Adolescence In The Trojan Sofa, And Greasy Lake

Adolescence is a major turning point in every young man’s life. Not only is it physical, but it is also very psychological. In this transitional period of a boy’s life, there is much identity confusion as he is preparing for adulthood. However, the changes during adolescence varies in each boy. Through an analysis of three short stories it is apparent that the young men featured in each come to age differently. Michael Cunningham’s “White Angel,” Bernard Maclaverty’s “The Trojan Sofa,” and T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “Greasy Lake” all have a major theme in common, to expose the truths behind human relationships and decision making, and each author uses symbols and the settings to represent dangerous relationships as well as love and death.
In

his story “White Angel,” Michael Cunningham illustrates a close relationship between the two Morrow brothers, Frisco (Robert) who is nine and his older brother Carlton who is sixteen. Although Frisco is the narrator, his narration is not that of a nine year old; Cunningham makes it clear that Frisco is telling this story well into the future. Frisco goes on to explain the paternal and God-like figure Carlton serves as he illustrates the days when they smoked joints and drank Southern Comfort together in the cemetery behind their house. Carlton teaches Frisco everything he knows about sex, drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll. Cunningham foreshadows the death of Carlton and tells the reader in the beginning of the story: “Here is Carlton several months before his death, in an hour so alive with snow that earth and sky are identically white.” This tells the reader early on in the story that Carlton is not as invincible as Frisco portrays him. The brothers drop acid together and Carlton guides his little brother through the process of tripping as they are in the cemetery. Later Frisco sees his older brother having sex with his girlfriend in the graveyard and Carlton tells Frisco that he’ll set him up with someone for their parents’ party. In the end, Frisco’s coming of age is merged with his brother’s death.
The statue of the angel in the cemetery visible from behind Frisco and Carlton’s house is symbolic of their unusual relationship which represents both love and death.

In the story, it symbolizes love because that’s where Carlton makes love to his girlfriend for the first time and where Carlton and Frisco smoke marijuana and drink whiskey to form their close bond. One evening Frisco’s Mother questions him: “is your brother taking drugs?’ relaxing Frisco replies ‘no’”. This shows the love between Frisco and Carlton is fraternal however, Carlton acts as a mentor toward his little brother. Although what Carlton teaches his brother is far from what any parent would teach their child, Frisco idolizes his brother as a God-like figure. The angel is also symbolic of death because after being spooked by something Carlton frantically runs from the cemetery and the angel statue directly into the glass door and dies from the injuries that he sustains. Moreover, death is a recurring theme in Cunningham’s story. Carlton’s death is revealed in the third paragraph before he actually meets his demise at the end. Before his death he is in the cemetery alone with the angel. The brothers’ mother, Isabel also experienced death when she lost her first husband during World War II and has also suffered through the loss of several miscarriages. The brothers’ father constructs a grandfather clock to pass on to future generations when he

