The act of maturing is a struggle every individual must endure and for some it is a rather awkward stage of life. In his writing of “Greasy Lake”, author Tom Coraghessan Boyle chose a first person perspective to intricately entwine the reader and the narrator’s minds. Three young men all of different characteristics implore on a journey they may soon be in hopes of forgetting. The lush and detailed setting of “greasy lake” soon provides for the good times the boys sought after. Though by the closing the answer of moral obligation and growth is dimly answered the reader feels a connection with the experience. This is the key of first person narration Boyle hopes to imply upon the reader whilst following this young man on his exploration of self-discovery and maturation.
It is implied immediately that these boys are the troubling type. The era that the story takes place puts a microscope over the problem of these youths. They are frustrated in their efforts to find a suitable outlet for their passions and energies in America’s shiny new suburban jungles (Ross pg 63).
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“It is into this world that Mr. Boyle projects his heroes, who are typically lusty, exuberant dreamers whose wildly inflated ambitions lead them into a series of hilarious, often disastrous adventures”(Ross pg 62). Sometimes aggressors, sometimes victims, the characters all share the similar trait of being forever at odds with their habitat (Ulin Pg. 146). The narrator’s journey is led abruptly by his companion’s actions and his reactions lead him further into Greasy Lake. The setting establishes the passage of the protagonist from water to land, and from night to morning, parallels his passage from ignorance to knowledge, from chaos to order, from naiveté to understanding (walker). The first person perspective of Greasy Lake provides the narrators personal connection with each setting
In the beginning we find the family and its surrogate son, Homer, enjoying the fruits of the summer. Homer wakes to find Mrs. Thyme sitting alone, “looking out across the flat blue stillness of the lake”(48). This gives us a sense of the calm, eternal feeling the lake presents and of Mrs. Thyme’s appreciation of it. Later, Fred and Homer wildly drive the motor boat around the lake, exerting their boyish enthusiasm. The lake is unaffected by the raucous fun and Homer is pleased to return to shore and his thoughts of Sandra. Our protagonist observes the object of his affection, as she interacts with the lake, lazily resting in the sun. The lake provides the constant, that which has always been and will always be. As in summers past, the preacher gives his annual sermon about the end of summer and a prayer that they shall all meet again. Afterward, Homer and Fred take a final turn around the lake only to see a girl who reminds Homer of Sandra. “And there was something in the way that she raised her arm which, when added to the distant impression of her fullness, beauty, youth, filled him with longing as their boat moved inexorably past…and she disappeared behind a crop of trees.
Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.
In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
There are many writers that write poems and books with the same styles. This essay will compare the styles of Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle and the fictional Pet Fly by Walter Mosley.
Setting expatiates the theme of loss of innocence. For example, the four major characters in this story are sixteen and seventeen years old, which is the age when teenagers prepare to end their childhood and become adults. Also, the Devon school, where the story takes place, is a place where boys make the transition to full adulthood, and so this setting shows more clearly the boys' own growth. Finally, World War II, which in 1942 is raging in Europe, forces these teenage boys to grow up fast; during their seventeenth year they must evaluate everything that the war means to them and decide whether to take an active ...
In the short story Greasy Lake, Boyle told of the changing of boys to men in one night. When it was cool to be bad. Senior year in high school, 19 years old and stupid. Not having any real clue as to the real world works, Driving mom's cars using dad's money. In Greasy Lake, T.C. Boyle used the theme of being bad by using the different characters to symbolize someone always trying to be more than they really are.
