Analysis Of Greasy Lake And Barn Burning

Analysis Of Greasy Lake And Barn Burning
Making Decisions is a Big Part of Life In life we are challenged daily in making the right or wrong decision. In order to do what is right it takes a
strong will person who is a leader and not a follower of the masses. The authors T. Coraghessan Boyle and William Faulkner in the short stories
"Greasy Lake" and "Barn Burning", portrayed how individuals can be leaders and ultimate make good decisions against all odds. So what character
traits help these young men to eventually become good decisions makers? In the short story "Greasy Lake" the young men were peer pressured into
being someone that they thought was cool. These boys represented the average teenage boy trying to figure out who they are and what they want to
be. During the boys century it was cool to be the bad guy that smokes and drinks. The author states in the short story that "There was a time when
courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad, when you cultivated decadence like a taste (Faulkner)." The boys
believed if they were the "bad boys" that girls would like them. However, the protagonist were portrayed as being raised in a middle class home with
parents trying to raise their children the proper way. This short story more so about how a group of young men try to against what they have been
initial taught by their parents. The three boys encountered a ton of situations that they put themselves in. For example, the practical joke, the wrong
car, wrong girl, another car/body,
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Analysis Of ' Greasy Lake ' By T. Coraghessan Boyle
Young people often experience a time in their lives where they desire to be defiant and unruly. However, this vision is often removed from their
minds when they come into contact with a situation that changes their whole mindset on what it really means to be bad. "Greasy Lake" by T.
Coraghessan Boyle is a coming of age story about an adolescent boy and his two friends on their journey to self–awareness The protagonist and his
friends create a bad–boy facade in order to fit in, but as the story unravels, they begin to remove their disguise in their discovery that what is in trend is
not always morally right. The protagonist, who is also the narrator of the story, transitions from a naГЇve boy who is a rebellious exhibitionist unsure of
his true identity to a more mature man that realizes what it really means to be "bad" after one night's traumatizing events. Although the protagonist and
his two friends think they are truly bad characters, they are ultimately just rebellious teenagers. Boyle presents the three boys as being wild and bad but
quickly eliminates those traits, as the reader understands that they are just three boys acting out as unaware self–entitled teenagers. Truly bad
characters do not still live with their parents at nineteen or drive their parent's station wagon (Boyle 409). There are many acts of rebellion in "Greasy
Lake." Most of the things that the protagonist does are illegal, and things that no parent wants their child to do. The narrator and his

Comparing Kate ChopinвЂ™s The Storm and T. Coraghessan...
Comparing Kate Chopin's The Storm and T. Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake
Kate Chopin and T. Coraghessan Boyle made excellent use of the elements point of view, character, and setting in their short stories "The Storm" and
"Greasy Lake". Kate Chopin's characters and events follow the setting–the storm. This greatly enhances her work. Boyle's characters mirror his setting
as well–a greasy lake. It is amazing how much greater depth and deeper the insight is for a story when the potentials of elements of writing are fulfilled
and utilized.
Chopin's "The Storm" is written in third–person objective point of view. The narrator is not involved with the characters in any way, just telling the
story as it ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The main character of Boyle's story is the nameless narrator. He is more round than flat, mainly because of the point of view of first person. The
reader must of course get closer to the main character because they become them when they read the story. The reader sees inside the narrator and
through his eyes out at the world around him because of his thoughts and actions. Boyle develops his main character through the point of view
taken–they cannot be separated.
"We wore torn–up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine.
When we wheeled our parents whining station wagons out onto the street we left a patch of rubber half a block long. We drank gin and grape juice,
Tango, Thunderbird, and Bali Hai. We were nineteen. We were bad. We read Andre Gide and struck elaborate poses to show that we didn't give a shit
about anything." (Boyle 129)
This self–description of the narrator says it all. He gives a brutal, yet inflated description of himself and his friends that gives the reader a very round
main character.
The setting in both of these short stories is the essence of their themes. The authors have drawn characters that parallel their settings. From this, the
reader can draw many conclusions and insights about the themes of the stories. "The Storm" occurs in Louisiana

