digby’s college fee is paid for by his parents, and the narrator is driving his mother’s car. After serious drinking in the city, it is time, and most of the joints are closing, the narrator and the friends head to Greasy Lake where men handle stunning situations. The narrator is the driver, he describes his mother’s car as an old station wagon, which according to him should not be a real man’s ride, this portrays symbolism in the story. Another symbolism is the lake; the Greasy Lake has its banks filled with beer cans, and it is the place you can watch a girl get naked. This symbolizes a dirty place where naughty people hang out.
While the narrator is on the wheel, Digby is wildly pounding on the dashboard, Jeff is hanging his head outside the window to throw up some of the excess alcohol he drunk, and they are heading to Greasy Lake to look for trouble.

The narrator encounters internal conflict, together with the friends they are looking for something they don’t know, which in this case can be self-identity and think they can get it from being bad. When they arrive at the parking lot, Digby thinks he has spotted a car that resembles that of their friend Tony Lovett. They concluded that it is indeed Tony’s car because they were drunk though it is not. They head to the car and start honking the horn and flashing the headlights not knowing they were about to face some real trouble. They soon realize it is not Tony but a man, the narrator, refers to as a bad greasy character.
The situation turns from bad to worse really fast when the bad character starts a fight with the boys. The narrator draws a tire iron and hits the bad character on the head, and he falls unconscious. The narrator thinks he has just killed someone, instead of running away from the scene they turn to the bad characters girlfriend who is screaming loudly for help. The almost attempted sexual harassment is interrupted by the arrival of another car. They quickly disperse, and the narrator decides to drive into the lake where the situation even gets worse than it was previously, he comes across a dead body. This seems to be the climax of the story, the narrator compares his situation with the dead man’s and realizes he is in better off at the moment. The narrator also lost the car keys now they don’t have any other option but to stay in the Greasy Lake where the night gets horrible. The narrator is now faced with external conflicts which are the loss of the car keys and the problems of the evil character they thought was their friend Tony.(www.blablawriting.com)
The unconscious bad character regains his mind and regroups with his buddies. They head up straight to the narrator’s mother’s station wagon and destroy the car with anger. By the time the bad character and the friends were leaving the lot, the station wagon was unrecognizable. It seemed the bad character had more experience in life than the narrator, Jeff, and Digby. When the bad boys reappear from the woods where they regrouped they find another car in the parking lot with two girls who look like, have abused some substance. The bad character and the friends have already left. One of the girls sees the narrator, Jeff and Digby coming out of the darkness and shouts. The girls offer them drugs but Digby refuses the offer. Jeff and the narrator remained silent, a clear indication that they too were not in for the deal. The narrator walks to the car which is still drivable and drives towards the highway.
The things they really wanted to do are now appearing to be what they should run away from as fast as possible. This is an indication that they have gone through a transformation and now know what is right, the mistakes and events of the night are still fresh in their minds. The narrator has experienced epiphany after staying in the greasy lake and getting damages.
Work Cited
“Analysis of ‘Greasy Lake’ by T. Coraghessan Boyle Essay Sample – Papers and Articles on Bla Bla Writing.” Bla Bla Writing, 5 Aug. 2016, blablawriting.com/analysis-of-greasy-lake-by-t-coraghessan-boyle-essay.