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“Greasy Lake” is a story of how three suburban teen boys convene into the forest to be “bad characters” (Boyle). Throughout this night in the forest a never ending list of things go terribly wrong that leads the main protagonist into a lake with a dead man where the protagonist has an epiphany. The bad suburban teen realizes that it is not good to be bad. Through this epiphany the author shows that people who have lost their innocence can gain it back. This theme of corruption is developed through nature's symbols. The supposed once beautiful lake provides a “baptism” to the protagonist. The author creates this baptism in the lake to show that the protagonist is reborn now and has a new perspective on life. The Lake symbolizes the loss of innocence of the teenagers who visit the lake during “a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad” (Boyle). …show more content…
The teens go up to the lake to “drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the primeval susurrus of frogs and crickets” (Boyle).
Greasy Lake was not always a place for teenage it was originally named lake Waken which was “a reference to the clarity of the water” (Boyle). After a while the lake became “fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires” (Boyle). The protagonist goes to the lake with his friends and gets into a bad situation and hides in the lake. When the protagonist attempts to get out of the lake, “the muck took hold of my feet .... pitching face forward into the buoyant black mess” (Boyle). This symbolizes the lake taking over his bad boy persona and making him realize what a bad boy is. When the protagonist emerges from the muck or the “grease” the teens with a “rush of joy and vindication”
(Boyle). When the boys turn down the party invite they show the change that this experience impacted in them. The setting of Greasy Lake allows the protagonist come to the realization that is it not good to be bad. When their lives are threatened, the protagonist goes through a baptism where he leaves with a new perspective, he sees “a sheen of sun on the lake”, which shows that people who have lost their innocence can gain it back (Boyle).
In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
The lake is the main symbol in “Greasy Lake” that symbolizes youth corruption. When the narrator enters the lake, he describes it as already being “ankle-deep in muck and tepid water and still going strong” (Boyle 5). The filthy description of the water is used to show the gloomy and corrupt waters in this lake. The lake also was “fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires” (1). These descriptions revolving around the lake show that this lake was where people went to be “bad” people. Primitive acts were done here,
The lake itself plays a major role throughout the story, as it mirrors the characters almost exactly. For example, the lake is described as being “fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans” (125). The characters are also described as being “greasy” or “dangerous” several times, which ties the lake and the characters together through their similarities. The narrator explains, “We were bad. At night we went up to Greasy Lake” (124). This demonstrates the importance that the surroundings in which the main characters’ choose to be in is extremely important to the image that they reflect. At the beginning of the story, these characters’ images and specifically being “bad” is essentially all that mattered to them. “We wore torn up leather jackets…drank gin and grape juice…sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine” (124). They went out of their ...
“Goose Pond”, written by Thomas Williams seemingly is a novel about the tranquil rural life but intricately portrays the mind and state of a fifty-eight year old man who has just lost his wife. Having natural and peaceful aspects, the story itself is not about the simple rural life in the woods. It depicts how Robert Hurley began to deal and come to terms with his sudden loneliness and realization of his eventual death. Including both the realistic cruelty of life alone and the expectation readers would have from a novel—such like a Norman Rockwell painting; he keeps the readers indulged in the mind and heart of the lonesome Robert Hurley.
Proximity to death is more than a reoccurring theme in “Greasy Lake”. Mortality is almost synonymous with growing up and the inevitable change from adolescence to adulthood. The older people get and the more life people have, the closer death is to everyone. After each incident, the narrator grows and finds himself one step closer to demise, barely able to escape from the vise of
Expectations are define as personal belief that something will happen. It’s similar to judgment or assumption people made to a certain person or group of people. It may not be true and it could be different from what is expected. People can also change how they live their lives based on their own expectations just like how the Greasers and the Socs had different expectations. These two groups have contrast expectations that caused bad actions to come up or lead them to benefits for their own group. Expectations may force people into something they are not, even if it is to become a hero or the opposite.
In the beginning we find the family and its surrogate son, Homer, enjoying the fruits of the summer. Homer wakes to find Mrs. Thyme sitting alone, “looking out across the flat blue stillness of the lake”(48). This gives us a sense of the calm, eternal feeling the lake presents and of Mrs. Thyme’s appreciation of it. Later, Fred and Homer wildly drive the motor boat around the lake, exerting their boyish enthusiasm. The lake is unaffected by the raucous fun and Homer is pleased to return to shore and his thoughts of Sandra. Our protagonist observes the object of his affection, as she interacts with the lake, lazily resting in the sun. The lake provides the constant, that which has always been and will always be. As in summers past, the preacher gives his annual sermon about the end of summer and a prayer that they shall all meet again. Afterward, Homer and Fred take a final turn around the lake only to see a girl who reminds Homer of Sandra. “And there was something in the way that she raised her arm which, when added to the distant impression of her fullness, beauty, youth, filled him with longing as their boat moved inexorably past…and she disappeared behind a crop of trees.
