Literary Analysis of “Greasy Lake” by T. C. Boyle

Being “cool” has developed into a term meaning more than just social status. “Cool” is now known as an act of fitting in, and doing anything to be accepted into society. In the short story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, three boys are caught in a life changing moment when they realize that their whole lives are worth more than a couple hours of fun. Boyle’s detailed description of these teens struggling with substance abuse at a very young age, simply to “fit in”, helps the reader relate to their experiences with the battle of being one of the “dangerous characters”.

Throughout the story, Boyle creates a vivid image of the pursuit of popularity, and how drugs are not always the easy way out; leading to incidents which spark an epiphany in the protagonist because all of their past decisions were made solely for the longing of acceptance by peers.

Boyle’s diction plays a major part in his story showing the vision of popular high schoolers thinking that its is “good to be bad”, and forgetting about consequences that they would soon face (Boyle 1).

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He repeated the word “bad” to engrave the image of these teens messing around, acting like the real world doesn’t exist. “Bad” is a key term that Boyles chose to incorporate throughout the whole story to connect all of his vivid imagery back to his one sol focus. “[He] drove. Digby pounded the dashboard and shouted along with Toots & the Maytals while Jeff hung his head out the window and streaked the side of [his] mother’s Bel Air with vomit.

” (Boyle 2). The extreme use of detail used in this example helps the reader to quickly form an image of the type of characters the story is going to deal with. Boyle used these quotes to remind the reader of the stereotypes that popular high schoolers tend to portray. It also shows Boyle’s ideal image of these characters. It helps readers better understand the challenges these kids are facing in the race toward popularity. Without all of his vivid descriptions, the readers would have a much harder time connecting and understanding the challenges that the characters are facing and the threat that each challenge has on their lives.

The tone of the short story “Greasy Lake” has a negative connotation due to the emphasis on the poor decisions made by teens that pursue the life of popularity. Boyle continually reiterates the teens’ substance abuse, and the feeling of power that comes with it. He uses this technique to help readers better grasp onto the characters struggle as a high schoolers. Readers usually have a better understanding of the characters emotions when the author sets the tone of the story. Boyles explains how they “went to the lake to watch girls strip off their clothing and jump into the mucky water while they drank beer to escape reality” (Boyle 1). Evidently, the tone expands past simply telling a story, it truly brings the scenes to life in the readers minds and allows the reader to connect to the characters emotions on a deeper level. Boyle was persistent when describing the teens rebellious actions, and helped depict the unfavorable tone onto the readers. He wanted to encapsulate his characters rebellious and witty mannerisms in order to relate to most of his audience.

Teens have a tendency of lashing out at their parents and acting out for the purpose of needing attention. Digby, Jeff, and the main character express the struggle of pinning the “fox” to the car hood and how their eyes masked the lust and greed of “primal badness” (Boyle 3/4). Boyle used this fact to better the realness of his teenage characters and show how harmonious their lives are when compared to the life of a normal teenager. Understanding how to make the tone of a story relatable and easily understood is an important part of creating a successful story, and Boyle did that extremely well. Most teenagers will experience the crave for popularity in which Boyle expressed through his writing, showcasing the struggle faced by many teenagers in his story; effectively hooking in his audience.

Antin and Wheatley argue that the “bored teenagers” start falling into temptations leading to situations they should have never been involved in (Antin, Wheatley 2). The story includes drugs and alcohol which are two of the major temptations teenagers face during adolescence. The storyline involves many temptations that make the story realistic which attracts a certain audience. Teenagers may be more intrigued by it because of how they may relate to it. Teens reading this story could realize the need to fix certain proponents in their life instead of learning it the hard way like the protagonist in the story did. The protagonist’s friends are like the “fuel to his fire” of his attitude because they further encourage his act of being “bad” as they each continue to one up each other (Thomas 3). For example the narrator made two “mistakes” resulting in the kids having to flee the scene (Boyle 2). The first mistake, losing the car keys in the woods, and the second, mistaking peers car for a stranger. The kids were in over their heads trying to fight the “greasy character” who was stronger than all the boys combined (Boyle 3). The narrator and his friends were intoxicated at the time so they were not able to think straight leading them to making irrational decisions. Events progressed and the narrator felt very threatened and led to violent tactics. He pulled out a tire iron from his car to beat up the greasy man and was “willing to do anything” according to Travis Thomas, a literary critic (Thomas 2). Thomas explains the drive the narrator had to hurt the stranger and how his mind set was not in the right place.

Throughout “Greasy Lake” Joseph Quevedo brings to the attention of the audience the influence an “epiphany” can have on a teenagers life and how that can change their perspective on life (Quevedo 3). As teens begin to grow up, they are bound to make mistakes. Majority are used as learning experiences in order to get back on the right path. Joseph Quevedo believes the teenage boys in the story have realized they need to “grow up”. After witnessing a dead body in the contaminated lake, the protagonist became traumatized at the thought of how the dead man could have easily been them if they continued on the same delinquent path (Quevedo 3). The narrator realizes he needs to get his priorities straight before he ends up as a dead man at the bottom of a “Greasy Lake”. Quevedo had an interesting stance while analyzing this story and i was very interested by his thoughts. Kids need to understand that smoking and drinking with friends is not worth a lifetime of regrets.

Within T. Coraghessan Boyle's short story, “Greasy Lake”, the idea of being accepted by peers leads to the reliance of drugs as an outlet to their other struggles in life. Boyles includes many legitimate topics in his story, such as substance abuse and desires of acceptance. Each issue is brought to the attention of the reader in a serious matter. The way that Boyles approaches his writing is in a realistic way so the reader can learn the lesson without causing damage to their life. Upon the conclusion of this story, readers should infer that the decisions of the three boys are made to represent the turning over of a “new leaf” in life. You are not always guaranteed a second chance at life so if you can learn from the mistakes of others it will be very beneficial. Alcoholism and being a minor in possession is not something to lose sight of. Kids these days are putting their lives at risk for the sole purpose of pursuing popularity. In reality, there is a not a single thing on this earth that is worth throwing your life away.