"Greasy Lake" Analysis

The essay “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a narrative in which three young men realize that being perceived as “bad characters”, is in reality a thoroughly undesirable condition after experiencing it firsthand. At the start of the story, the narrator and his friends, Digby and Jeff, try to convey an image of themselves as rebels through a description that actually reveals just the opposite. In the first paragraph, the narrator describes their behavior stating proudly, “We… struck elaborate poses to show that we didn’t give a shit about anything”. The fact, however, that the boys are putting a great amount of effort into posing showcases that they are just normal, nerdy boys trying to imitate rebellious characters. This actuality is reaffirmed through the comments by the narrator that Digby attends Cornell, an elite institution, and that Jeff wishes to become an artist.

Consequently, when the friends come face to face with a real “bad boy”, they attempt to fight him, but then panic when they realize how ridiculously outmatched they are. The narrator and his companions try to imitate the actions they believe would be proper for a rebel to engage in, but reveal their true nature when they flee the scene, frightened and overwhelmed. Boyle captures the events that transpire by including vivid imagery, thus providing illustrative depictions of events. For instance, after the ruckus has ensued and the boys return to the scene of the chaos, the environment is described intricately. Boyle expresses, “There was a smell in the air, raw and sweet at the same time, the smell of the sun firing buds and opening blossoms. I contemplated the car. It lay there like a wreck along the highway, like a steel sculpture left over from a vanished civilization”. In this quote, Boyle uses not only visual description, but engages all the senses, bringing the scene to life. Furthermore, the use of the simile in describing the car adds an unexpected comparison that attaches depth to the dire circumstances the three boys are in as a result of their desire to be “cool”.

In the end, the three comrades realize that being unruly and rebellious is not worth the resulting trauma and are put in their rightful place. Though earlier in the story they come close to raping a girl in a flash of desire, when they are approached by two drunken young women later on after the crazy events, they are uninterested. The girls are overly flirty with them, but they ignore them, opting to return home because they are overly tired. The prospect of being legitimate rebels proved too much for them to handle in reality and they recognize this as they flee the scene, eager to return to their nerdy, average lives. Overall, the narrator emerges after the nights events more mature and with a new outlook of understanding.