Greasy Lake
Prompt #1
Characters do what they do because of their various motivations and desires. Often, their desires conflict with their ethical or moral responsibilities.
For example, personal belief, love, a thirst for vengeance, a resolve to rectify a wrong, or some other ambition may cause a character to conflict with a
moral obligation. Write about a literary work in which a character's motivations/desire conflict with his/her ethical responsibilities. Working thesis
Watch out who you hang out with because the others can lead you into trouble and down the wrong path in life by using drugs and alcohol. Learn to
make the right choices and choose your friends carefully.
Boyle, T.C. (1985). Greasy Lake, Greasy Lake begins by ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Greasy Lake does not reveal any revelation in the characters. The story is told by a narrator that describes himself as a privileged teen that
considers himself friends with evil traits. The narrative technique is deemed to be modernist. Greasy Lake is set in a small town with adolescents
who are in search of a good time. Boyle's writing style is face paced. He uses a lot of metaphors and usually uses more than one metaphor. Boyle
like's to establish mood and purpose by figurative language and fluidity. Boyle was born in 1948 and was a Vietnam vet.
Boyle likes to write about the moral of a problem and has received national attention for this. Moral blindness is often common in revelation stories.
When the two women come up to the lake, the boys do not tell them about the fate of their friend Al because they believe that silence is essential.
Boyle's fiction show's that the post– modernist fiction is capable of mastering the contemporary world. Boyle's work illustrates the world as one without
an ethical dimension.
Dziemianowicz, Stefan (January 2015) T. Coraghessan Boyle. Salem Press
Encyclopedia Of Literature
T. Coraghessan Boyle is about the author of "Greasy Lake" and his upbringing. He was born and raised in Peekskill. He then moved to
Southern California to teach. Boyle got into a lot of trouble as a youth because of

Coming-of-Age Stories with Morals: T. Coraghessan Boyle's...
T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Greasy Lake" and John Updike's "A & P" have many similarities as well as differences. Both are coming–of–age stories that
teach some sort of lesson to the protagonist at the end. "A&P" is about a nineteen–year–old boy who stands up against his manager to impress a couple
of girls who are dressed "immodestly". "Greasy Lake" is about many nineteen years olds playing a prank on a couple of bad characters who turn out
to show the teens what they can really do in return. Luckily, the narrator and Sammy both realize their deficiency after the situations with the other
characters. In "A&P" the narrator's turning point in his life is when he finds the bikers body in the lake next to him. In "Greasy Lake" the... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
Both of these instances show the readers that the characters did not know what real life was until they were thrown into it by their own actions.
Though there are many similarities, there are more obvious differences. The settings in each of the stories are very opposite. "A&P" is set in a
grocery store, while "Greasy Lake' is set in nature somewhere by a lake past all the "housing developments and shopping malls". This is most
definitely not the only difference. Sammy is obviously not as immature as the narrator and his friends in "Greasy Lake". Sammy works all
summer while the other three boys look for adventure and mischief to get into. The worst Sammy did was quit his job for the wrong reasons,
while the narrator's worst was almost raping a girl, smoking marijuana, and almost killing a man. Through all of this the two protagonists's learn a
lesson. Sammy learned that quitting his job for three female strangers would not solve all of his problems; in fact, it would only lead him to
discover more. He saw that the girls did not think as highly of his action as he did himself, and therefore led him to realize that he will be all alone in
the world unless he changed his way of thinking. He was only thinking of "getting" the girls and trying to impress them, and not about doing what was
right in the moment. The narrator in "A&P" learned that he has to face his problem head on and not turn to other substances to take them away for him
so he doesn't have

Essay about Violence in "Greasy Lake" and "The Things They...
Both Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" and T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Greasy Lake" display characters' similar reactions to violence, but in
different settings and circumstances. In "The Things They Carried," Fist Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a soldier in the Vietnam War who finds solace
and escape in fantasies of a young woman from home. One of Cross's soldiers dies due to his daydreaming and forces him to abandon these fantasies.
In "Greasy Lake," the main character finds enjoyment in picking fights and breaking the law. A late night tussle leads to encounter with a dead body,
causing the main character to reflect upon his wild lifestyle. Both stories show a coming to maturity through violence, though in different forms. In "The
... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
He couldn't help it" (O'Brien 630). Surrounded by a world a war and violence, these daydreams are the only escape Lieutenant Cross has and he
embraces them fully. When faced with violence, the main character from "Greasy Lake" not only accepts it, but encourages it. Upon the boy's
arrival to Greasy Lake, he and his friends mistakenly hassle a stranger and his girlfriend. Instead of apologizing for the disturbance and trying to
reason with the stranger, he and his friends immediately engage in battle, beating the stranger unconscious. The rage and violence of this attack
does not end here. The main character turns his attention to the stranger's girlfriend: "It was the foxВ… that set us offВ… she was already tainted.
We were on herВ… grabbing for flesh" (Boyle 133). The rape does not occur as the boys are chased away by an approaching vehicle, but the intent
of a second violent event was fully present. Every opportunity for violence encountered by the main character is met with open arms. In "The Things
They Carried," violence brings forth an epiphany for First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Lieutenant Cross, while seeking comfort in his imagination,
allows one of his men to be shot and killed. His lack of security led to an unnecessary casualty: "[Cross] hated himself. He had loved Martha more
than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was

