ipl-logo

Literary Analysis Of Greasy Lake

1088 Words5 Pages

Name Instructor Course Date Literary analysis of T.C. Boyle's short story, “Greasy Lake.” “Greasy Lake” is a short story that comes out as a “rebel without a cause”. The story is about three teenagers who look for trouble and find it in the summer evening. They hang out in Greasy Lake a local joint. They spot a car, which they confuse with their friend's car and end up harassing the occupants who are a man and his girl. The man is angered by the boys’ behaviors and this leads to a fight. The narrator hits the man using a tire iron nut and they do not realize if he is hurt or dead. The girl jumps out of the car to find out what is happening and the boys attempt to attack her too. Luckily, before they implement the mission, they are disrupted by a car, which heads towards the parking, and due to the guilt, they run to hide “The headlights came at me like accusing fingers. I was gone.” When hiding in weeds surrounding the greasy water the narrator sees a floating corpse. The author’s main aim is to point out the dangers that are posed by the lake and how people end up losing their lives in the lake. …show more content…

After some time they then show up from their hiding place and when surveying the damaged car, another vehicle jerks into the lake. The occupants of the car are two women who examine a motorcycle (Boyle). In addition, according to them, the bike was owned by Al, "That's his bike over there, Al's”, and it crosses the narrator's mind that the corpse he saw in the lake must be Al, but he remains silent. Later the women invite the boys to party. Due to the sight of the damaged car, the narrator says, “I thought I was going to cry." Through the narrator, it comes out clear that time could be referred “good to be bad." On analyzing the story carefully, it shows the boys are not right. In the story, changing of culture due to time is evident, and the young men wished to be part of

Show More
Related

  • Review Of 'Greasy Lake' By Coraghessan Boyle

    629 Words  | 3 Pages

    They see one of their friend’s car in the lake. They try to embarrass their friend because he is there with his girlfriend. The boys wanted to be bad with his friend because they are dangerous. Finally when they realize that it is not their friend Tony’s car it was too late for them. A man come out from the car and beginning fight with them.

    Read More

  • Summary Of On The Rainy River By Tim O Brien

    520 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tim O’Brian is a novelist and a veteran of the Vietnam War. His stories have touch on his experience in the war and “On the Rainy River” was only slightly different. The short story went into detail of the time he was drafted to go to Vietnam. When Tim was drafted for the war his journey had archetypal aspects of the river, the wise man and the inner journey.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Rainy River By Tim O Brien

    770 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tim O’Brian As many teenager’s dream, they picture a future with a wife, kids and a good job. The short story of “Rainy River” from Tim O’Brian’s book “Things They Carry” connect with numerous peoples. This story is relatable to many young men drafted into the Vietnam War. This war forever changed their lives with psychological effects from it.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Once More To The Lake By E. B. White

    123 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the story E.B. Whites “Once more to the lake”, a story based on a father and a son who go on a camping trip, where White becomes captivated with and stuck in his own childhood. It shows that time passes and people grow of age. When white takes his son to the lake he realizes that even though the lake has barely changed, that time has changed. He has a sense of his son replacing him as he is replacing his dad. It was important to White to take his own son back to the same place because he finally comes to the realization that time doesn’t stop for anyone and that you have to move forward and one day grow old.

    Read More

  • Short Story A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    696 Words  | 3 Pages

    The car stopped and three men had gotten out of the car. The grandmother immediately realized that one of the men was “The Misfit” and that sealed the fate for her and the family. “The Misfit” tells the grandmother that they would have been better off not recognizing him, but in the end it does not help. The family was taken into the woods where they were shot and killed by “The

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of Fish Cheeks, By Amy Tan

    695 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the passage “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan she talks about her Chinese heritage and her love life. The theme of this story is no matter how much a person tries to change how they are viewed on the outside, they will always be the same person on the inside. They have to be proud of what and who they are. So many things can make a narrative interesting and entertaining to a reader. This piece mostly contained concrete imagery.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Woman Hollering Creek

    2052 Words  | 9 Pages

    Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros was published in 1991. Cisneros is most well known for her short story The House on Mango Street. She often writes about “the memories that will not let her sleep at night”. She follows the themes of sexism, poverty, racism, double standards, Mexican culture, followed by Spanish phrases wedged into her work. She enjoys writing about romance, domestic settings, the social status of women, and especially her culture.