dies.
The majority of the story “White Angel” takes place in a cemetery behind the Morrow’s house in Cleveland, Ohio. Although the setting of a cemetery is usually perceived as dark, Cunningham uses it to show the strong bond and memories made there by the brothers. Both Frisco and Carlton love the cemetery describing it as: “the field of smooth, polished stones.” Frisco continues to explain the splendor of the graveyard: “I grew up with the cemetery and didn’t mind it. It could be beautiful.” Many people believe that cemeteries only represent death. However, Cunningham illustrates the brothers’ loving relationship within the cemetery of the story.
At the end of the short story “The White Angel,” the brothers’ parents decide to throw a party. Not soon after it began, Carlton’s friends arrive to crash it. The teenagers and the adults get along—drinking and dancing—until Frisco gets sent to bed. Fighting his parents to stay at the party, he hollers and tries to twist loose out of his mother’s grip. Instead of sticking up for Frisco like he usually would, Carlton only says goodnight and stays by his girlfriend’s side. Frisco feels jealous and betrayal and he is led up to his bedroom. Later on into the night: “dim-witted Frank announces he has seen a flying saucer hovering over the backyard.” While everybody is outside trying to get a glimpse, Carlton hops the fence into the cemetery to get some alone time. Somebody closes the sliding glass door and Carlton crashes into it while sprinting from the graveyard. Although Frisco believes his brother is going to bump his nose on the door as a joke, this event actually is the cause of Carlton’s demise.
Bernard Macleverty’s short story, “The Trojan Sofa,” describes the toxic relationship between the narrator, Niall and his father, Da. Da runs a burglary scam with the help of Niall. Da justifies these burglaries in the name of Ireland, who steals then sells and delivers the furniture. However, it is Niall who is the patsy and he tells this to the reader: “This is the third Trojan soda I’ve done.” One night Da puts his son inside of a sofa and delivers it to a British major’s house. Niall’s part in his father’s scheme to get out of the sofa when the Major is sleeping in order to let him and his Uncle Eamon inside. It’s obvious how much Niall looks up to Da, but it’s unclear how Da feels about Niall.
An emphasized symbol in Maclaverty’s “The Trojan Sofa” is darkness. While Niall was inside the sofa: “[He] couldn’t see a watch, it’s so dark.” The continuous reference of darkness refers Niall’s shady relationship with his father. It is Da who tricks his 11-year-old son into thievery, claiming it is for the greater good of Ireland. He is trying to keep naïve Niall in the dark and to hide his true identity as a conman and thief. Both Bernard Maclaverty and Michael Cunningham use darkness in their stories to illustrate the corrosive relationships between the main characters. In “White Angel,” Frisco idolized Carlton and did anything that his brother wanted him to do such as dropping acid, smoking joints, and drinking whiskey which all happened in the darkness of the cemetery. Frisco admits: “Thanks to Carlton, [I was] the most criminally advanced nine-year-old in my fourth-grade class.” Similarly, in “The Trojan Sofa,” Niall looks up to Da, as Frisco looked up to Carlton in the “White Angle” and therefore Da has taken advantage of Niall with his involvement in his father’s own burglary scheme.
In “The Trojan Sofa,” Maclaverty uses the historical setting of Ireland, not long after wartime. Because of Da’s grudge against the English, he and Uncle Eamon attempt to justify their thievery. Just like during the Trojan War, Da uses Niall as his own “Trojan horse” to steal from the enemy. While Niall is inside of the sofa, he describes the eerie darkness that: “smells of dust, dry-built-up-over-the-years dust.” Da’s lack of sincerity toward his son adds to the darkness Niall experiences inside the sofa.
After rustling inside of the sofa all night, Niall hears the Major pick up the phone to call the police. It is then that Niall realizes he has been caught and: “get[s] the Stanley knife—sticks it through the material above [his] head—out into the room.” He tries to escape but the Major has a shotgun pointed right at him. Niall begs to use the bathroom, and he does so with the gun pointed at him the whole time. Finally, Niall does escape through the front door because he knows the Major would not shoot a little boy. Out in a van are Da and Uncle Eamon waiting and they drive away.
“Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle tells the story of three nineteen- year-old boys living in a time when it was good to be bad. The boys, although privileged, want to be bad more than anything. One summer night around 2 AM, the narrator and his friends, Jeff and Digby drive to their hang out Greasy Lake. When they get to the lake that night, they see another car and try to mess around with the people inside. Then the three boys realize that they might have met someone more “bad” and “dangerous” than they are. The boys begin to fight then the narrator: “went for the tire iron [he] kept under the driver’s seat,” and believes he killed the dangerous greaser. Next the three boys attempt to rape the greaser’s girl until another character shows up, forcing the boys to hide for their lives. The narrator jumps into the murky lake and discovers a dead body.
A major symbol in the short story by Boyle is the “Greasy Lake”. The lake represents what the boys believe in. The lake’s dirtiness and murkiness relates to the three young men’s desire to be total bad asses that they crave completely. The narrator’s friends: “were slick and quick and they wore their mirror shades at breakfast and dinner, in the shower, in closets and caves. In short they were bad.” The perception the reader is given by Boyle is that boys try to act badly, even though in reality they were basic teenagers.
The majority of the story “Greasy Lake” by Boyle takes place at a dark lake that the three boys hang out at.

Boyle uses a dark setting to represent suspense and idolization that the boys act badly. As the main character hides himself in the “Greasy Lake” his hidden identity appears: “I was nineteen, a mere child, an infant, and here in the space of five minutes I’d struck down one greasy character…” Boyle significance of using a dark setting uncovers the main characters childish behavior and shows the readers that the character is not a bad ass. Similarity to “White Angel” and “Trojan Sofa”, Boyle uses darkness in his story to expose his characters. This resemblance is seen when Cunningham uses Frisco in “White Angel” to discover the truth about Carlton, when Maclaverty reveals Niall from the sofa in the story to the British General, and when Boyle has the main character in the “Greasy Lake” expose his true

identity.
By the end of the short story “Greasy Lake” by Boyle the reader can tell that the boy’s perception from the beginning of the story has changed. After getting chased after, getting the car destroyed and being scared for their lives the boys finally make a good decision. A girl comes up towards the main character’s car at the end of story: “Hey, you want to party, you want to do some of these with me and Sarah? Digby broke the silence ‘No thanks’”. By the boy’s refusing to party with the girls shows the reader that there is some hope for the characters to figure out their true inner-selves.
In conclusion Cunningham, Maclaverty, and Boyle all use darkness in either the setting or a symbol to represent the true identity of a character or character relationships within these short stories. In the “White Angle”, Cunningham uses darkness within the cemetery to show the bonding of the brothers as they perform criminal activities. While in the “Trojan Sofa”, Maclaverty uses darkness to hide Niall in the sofa but is forced to reveal his true identity as a thief to the British General. Lastly, in the “Greasy Lake”, Boyle uses darkness to portray the reader to believe that the characters are bad asses, however the darkness is covering up their childish behaviors. Each author exposes the reality of a character or character relationships by using darkness to adapt to realization.