Analysis Of Chicxulub By T. Coraghessan Boyle
Chicxulub by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a story about a man and woman's daughter in a town. The man compares losing his daughter to meteors hitting
him and the impact it can affect him. When he then finds out his daughter is in a car accident. A lesson the story suggest is to don't expect the worst in
things. In the beginning, the man describes that his daughter shouldn't be out his late alone. "My daughter is walking along the roadside late at night––
too late, really, for a seventeen–year–old to be out alone... and it is raining." This shows that the man really cares for his daughter and wouldn't want
anything to happen to her. Another detail, describes the man a way that his daughter could get "... the streets slick with a fine immiscible glaze of
water and petrochemicals, so that even a driver in full possession of her faculties... before she got behind the wheel of a car... and shrubbery off the
sidewalk." This shows, the dad imagines all these horrible things that could happen to his daughter. He then relates it if it were to happen and the news
hitting him like a meteor.... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The paramedics found their daughter's I.D. according to the paramedics. "She was hit by a car. She's–– they don't know. In surgery. What hospital? Did
they say what hospital?" This shows, the parents are scared that their daughter got in an car accident and are trying to rush to the hospital. "And then
there's Chicxulub. 65 million years ago, an asteroid collided with Earth. Judging from the impact crater, which is a hundred and twenty miles wide...
was some six miles across... 75% of all known species were extinguished." The show, the man is comparing the meteor to the news. The news being
Chicxulub and it hit him so hard he couldn't do

Analysis Of The Movie ' Greasy Lake '
Think of a place you would go to, either as a teenager or even a young adult. A place that had no authority. Somewhere teenagers would go to drink
and partake in other illicit behaviors. In T. Coraghessan Boyle's short story "Greasy Lake," three eighteen year old boys are looking for mischief
during their third night of summer break from college, sometime in the late 60's. After driving through the streets of a town, they end up at Greasy
Lake, the worst ecologically conditioned lake.This setting not only motivated the three boys to engage in dangerous behaviors but was the main
influence on the majority of the plot and even the main theme, corruption. During this story, three teenage boys; the protagonist and his two friends try
to act like the bad boys during this era. "We wore torn–up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and
what somebody claimed cocaine" is how the narrator of this story explained the three boys acting out in a rebellious, bad boy manner (365; par. 1).
Boyle tells us through the narrator of the story, that it is a time when it is "good to be bad." The night begins when Digby, Jeff, and the narrator head
out for the evening in his mother's Bel Air. They end up at the local hangout spot right outside of the town, formally known as Greasy Lake. This is
when they see a car that they believe is their friends, and begin harassing him. However, this ended up being a big mistake and the anger of the owner of

The Chicxulub By T. Coraghessan Boyle Analysis
The Chicxulub by T. coraghessan Boyle is a story that takes place in a metropolis and the ending day of the dinosaurs. It talks about how a girl is
in an auto accident and her family is shocked and dismayed at the event. While weaved in as a synonym for the story to lean back on is the tale of
the Chicxulub the asteroid that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. The main invoking message of the story is that one thing has the power to change
everything. From the start, the narrator starts giving vivid details that depict a city with dangerous roads because of a rainfall. Then, the narrator
starts to go one with the current story, but decides to go into a back story that is used as the backbone you could say of the story. The story the
narrator uses as a backbone is a story of a meteor that plummeted down in russia it flattened over 700 miles of siberian forest. Then the author tells us
something more. he tells us "If the meteor had struck just five hours later it would have exploded over St. petersburg and annihilated every living
thing in that glorious, baroque city. And it was only a rock" (the Chicxulub, page 1) This shows that if 1 rock had the... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
"Is she, they dont answer such questions don't volunteer information, not over the phone. The next 10 seconds were thundurus cataclyning my wife
standing there numly with the phone in her hand as is fi were some unidentified object she'd found in the street" (the Chicxulub, page 3) This shows
how the mom is shocked and dismayed to find her daughter was in and auto accident. So this is an event is someone's life that had invoked a change in
emotion because the character expression showed panic or being astonished that this happened. There for, this event shows how the thought of losing
her daughter frightened her. It unearthed her whole world. This shows that the thought of losing someone you love can change everything for

