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Analysis Of Greasy Lake

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Greasy
“Greasy Lake” is a short story written by T. Coraghessan Boyle. It is a dark, plot driven, first person point-of-view recounting of a group of young men and their life changing adventure one night. They go looking for trouble and end up “biting off more than they can chew.” The drastic chain of events that follow leads to the forced maturation of the narrators’ character.
The unnamed narrator and his friends: Jeff and Digby are a trio of suburbanites feigning “dangerous” personas. During a time “when it was good to be bad” the narrator recounts: “…A time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style…we were all dangerous then” (189). The narrator displays a juvenile personality by reinforcing as to why they were to be considered such “bad characters” (189). From “[sniffing] glue and…what somebody claimed was cocaine”, to drinking gin and “striking elaborate poses to show that [they didn’t give a shit about anything” (189). Ironically, their “bad-boy” personas are found to be inconstant when it is revealed the protagonists drive their parents cars and “allowed his father to pay his tuition to Cornell.” (189). The young men are into their first few days of summer and are looking for adventure. Late in the night, they choose to head to Greasy Lake to “…snuff the rich scent of possibility on the breeze…” instead of heading home (189). …show more content…

He notices “…the trees separating from the shadows…the sweet scent of the air…the smell of the sun firing buds and opening blossoms” (193) He states: “This was nature.” (193). The reiteration of this statement in contrast to the night portrays to the reader the narrator and his friends evolving character. The young men go from the chaos of the night, and their juvenile thoughts and actions, and are forced into their new perspectives of their lives brought with the new

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