Greasy Lake Sparknotes

The Greasy Lake Analysis
It is said that the teenage phase of a person’s life is the most difficult phase for that person and also the people around them. Teenagers are in between their childhood and adulthood, a weird midway between wanting to grow up and be independent and going back to the comfortable cocoon. Most teenagers are rebellious, not adhering to the social and societal constructs of normal behavior. As they are standing at the edge of their start of adulthood, they want to explore the world around them and not limit themselves to the norm of being successful. In being experimental and rebellious, these teenagers want to try different elements that have usually been hushed and kept at a distance from them deliberately. These include

In the end of the story, the main character is shown to be making a decision about his future and what path to take ahead because of the epiphany he had during this phase of his life. An interesting thing about the story is that the protagonist is unnamed. He and his group of friends are shown to be analyzing moral codes through decoding what a bad boy is and what is typically expected of them in terms of behavior. Basically the group is seen to be defining what a bad boy is, to act like one and fit the stereotype. However, while acting like typical bad boys, this group of friends realizes they are not cut out for that and the rebel lifestyle is not their cup of

They teens realize they are not fit to be rebellious because of the unfortunate events they go through while discovering the bad boy. “There was a time when . . . it was good to be bad . . . We were all dangerous characters then” (Boyle, 1985 p.687). The unnamed protagonist is glad of the fact that the group of friends did what they did in discovering being bad and challenging societal norms. The group indulges into various activities including smoking, drugs and alcohol, along with listening to rock and roll genre of music, and doing meet up with girls late at night at the Greasy Lake, after which the story is named.
The boys while indulging into drugs and drink get intoxicated, sexually harass a girl, and have to flee a scene to save their lives. While hiding from the scene, the protagonist finds a floating dead body “… blundered into something. Something unspeakable, obscene, something soft, wet, moss-grown” (Boyle, 1985 p.691). This weirdly reminds of the protagonist of his