Symbolism In Dennis Vannatta's Greasy Lake

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“Greasy Lake" is the story of a group of teenage boys, some what wanna be tough-guys, searching for the one episode that will establish their place in the tough-guy world. The story starts with the narrator giving us the impression that he thinks that he and the others should have taken notice of some of he signs about themselves. If they would have taken notice they would have realized that they were far from the tough-guys they wanted to be. Instead, the teenagers ignore these signs and continue in search of their tough-guy status. In the story, the author Dennis Vannatta uses many symbols to establish the theme. He uses vehicles as symbols in the story to express the theme of each owner. For example, in the beginning of the story, the

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