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The settings of the story greasy lake
The settings of the story greasy lake
The settings of the story greasy lake
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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 opening paragraph of the story showcases the focus that there is on being “bad” to the narrator and his friends. The first sentence reads “There was a time when… it was good to be bad, when you cultivated decadence like a taste.” He continues to go into detail in the first paragraph about the things the characters did that made them feel “bad,” such as drinking alcohol and sniffing glue. It is clear that Boyle intended the idea of what it means to be “bad” as the central theme because of the fact that he began the opening paragraph with the fact that the characters thought they were “bad.” At the end of this paragraph, the narrator says “At night, we went up to Greasy Lake.” …show more content…
Their choices in the beginning are vastly different from those at the end. The plot of Greasy Lake is centered around this change in mindset and the choices the characters made, making it clear that the message was centered around this coming of age experience that they had. The message of Greasy Lake is focused on the change in character of the three boys, when they realized what keeping up their “bad” behavior can cause. It shows the reader one experience that changed teenagers into adults, which many other people experience as well. Everyone has been to Greasy Lake at some point in their lives, where they question who they are and become more mature, and this story exemplifies that journey through its main
He changed what he thought about this rebellion he was a part of and decided he did not want to be involved with it anymore. Their personalities showed how they were frauds in their lives. In “Greasy Lake,” T. Coraghessan Boyle uses the lake, the keys, and the car as symbols to develop the theme of corruption in youth.
Luckily, the narrator and Sammy both realize their deficiency after the situations with the other characters. In “A&P” the narrator’s turning point in his life is when he finds the bikers body in the lake next to him. In “Greasy Lake” the realization occurs after Sammy quits his job and tries to be the “hero” to those girls. In both stories, the protagonists’ have no idea what the real world is like, or how it works.
Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.
Although he makes it out alive, the protagonist and his outlook on life are forever changed. Proximity to death is more than a recurring 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 death.
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
“The Swimmer,” a short fiction by John Cheever, presents a theme to the reader about the unavoidable changes of life. The story focuses on the round character by the name of Neddy Merrill who is in extreme denial about the reality of his life. He has lost his youth, wealth, and family yet only at the end of the story does he develop the most by experiencing a glimpse of realization on all that he has indeed lost. In the short story “The Swimmer,” John Cheever uses point of view, setting and symbolism to show the value of true relationships and the moments of life that are taken for granted.
For example identity vs. role confusion where they didn’t have an example of parents who they will become so some of them drop out school and went into criminal things because they didn’t have their parents to tell them what is okay for them and what is not. A next step followed Intimacy vs. Isolation where some of the boys were shyer to talk to others and couldn’t open to others only to the people they really used to. The next step that was broken is Generatively vs. Stagnation where some of the boys didn’t feel like they are a part of something big they felt like they are nothing low self esteem they thought that nothing good will come out of them. And as a result of this an Ego vs. Despair is coming where as old people before we die we think about our life and how we lived. If there was something we could’ve done different what was good and what was not so. At the end as Johnny was dying he said even though I am dying I don’t regret that saved those children from the fire because they need to explore new things their life is big and
Principal themes in the poem consist of consumerism, capitalism, and most importantly greed. The poem described the journey of the poet as he went--goes through an implied spiritual transformation starting with getting annoyed with one of his students wanting to yell at him “how full of shit” he is, after that he recalled his dream, after dowsing off, he recalled something else a poem by Karl Marx a major communist. “I was listening to cries of the past when I should have been listening to the cries of the future,” after the fact, he came to an understanding with the student while imagining the mediforeical nightmare. Grouping themes together there are dreams, nightmares, waking life, dream life, sleeping, and clarity exactly, and being aware that the person is dreaming. When Hoagland references people drowning in the river, it could be compared to people working across seas in different countries, manufacturing goods for the average American while the workers live in harsh environments, but no one thinks of that when running around in new Nike shoes. The “you” in the pleasure boat is American people or America frankly, or even the ideals of consumerism were the normal person needs a new IPhone ever year when it is released. In the poets dream when he talks about stabbing his father and “Ben Fra...
In the short story "Greasy Lake" written by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the lifeless body discovered floating in the "fetid and murky" lake is assumed to be the biker, Al. Al symbolizes the repercussions for rebellious and reckless actions. As the narrator makes a run for his life, he enters the woods and reaches the edge of the lake. In order to conceal his entire body and avoid getting captured by the "greasy characters", the narrator had no choice but to submerge himself into the lake. There, he stumbles upon a "waterlogged carcass". Although, he was stuck in a horrifying situation, descrying Al's rotting corpse is probably the greatest wake up call the narrator is ever going to receive. It is a constant reminder that if he and his friends were
In “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White expresses a sense of wonder when he revisits a place that has significant memories. Upon revisiting the lake he once knew so well, White realizes that even though things in his life have changed, namely he is now the father returning with his son, the lake still remains the same. Physically being back at the lake, White faces an internal process of comparing his memory of the lake as a child, to his experience with his son. Throughout this reflection, White efficiently uses imagery, repetition, and tone to enhance his essay.
In Big Two Hearted River, Ernest Hemingway used his own experiences he had during the war and the issues he had when injured in the war. As soon as Nick stepped off the train the reader could feel the disappointment that Nick had and the understanding that he was a troubled soul. At the same time this was Nick’s way to treat himself by staying close to nature and the simpler things in life. No matter how happy Nick would get he would continue to have flashbacks of things he has done and friends he has lost along the way. Throughout the short story by Hemingway, Nick will continue to move through his problems from the war by camping and catch his food from the river and the reader will be able to see Nicks pain and happiness.
Set in the late 1960’s, “Greasy Lake,” written by T. Coraghessan Boyle, depicts an eventful summer night of a boy and his two friends at a desolated, dank location called Greasy Lake. Boyle’s use of parallelism and informal diction of imagery enhanced the events and setting of the story, therefore, created an atmosphere of endangerment and rebelliousness. The combination of the use of language, bad teenagers, reckless decisions, and a desolated lake created some forms of the fictional literary art of symbolism. The story, “Greasy Lake,” written by T. Coraghessan Boyle, uses diverse styles of language to evoke a visionary setting and forms of symbolism, in which, created a visionary tale.
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
Out of these three themes, perhaps the most central is that of epiphany. As stated by Joyce towards the end of the story, "The upper part of the hall was now completely dark. Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger" (16). What is interesting is that in the last lines of the final story that Joyce writes dealing with childhood, he chooses to end on an epiphany. The character has already completed his journey, only to find that it was futile. However, it is the realization of futility that completes the
literature and writes of the “tragic mulatto.” According to Lamb, in Hughes’s poem, “Mulatto,” [Hughes] draws upon call and response, signifying, and the blues to present the biracial male African American 's struggle for paternal acceptance and a place in southern society” (Lamb 133-34). By saying this, Lamb claims that people of mixed race seek approval from their parents because they know they are not accepted by society. However, like the white and black communities, even the parents cannot understand their mulatto children, which leaves the individual isolated. These individuals are similar to stars because they mar the perfect distinction between white and black.