Some people go through life thinking they are invincible or a bad until events happen in your life where you find out whether your bad or not. People go through this all the time and this is part of growing up. In "Greasy Lake:" by T.C. Boyle, the narrator of this story undergoes a "character arc;" by the end of the story he has developed more as a character (i.e undergone changes), and is noticeably different than he was at the onset of the narrative.
In the beginning of the story the narrator and his boys considered themselves to be bad boys because of what they did, what people thought they were, and what they wore. To them, it was cool to be dangerous and bad. The people who wasn’t, were irrelevant. The narrator and his boys “wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine” (par.1). Also they “struck elaborate poses to show that we didn’t give a shit about anything” (par. 1). The narrator looked forward to the nightlife and the bad stereotypes along with that, including: drinking, drug use, sex, violence, etc…. even though the narrator was only 19 years of age. The three of them would go uptown to Greasy Lake regularly, to party a hang out with others. Until one night the narrator and his boys encountered a rude awakening at Greasy Lake.
This one night at Greasy Lake wasn’t as typical as the other nights. A series of events happen at Greasy Lake that would change the narrator character after all. First after just throwing “two dozen raw eggs at mailboxes and hitchhikers” (par 4) the narrator friend Digby decides to play a practical joke on, what looks like someone he knows car, by leaning on the horn and turning the high beams on to t...
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...ed the narrator have they seen Al because his bike was on the ground. The narrator was speechless and is thinking to himself “I wanted to get out of the car and retch, I wanted to go home to my parents’ house and crawl into bed” (par. 33). Also when the lady asked them if they wanted to take some drugs and party, the narrator just looked at her and said “I thought I was going to cry” (par. 35). Before these events, the narrator would have partied with the girls but now after going through these experiences, he realized he isn’t bad as he thought himself to be.
The narrator character went from being a rebel or bad guy to having a conscience. Each series of events in Greasy Lake reassured him that he wasn’t a bad ass after all. Thinking about crying, vomiting, and wanting to crawl into the bed when the girl asked to party ultimately showed he changed for the better.
Greasers were the lowest among the society. The society had negative thoughts towards Greasers, because there were not many things people expected from the Greasers other than doing bad things such as stealing, having rumble, and other bad things that happened around the society. Not every Greaser does bad things, however, the Greasers took the blame for anything bad even if it was the Socs fault. It is because everyone expected the Greasers to do bad things instead of the Socs. Even though the Greasers had a bad reputation, they didn’t care, but instead they enjoyed their lives. Sometimes the Greasers do bad things but only for fun and because it was the society’s expectations. If the Greasers did something good, no one would expect or believe the Greasers did it. No one would ever expect the Greasers to be heroes, just like the man whose kids were saved by Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dallas. “’Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?’ Sent from heaven? Had he gotten look at Dallas? ‘No, we’re greasers.’” (Page...
*the narrator is looking back on what he has once witnessed long ago, and it's haunting him, makes him feel guilty and ashamed.
Both the Socs and the Greasers deal with the struggle of being Judged by others.In the text from Outsiders it says “I am a greaser.I am a JD and a hood.I blacken the name of our fair city.I beat up people.I rob gas stations.I am a menace to society man do I have fun. This shows that Steve thinks they are getting judged for these reasons.As a result he is getting Judged because he is a hood and is a menace to society and has fun while doing those things.In the text from cool at 13, adrift at 23 it says “They are doing more extreme things to act cool, like bragging about drinking 3 six pack of beer on a Saturday nigh.”This shows that they are to extreme stuff to act cool in front of their peers. As a result they are bragging about drinking 3 six packs of beer on a Saturday night.In conclusion they are getting judged on how they act, what they are known to do and how the speak to their peers.
The boys live a new life without adults and social norms. Roles in their makeshift society have been carried out but Jack’s self-imposed responsibility only aims to fulfill his personal agenda. Jack’s fervent character is aggressiveness masquerading as passion. This destructive behavior sends Jack to a faster decline to savagery in relation to his peers.
Have you ever felt judged or marginalized only because of the situation you were born in?Having to walk on the street wondering if you’re safe. Have you ever been the one that gets made fun of? The laughing stock? The uncool one? The one with the bad luck? In S.E Hinton's The Outsiders, the Greasers are all of those things. It’s a dark world they live in but they have no choice. Although the narrator, Ponyboy, may not lead the best life, he still tries to make the most of it. Heroism, social class and survival are some of the most transcendent themes demonstrated in S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders.