There are many themes highlighted in the short story Greasy Lake, by T. Coraghessan Boyle. Some of these themes include being adventurous, violence, and being young and restless. However, there is a main message that stands out more than the others and is the most centered theme of the story. This is the theme of coming of age through the narrator’s journey to finding out what it means to be “bad,” and whether or not he wanted to make bad choices.
The man had experienced adulthood, and therefore could never experience the lake as he did when he was a child. Except for the sound of outboard motors, the lake was pretty much the same as it had been before. "The only thing that was wrong now, really, was the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors" (White 153). This "nervous" sound suggests the nervousness of adulthood; the anxieties that sweep through the minds of people who have matured. The noise created by the outboard motors reflects the noise inside the man's consciousness. Instead of the "sleepy" sound of the inboard engines used when the man was a child, there were now noisy engines, which cluttered the air around the lake. These sounds constantly reminded the man of the restlessness of his adult life. Due to constant obstacles like the sound of the outboard motors or the internal struggles that come with adulthood, the man could only return to the lake as a guest of his own mem...
Within the essay “Once More to the Lake”, E.B. notes that “I bought myself a couple of bass hooks… returned to the lake… to revisit old haunts… When the others went swimming my son said he was going in… As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin left the chill of death (White 464). The essay “Once More to the Lake” brings a significant amount of attention towards the author’s attempt to secure personal satisfaction. It becomes quite obvious in the first few paragraphs, that the main character is on this vacation with his son, to recreate the careless feeling he use to have while vacationing with his dad as a child. Even though E.B. does not come out clearly and say it, the author is chasing some type of nostalgic feeling he clearly needs to feel better about life. On each page, White uses comparison and contrast to explain to the reader how the trip resembles the one he use to experience with his dad. By the end of the reading, the father begins to realize his vacation trip with his son will never be the same as the one he has dreamt about. He is no longer a child who can only notice the positive components of life. At this point, the father is an adult who will never have the innocence he once clung too. It takes some reflection for him to finally realize his place as a father in the situation. Comparison and contrast displays the idea that even though everything may look the same, it does not mean it feels the same. This mode rhetoric reflects back to the theme at the end of essay, as it concludes the author’s failed attempt to find some satisfaction from the
When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark first explored Montana in the early 1800s, they were awestruck by the open plains and delighted by the wide range of animals that roamed the land. After reaching the Great Falls, which is on the Missouri River in what is now Montana (Av2 books).
“… the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires.” Notice the words “glittering…strewn…charred” his word choice adds even more depth into his imagery and writing. Greasy Lake is also narrated in a dual perspective kind of way, there is the young boy’s perspective and an older perspective. It is quite easy to see where the perspective changes, the narrator goes from talking about how cool one of his friends ear piercings was to how one of his friends fathers is paying for his college instead of earning college money for himself. Showing the different perspective gives us a more depth explanation of what was going through Boyle’s head while he was writing Greasy
First, White uses imagery throughout his essay to create an effective visual of his experiences at the lake. To start his essay, White reflects on his childhood memories of the lake when he and his family visited every summer: “I remembered clearest of all the early morning, when the lake was cool and motionless, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and the wet woods whose scent entered the screen.” This passage enhances
T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “Greasy Lake” is a timeless tale that will leave you on the edge of your seat if it was a movie, but in this case this short story will have your eyes glued to the page. We will discover Boyle’s arrangement of incidents in this story 's as he explains the plot from the beginning that talks about “ There was a time “ which clearly states that this story was a flashback of his pass. This story takes place in 1985 when the narrator who is also Boyle was nineteen year old. This is a story of revelation. Walker states “The passage of the protagonist from water to land, and from night to morning, parallels his passage from ignorance to knowledge, from chaos to order, from naiveté to understanding.
There are various influences on everyone’s lives while growing up. I believe the greatest of these influences is the neighborhood you grew up in. I grew up in a quite large, welcoming neighborhood. While living in this neighborhood, I was outgoing and remarkably talkative. Making friends became second nature to me. Playing outdoors from sunrise to sundown playing sports or exploring the outdoors with my friends became a daily routine for me. I was outgoing, talkative, and active. I believe this is the result of the neighborhood I grew up in.