Greasy Lake Essay
Greasy Lake
Greasy Lake is the story of three friends who are bad characters. Until they run into a situation where they question, just how bad they are. Just
because they act badly and look bad does not mean they are. They are teenagers in a period, "when courtesy and winning ways [are] out of style
when it [is] good to be bad, when they [cultivate] decadence like a taste." (112) They look bad, wearing torn–up leather jackets, slouching around with
toothpicks in their mouths and wearing their shades morning, noon and night. They have the attitude, they drive their parents cars fast, and burn rubber
as the pull out of the driveway. They have the bad habits. They drink "gin and grape juice, Tango, Thunderbird, and Bali Hai,... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
All of a sudden, they see a friend's car. This is all the three need to know; now things will get interesting, maybe it is not a wasted trip after all. They
flash the headlights and honk the horn, a harmless prank to pull on a friend, "for all we [know] we might even catch a glimpse of some little fox's tit.
And then we [could] slap backs with red–faced Tony, roughhouse a little, and go on to new heights of adventure and daring." (113) In their haste for a
little excitement and adventure, they fail to realize it is not Tony's car after all, but someone else's car. This is the second mistake. The first is
dropping the car keys in the grass.
The owner of the car, a greasy booted character, does not find this childish prank funny. He comes out of the car, with fists flying, feet kicking. He is
not about to let these guys get away with this so–called harmless prank. This guy is bad; he takes on all three of the friends, and thoroughly beats them
up. Even after this, they still think they are bad. "[He] [goes] for the tire iron under the car seat." (114) The narrator still holds onto the idea he is bad,
"[He] [keeps] it there because bad characters always keep

Tortilla Curtain, Candido And America
In Tortilla Curtain, Candido and America have a very difficult time living in Los Angeles. Being illegal immigrants is harder than they thought.
Delaney Mossbacher, a middle–class man, hit Candido Rincon, a Mexican immigrant, with his car as he was crossing the road. Candido was badly
injured, but accepted twenty dollars from Delaney and ended up going their own ways. Delaney, his wife, and stepson, Jordan, live their routine life in
a neighborhood called Arroyo Blanco. This incident left Candido battered and close to death. After the incident, Delaney went from liberal humanist to
racist elitist. This incident also turned Candido from a diligent immigrant to an individual who commits crimes. Candido blamed having bad luck on his
To America, the American dream was not living in a huge, fancy house, but to have a "house, a yard, maybe a TV and a car too– nothing fancy, no
palaces like the gringos built – just four walls and a roof" (Boyle 29). The typical immigrant does not come to American with the intentions of
becoming wealthy. They come to American to have a better opportunity in life. To be able to own a home, work and have a family. According to
The New York Times, "The phrase "American dream" was invented during the Great Depression. It comes from a popular 1931 book by the
historian James Truslow Adama, who defines it as, "that dream of a land in while life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone." "In the
decades that followed, the dream became a reality. Thanks to rapid, widely shared economic growth, nearly all children grew up to achieve the most
basic definition of a better life – earning more money and enjoying higher living standards than their parents had." Learning that us Americans are
likely to achieve the American dream shows that it is all that much more difficult for immigrants and even more so for illegal immigrants. T.C Boyle, in
Tortilla Curtain, attempts to show the separation between the American dream of the community of immigrants and the American dream of the whites.
In the book, immigrants gather each and every day at a place called the labor exchange in hopes that someone will need workers in need to cheap
labor. Most of the days, the men