    Read More

  • A White Heron Literary Analysis Essay

    756 Words  | 4 Pages

    This passage from “A white Heron”, by Sarah Orne Jewett, details a short yet epic journey of a young girl, and it is done in an entertaining way. Jewett immediately familiarizes us with our protagonist, Sylvia, in the first paragraph, and our antagonist: the tree. However, this is a bit more creative, as the tree stands not only as an opponent, but as a surmountable object that can strengthen and inspire Sylvia as she climbs it. This “old pine” is described as massive, to the point where it, “towered above them all and made a landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away.” (Line 8).

    Read More

  • Summary Of On The Rainy River By Tim O Brien

    349 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Tim O’Brien’s short story, “On the Rainy River” he struggles with his response to a draft notice. The story describes the events that take place in the summer of 1968 after graduation, starting with a notice he receives, requesting him to take part in the war. He goes on to express his attitude towards the conflict that has led to the war; his stance is that of general opposition, the resistance originates from what he refers to as “no unity of purpose”. The narrator goes on to describe his summer job of de-clotting pigs at a slaughter house, then his decision to flee the country for Canada; on his way to Canada Tim-while looking for a place to rest- encounters an old fishing resort called the Tip Top Lodge. Here he meets the person who

    Read More

  • Greasy Lake Symbolism

    1152 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Greasy Lake” is about the idea of being free spirited and having the young freedom to feel energetic and do whatever comes to mind, including rebellion. This story is about a journey in experiencing risk taking and learning from ones mistakes. In the story, the narrator describes their trip to Greasy Lake as an adventure that started off with a group of friends having fun to the situation escalating into something dangerous. The narrator says, “I was terrified. Blood was beating in my ears, my hands were shaking, my heart turning over like a dirt bike in the wrong gear” (Boyle 307).

    Read More

  • Symbolism Of Crow Lake By Kate Morrison

    2096 Words  | 9 Pages

    In a farming community with people living monotonously doing farmworks. Kate Morrison, the protagonist, portrayed a compelling story named Crow Lake. The Morrison family had four kids and was part of the farming community in Crow Lake. The parents died in a car crash and Luke, the eldest took responsibility with Matt together to look after Kate and Bo. They encountered countless problems like money shortage, who should sacrifice their education, or who should look after the younger sisters.

    Read More

  • T. Coraghessan Boyle's Short Story 'Greasy Lake'

    775 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the short story “Greasy Lake” the narrator’s thoughts, actions, and comments reveal the theme that an experience can make people realize there will always be people tougher than them. In the beginning of the story the narrator’s thoughts reveal that the narrator thinks he and his friends are bad characters. When the narrator is describing him and his friends, the narrator mentions that “We were all dangerous characters then. We wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and what somebody claimed was cocaine” (687).

    Read More

  • Conformity In Phillip Gwynne's Deadly Unna

    751 Words  | 4 Pages

    His father wakes up and when he finds Blacky in the shed he is extremely angry. Blacky’s siblings are woken by the sound of their father yelling at Blacky and come out to see what is going on. When asked to put back the paint by his father, Blacky replies with “I can’t” and tries to walk passed him but is stopped when he is hit by his dad. All of a sudden the car starts rolling down the driveway and Blacky’s father starts running after it and then collides with a pole and is knocked unconscious. He is put into bed and Blacky and his siblings decide to go down to the jetty to cover up the graffiti.

    Read More

  • Lake Shell: A Short Story

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    It was a summer day when the Campbell family decided to spend a day at Lake Shell. Well, it was more of Father’s idea to spend a day out on the boat, and not everyone was too fond of the idea. Izzy, the youngest of the family, was all for spending time outdoors. It just so happened that her friends created last minute plans that she wish she could attend. Ken, the middle child, resented the idea at first, but since his Friday plans were cancelled, he eased into it.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Once More To The Lake

    1447 Words  | 6 Pages

    For my imitation essay I chose "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White. It seemed almost surreal when I first read the essay, in fact it wasn’t until the second or perhaps third time that I really believed it. I also grew up with a cabin by the lake in Maine only about 181.2 miles north of where E.B. White spent his summers and it belonged to my Aunt Jeannette. To say this story seems like something that I experienced is weird, because too much similarity exists between Mr. whites story and mine.

    Read More

More about Literary Analysis Of Greasy Lake

Open Document