Summary and Analysis of “Greasy Lake”

Summary and Analysis of “Greasy Lake”

Greasy Lake is a story of three boys becoming young men during one summer night. The young teens go for a summer vacation in an area near a shiny and muddy lake. The presence of barriers at the site threatens to overwhelm them as they work on a tension diffusion strategy. The resultant conflict leads the boys to realize that changes to adulthood cannot happen overnight. They understand the burden and responsibilities that full-grown men undergo on a daily basis. The poem's narrator has two friends: Digby and Jeff. While at the lake, the three individuals came across a bad “greasy” being. The encounter resulted in one of the three character’s epiphany experience (Boyle 134). As he gained an insight, life unfolded to him in a different view.

Biography

Boyle was born in New York during the baby boom generation (Walker 249). His teenage life is characterized by adventure and partying. The poet hails from a middle-class family and had all the life provisions as he grew up. At one time in his late teens, he kept a bad company of highly influential friends that molded his rebellious character. His warm behavior deteriorated as he embraced his friends’ uncouth manners. He hardly resisted as he feared losing the company that he dearly valued.  In fact, he recalled his engagements in dangerous activities as a thrill-seeker. Boyle underwent all the traumatizing life experiences during his youth. His encounters as a young boy inspired his poetic story on Greasy Lake. In fact, analysts argue that Boyle is personified in the poem as one of the three characters.  Digby and Jeff are two characters that represent Boyle’s teenage friends (Gleason 4).

Analysis

The author uses a graphic tone unsuitable for the underage population. He utilizes an explicit and aggressive tone in describing the insults from his friends. This is intentional in order to capture the real life conversation of 19-year-olds. The author took a great effort to incorporate adventure and the fears of young boys about to become adults. As the teens get involved in a conflict, the author's tone changes to reflect the horror of the emergent “bad” character and the threat it poses to the young men (Boyle 130).

When Boyle sets his narrative in Greasy Lake, he offers a reflection of corruption and weak state of moral values in the society and among the youngsters (Kane 121). He conceives an atmosphere that can accommodate all the characters in the poem. This is possible through the centering of the plot at a lake. Greasy lake plays a vital role as a character and a setting.  Boyle’s story is appalling to middle –aged readers as deliberately set by the author.

The Greasy Lake, while being murky and fetid, was one of the most preferred spot for the youngsters to spend nights and to enjoy the serenity. Due to the cleanliness and transparency of its waters, the Indians named the lake “Wakan”. In essence, the lake symbolized the behavior of teens spoiled both literally and metaphorically by violence, sex, and alcohol (Gleason 18). 

Boyle exposes his literary skills artistically by creating an uncertain and wild atmosphere. He converts the lake as a setting that symbolizes sin, evil and corruption. As the events in the narrative turn out to be extreme, the writer accords additional freedom to the characters to captivate the attention of the readers.  A description of both the narrator and his friends as “bad characters” not only amplifies their behavior while at the Greasy Lake but also makes the story more convincing and real.  Boyle (135) describes the lake as smelling of decay to depict the diminishing morals of the young men.

The author personifies and describes the Greasy Lake and its environs in detail to expound on the narrator’s traits (Shine, 24). Beer taints his character and culture, corrupting him as the lake itself. As the narrator to the Greasy Lake during the fateful night, the author hints of a possibility of unfortunate events. The style is intentional to keep the reader on track and to generate anticipatory mood. The worst mistake that the narrator did was to start a fight and thus the loss of his keys. The entire event opened Pandora’s Box and changed the course of the story. Indeed, it foreshadowed the turn of events in the future that would threaten his life and those of his colleagues.  He almost became as a killer and a rapist. In the first place, the narrator could not explain how he ended up in the murky water area lying next to a dead man. It soon dawned on him that Greasy Lake takes lives. Immediately, he repulsed his dangerous lifestyle.  His actions emulate that Greasy Lake is a representation of culture and society. 

Symbolically, the narrator repented and is baptized in Greasy Lake’s murky waters. It is a fulfillment of his foreshadowing regarding dropped keys as “the floodgate” yields the dangers in the following night. The baptism by water is an imagery to signify transformation of the life of the narrator, Digby and Jeff (Boyle 131). While the lake was in a poor condition during the narrator’s submergence, his emergence as a cleansed and transformed person postulates that he was indeed “dirtier” than the personified water. Drugs were offered to the narrator and his friends after the baptismal event in the lake. They bluntly declined to revert to their “old ways.” It was clear they had moved on to start a new life after they turned down offers of an attractive woman. Boyle, therefore, keeps the reader’s hope on triumph of good over evil as the story ends (Werlock 32).

Due to the occurrence of horrific events in the fateful night, there is a high probability that  the protagonists mend their ways in the future. The subsequence of events that yielded the narrator’s epiphany at Greasy Lake can make him to refrain from participating in impulsive activities (Kathryn 5).

How the Poem Affects Me

I have a 17-year-old sister that just cleared high school. Already, she has started engaging in dangerous behaviors that can threaten her future. If she does not receive assistance immediately, chances are that she is going to retrace footsteps of Jeff and Digby in the story. What I am worried about is that my younger sister would regret her current involvements in the future. Nobody should deny a teenager a chance to enjoy his/her youth. However, when push comes to shove, it is necessary to intervene and prevent a catastrophe. I am well-aware of the effect of peer pressure among the adolescents.

After reading Boyle’s story, I became increasingly concerned on the dangers that my sister and her friends are exposing themselves. As a caring sister, I intend to hold a discussion with my sister on how she can take control of her life. If she resists, I will recommend Greasy Lake poem for her to read. The horrific scenes in Boyle’s book and the fate of the three teenage friends can be enough to transform her mindset.

Works Cited

Boyle, T C. Greasy Lake & Other Stories. New York, N.Y: Penguin, 1986: 1-216. Internet resource.

Gleason, Paul W. Understanding T.c. Boyle. Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 2009. 1-56. Print.

Kane, Richard C. "Earth, Water, and Fire: Elemental Representations of Feminist Force In Stories by John Cheever, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and Tobias Wolff." Journal of the Short Story in English. Les Cahiers de la nouvelle 42 (2004): 111-134.

Kathryn, Raines. "Greasy Lake." (2006): 1-7. Print.

Shine K, Neuleib J. Introduction to Literature. New Jersey: Pearson Custom Publishers; 2008:1-42.

Walker, Michael. "Boyle's' Greasy Lake'and the Moral Failure of Postmodernism." Details: Studies in Short Fiction 31.2 (Spring 2010): p247-255. (1994). Print.

Werlock, Abby H. P, and James P. Werlock. The Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story. New York NY: Facts On File, Inc, 2010:12-65. Internet resource.