A Greasy Lake No More

“Greasy Lake” by T. Boyle is the story of a young man and his companions on their journey to self-realization. The main character, a nineteen year-old boy who also serves as the narrator of the story, tries to live as a dangerous character in a “time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style [and] it was good to be bad” (1). As the narrator and his friends recreate themselves, to play the part of the “purest primal badness,” they begin to push limits, eventually leading them to realize the error of their ways. The narrator and his friends create bad-boy veneers in order to fit the style, but as the story unfolds, they begin to shed their façade in their realization that what is in style is not always necessarily right.

Despite the narrator’s belief that he and his comrades are bad, the narrator’s actions, as well as the actions of his friends, demonstrate their bad boy persona is merely a façade. In the first paragraph, the narrator states that he and his friends were bad because they simply wore “torn-up leather jackets” while slouching around with toothpicks in their mouths and “sniffing glue and ether” (1). Similarly, the narrator even admits that he kept a tire iron—which he used only twice to change his tires—behind his driver’s seat because that is where bad characters keep their tire irons. The boys believe that if they dress and act the part, to fit the style, they will experience “heights of adventure and daring” that come with being a “dangerous character.” Contrary to their veneers, the narrator demonstrates that he is rather learned by his diction. Throughout the story, the narrator makes multiple historical references to figures such as Khe Sanh, a U.S. commander in the Vietnam War; the Sabine women, members of an ancient Italian tribe; and Anne Frank. He evens admits to reading André Gide, a controversial French novelist who writes on the controversy of morality. Likewise, the narrator’s friend Digby attends Cornell, and both Digby and Jeff are supposed to be “experts on social graces,” characteristics not of a low social class.

As the boys begin to hide their natural characteristics to embrace their newly developed manner, they begin to lose their civilities and become animalistic. At the beginning of the story, the narrator wants to go to Greasy Lake to “watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, [and] howl at the stars… [for] this is nature” (2). To live up to their bad boy persona, the narrator characterizes acting like an animal as natural. Once again the groups animalistic characteristics are brought to light when he and his friends begin to try to rape the girl: they became “dirty, bloody, guilty, dissociated from humanity and civilization” (16). Even right before the narrator swings the iron tire at the greasy man, instead of thinking rationally of the repercussions of his actions, the narrator plays out an interrogational scenario, between a cop and a murderer, in his head. Caught in the moment, the narrator becomes far too consumed with acting dangerous to reason.
The final turning point of the story occurs when the narrator comes in contact with the dead body in Greasy Lake. Once coming in contact with the carcass, it is the first time the narrator realizes he had struck down the greasy character; the narrator even rejoices at the sound of the greasy character’s voice moments later. Consumed with guilt and fear from his rash actions, the narrator begins to contemplate suicide when he realizes all that has happened that night. And while thinking of excuses to tell his parents, he realizes that the dead man was probably the “only person on the planet worse off than” he was (31). The carcass made the narrator realize that if he continued down the same path, he could end up dead as well.

The short story “Greasy Lake,” greatly acts as a bildungsroman. The narrator demonstrates he is a changed man for unlike his interpretation of Greasy Lake before, the narrator finally comes to see the beauty of the lake: “there was a smell in the air, raw and sweet,…the smell of the sun firing buds and opening blossoms…this was nature” (32). The narrator’s new interpretation of nature marks his understanding that having the superficiality of a bad character, and pretending to be something they are not, does not make one truly bad, but rather distorts their reason. (787)

Discussion:
Why does the narrator almost start crying at the end of the story?
Significance of animal noises throughout story?
When does the narrrator begin to show he is a changed man?