When the “decently dressed” Lengel tried to tell the girls to be “decently dressed” because the girls were wearing “bathing suits”, the girls first argued they “are decent” and left because the girls thought what they were doing was not wrong since they have different perspective than Lengel. The result of feeling empathy for the younger generation in "Railway Club Blues" is that the older generation saw the younger generation as themselves and the protagonist mentioned that teens were the “Strange children of the simple punks we were”. Also, despite of the younger teens “clothes are odd [and] their attitudes obscure”, the protagonist saw their faces that gave him “a kindred memory” of how the teens “repeat the ancient dance”. Ultimately, because the two generations were able to enjoyed a small jazz performance together, the protagonist felt “all cardboard boundaries are erased.”. Both authors used contrast to show the results of feeling empathy for the younger generation, and in “A&P”, the result of Lengel feeling empathy for the teenagers is that he was rejected by the youth due to their contrasting perspectives. When the protagonist from “Railway Club Blues” felt the “boundaries are erased” when the music began to play, this demonstrates how the the protagonist felt how everyone shared the same feelings and empathize the teens despite
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
Stories about youth and the transition from that stage of life into adulthood form a very solidly populated segment of literature. In three such stories, John Updike’s “A & P,” Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” and James Joyce’s “Araby”, young men face their transitions into adulthood. Each of these boys faces a different element of youth that requires a fundamental shift in their attitudes. Sammy, in “A&P”, must make a moral decision about his associations with adult institutions that mistreat others. Dave, in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” struggles with the idea that what defines a man is physical power. The narrator of “Araby,” struggles with the mistaken belief that the world can be easily categorized and kept within only one limited framework of thought. Each of these stories gives us a surprise ending, a view of ourselves as young people, and a confirmation that the fears of youth are but the foundation of our adulthood.
For Finny and Gene, the summer session at Devon was a time of blissful happiness and a time where they allowed themselves to become utterly overtaken by their own illusions. The summer session was the complete embodiment of peace and freedom, and Gene saw Devon as a haven of peace. To them, the war was light years away and was almost like a dream than an actual event. At Devon, it was hard for them to imagine that war could even exist. Finny and Gene forged the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session and acted out in the most wild and boisterous ways. Missing dinner or being absent from school for days to go to the beach did not even earn them a reprimand. “I think we reminded them of what peace was like, we boys of sixteen....We were careless and wild, and I suppose we could be thought of as a sign of the life the war was being fought to prese...
There are many themes highlighted in the short story Greasy Lake, by T. Coraghessan Boyle. Some of these themes include being adventurous, violence, and being young and restless. However, there is a main message that stands out more than the others and is the most centered theme of the story. This is the theme of coming of age through the narrator’s journey to finding out what it means to be “bad,” and whether or not he wanted to make bad choices.
"The Jake Pond " is a short story in which Lou V. Crabtree the author, presents an often unheard of view of the pond . The boy by the pond is the main character, experiences the exhilaration of freedom rather than the desolation of loneliness after being killed and put in his favorite place. Over the course of the years , the seasons change but yet he still finds himself at the pond. To explain the narrator’s state, imagery is used to provide an image of the pond at which he lays .Symbolism is used intensely to show the mindset of the boy at the pond.Indirect characterization is also included to reveal insight to the mind of the narrator and his hidden life at the pond.But it is a world where, at times, nature and humanity can be glimpsed
“Goose Pond”, written by Thomas Williams seemingly is a novel about the tranquil rural life but intricately portrays the mind and state of a fifty-eight year old man who has just lost his wife. Having natural and peaceful aspects, the story itself is not about the simple rural life in the woods. It depicts how Robert Hurley began to deal and come to terms with his sudden loneliness and realization of his eventual death. Including both the realistic cruelty of life alone and the expectation readers would have from a novel—such like a Norman Rockwell painting; he keeps the readers indulged in the mind and heart of the lonesome Robert Hurley.
verse 2. ‘I hear it in my deep hearts core’. the core of an apple is
The story provides many sources for the boy's animosity. Beginning with his home and overall environment, and reaching all the way to the adults that surround him. However, it is clear that all of these causes of the boy's isolation have something in common, he has control over none of these factors. While many of these circumstances no one can expect to have control over, it is the culmination of all these elements that lead to the boy’s undeniable feeling of lack of control.