In T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Greasy Lake" three boys become young men on the third, boring night of their summer vacation when they go to the muddy and shiny lake of Greasy Lake where ordinary men are faced with an extraordinary situation, a much greater force than them that cannot be dealt with and this forces the boys to see reality. Thinking that life is like a "box of chocolates" is not always the best way to view life in respect to the problems and decisions that must be faced by man, but at the beginning of this story, that seems to be the way these three teenagers see life. The three nineteen-year-old boys consider they are "bad" and "didn't give a shit about anything". This is ironic because the narrator is driving his mom's Bel-Air, while Jeff is not sure what he plans to do with his life.
Short Story Writing Workshop
Microsoft Narrator
Greasy Lake & Other StoriesSymbolism also occurs in the form of vehicles. For example, early in the story, the narrator describes the car they drive to Greasy Lake as an old station wagon, obviously not the "ride" of a true tough-guy.
"Greasy Lake" is a suitable title given after the location of where the story takes place. This first-person short story is taking place in early June in the silence of a single night. The narrator is faced with both internal and external conflicts. The internal conflict is that the narrator and his friends are searching for something unknown, this unknown can be self identity and the external conflicts are the antagonist of the greasy character that they confuse with their friend, and the misplacement of the car keys.
This narrator based story starts off with the adolescent teens driving around with nothing left to do. The main conflict as well as...