Dr. Seuss once wrote that “today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you”, but what makes a person unique? A person’s character is what makes them who they are. It is the foundation of personality, words, and actions, and it grows with every trial in an individual’s life. Personal struggle develops character because it brings to light what a person will and will not do, allows them to find or develop talents, it creates an opportunity to alter their mindset, and the experience gained will stay with the individual forever.
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.
There is a saying that goes: “having a teenager in the house is like having an infant and an adult as the same time." In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s story, Greasy Lake, the narrator and his friends, Digby and Jeff, are 19 year old boys. The narrator uses intelligent and amusing words to describe his adolescenthood. He and his two friends are on their summer break. They proudly call themselves “bad characters” to impress other teenagers. At first, the narrator really tries to make the readers think that he and his two friends are bad guys: "We wore torn up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine" (Boyle). They go out at night to look for action and girls. However, throughout the story, the narrator makes the readers realize that they are just naive teenage boys. The narrator tells of a specifically threatening night when they experience the unexpected and fight with a truly bad character, try to rape a girl, and see a corpse. The narrator and his friends' immature action causes them to experience and learn a painful, memorable lesson. Boyle’s message to the readers is that the immaturity of adolescence is universal and experimentation results in maturity.
“Greasy Lake” is a story of how three suburban teen boys convene into the forest to be “bad characters” (Boyle). Throughout this night in the forest a never ending list of things go terribly wrong that leads the main protagonist into a lake with a dead man where the protagonist has an epiphany. The bad suburban teen realizes that it is not good to be bad. Through this epiphany the author shows that people who have lost their innocence can gain it back. This theme of corruption is developed through nature's symbols. The supposed once beautiful lake provides a “baptism” to the protagonist. The author creates this baptism in the lake to show that the protagonist is reborn now and has a new perspective on life. The Lake symbolizes the loss of innocence of the teenagers who visit the lake during “a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad” (Boyle).
First, Boyle shows the boys experience violence in a struggle. The boys learn how to fight and survive to overcome the odds. In the short story “Greasy Lake”, Boyle writes, “The very bad character in greasy jeans and engineer boots ripped out of the driver’s door” (page 571). The term bad and character are used specifically to analyze the man is not just your average joe. He is someone with a creepy and mean look to him. With more than likely some form of scars or disfigurement. Indicating he has a large or scary stature in comparison to the boys. He is likely stronger than them, and has the look and the shape of someone who has been in several hairy situations. Boyle combines his harsh looks with his clothing such as engineer boots and greasy jeans to create the image of a biker type or someone who works in construction. This adds to his visual representation of a large manly stature that would send any boy running the other way in fear. Men typically are greasy when they have low income, live near the ghetto, or are
The narrator in “Greasy Lake” is a very interesting character and really changes throughout the story. The narrator thought that he was “bad” until an interesting night that had which changed all that. “We were dangerous characters then. We wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine.” The narrator did things that were wrong and he didn’t care what his parents thought. He even took his “parents’ whining station wagons out onto the street and left a patch of rubber half a block long.”
In Crow Lake, Mary Lawson portrays a family who experience a great tragedy when Mr. and Mrs. Morrison are killed in a car accident. This tragedy changes the lifestyles of the seven years old protagonist Kate Morrison and her siblings Matt, Luke and Bo. The settings are very important in this novel. Though there are limited numbers of settings, the settings used are highly effective. Without effective use of themes in this novel, the reader would not have been able to connect with the characters and be sympathetic. Lawson uses an exceptionally high degree of literary devices to develop each character in this novel.
Authors use character development to show how a person can change. Through a descriptive portrayal of a charter and their development they become real to the reader. A well-developed character stirs up emotions in the reader making for a powerful story. A person can change for better or worse and Nathaniel Hawthorne shows this thru the character development of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter.
The narrator has a knack for bringing up traumatic times in his life, but passing it off in an indifferent tone. He believes that
This day was off to a very bad start. Hal had woken up to get ready to leave for school and he heard footsteps. His father was usually asleep at this hour, so it couldn’t be him. Part of him wished it was his mother, back from the hospital. This childlike part of Hal believed she was still alive. That it was just a matter of time before she got better. Although wishes like that could never come true, and sadly it was his father approaching his door. Hal hoped for his father to be sober, to not continue the events of the night before. Most of Hal’s hopes and wishes never came true. The old man was still drunk, it was unlikely for him to ever not be. He yelled in Hal’s face. It was all a silent blur to Hal now. All the screams, the saliva, the strong hands moving towards his face. It was the quietest uproar known to man. Hal was numb. Numb from previous nights and days of countless commotion. His father finally walked away for a drink and Hal slipped away. He walked down the road that lead toward Lawton High as if it was his bedroom and he was ready for sleep. In a way it