Essay on Finding Yourself
How can one truly know who they are? It takes years of experience to understand yourself; your likes, your dislikes, your abilities, and your passions.
Sometimes society will agree with these things, and sometimes it won't. Self–identity is the result of trial and error in terms of resistance to the cultural
norms of one's society, and the lessons learned through such resistance, as demonstrated in Munro's An Ounce of Cure and Boyle's Greasy Lake.
An Ounce of Cure tells the story of a teenage girl, whom remains unnamed throughout the entire story, who was brought up in a small town where
drinking was frowned upon, thinking that she was never good enough for her family. She had her heart broken by a boy at school and became depressed
over ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Alice Munro demonstrates the learning of oneself through the resistance to society via the girl in An Ounce of Cure. Although she knew it wasn't a
good idea, and that her parents and community wouldn't approve of her drinking if they found out, she resisted that cultural norm and did it anyway. By
drinking too much and getting drunk to the point of being physically sick, she learns that it was not the best idea. By the social consequences of the
rumours spread across her town afterwards, she suffers loneliness and learns that the boy who started her depression in the first place was not worth
the embarrassment, nor the experience itself. Munro depicts a teenage girl growing up; learning about herself and coming to terms with who she is.
The girl learns that alcohol (and pills) are not the solution to a broken heart, and that her time was wasted being miserable over a boy who dumped her.
Greasy Lake depicts the story of a young man, also without a name, who tried to build a reputation for himself as a "dangerous character" (p. 33),
much like many other young men of the era. He did many things he considered 'bad', such as wearing torn–up leather jackets and sniffing glue. It was
popular for the people of his crowd to take their parents cars to Greasy Lake, a local hangout for young adults which was in all reality just a dumpy
murky pond. One night, the boy and his two friends

Greasy Lake Analysis
Rachael Morrison
B.Matson
Into to Lit
4 November 2017Greasy Lake written by T. Coraghessan Boyle is written in first person point of view. The whole story seems to follow this point of
view. The main character whose name is not mentioned in the story is the one re–counting the story he is also depicting his story as an older version of
himself. He uses past terms to let the reader know that he is now older such as "We were all dangerous characters then (Boyle 529)." He also tells
them they wore torn up leather jackets (Boyle 529). It lets the reader know that this story is not present day, but a memory. It also lends to a sense of
what the story might have in store. According to an article written by Joseph Quevedo, he states "There is foreshadowing in the beginning of the story
when the narrator states, "There was a time when . . . it was good to be bad . . . We were all dangerous characters then" (Quevedo)." For me this sets
an advantageous foundation for the story. I feel that first person point of view facilitates the reader to really get immersed in the story. There is a
variation in knowing that someone else is telling the story and knowing that the character narrating the story was there and part of it. The narrator
confirms this when he lets the reader know he was at greasy lake with his friends. If I were to read this story, say from the characters mom narration, I
would link to the emotions of the mother. Knowing that this story is first person and

Summary Of 'Birnam Wood'
The story, "Birnam Wood" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, is about a young man named Keith who was a part
–time substitute teacher who filled in whenever
he received a call. Not having a steady job meant that Keith and his unemployed girlfriend Nora could only afford to live in small rundown shacks.
Keith describes the first place they lived in as, "a shack, a converted chicken coop from a time long gone." (156) One day the two of them go to
look at another seasonal rental, only this one was smaller and neither of them like it. Keith says that this was "awkward" for him, he felt that he was
the "provider" and was beginning to resent Nora for not working. The following day a friend of theirs, Artie, calls to tell them about a place they could
possibly stay. Keith and Nora eventually house–sit a much nicer place for the rest of the season, and Nora finally obtains a part–time job working at a
local bar as a hostess. One evening, Keith stays at the bar and begins talking to Steve (another patron at the bar). When Steve shows interest in Nora,
Keith dismisses it, and other things are said and eventually personal information is exchanged. At the end of the night Steve shows up in the house
with a bottle of tequila to see Nora. After trying to get Steve to leave, Nora (who appears to be upset and confused about why this man is in their
house looking for her) essentially allows Steve to stay. At the end of the story Keith is left standing outside "peeping" into a window of a nearby

Analysis Of Greasy Lake By T. Coraghessan Boyle
"Greasy Lake," by T. Coraghessan Boyle, is a short story about three teenage boys seeking and finding trouble on a summer night. These boys
wander around town and decide to go to Greasy Lake to drink some gin. While there, they see someone who they think is their friend and turn on the
their brights and lay on the horn. Consequently, this is not their friend and the guy in the car is not happy. They all begin to fight and the guy from the
cars winds up knocked out. Though the girl from the car still leads to an issue, the three boys attempt to rape her and end up in a mess. More people
arrive and these three have to run, leading the narrator to find a dead body in the lake. Although these boys wanted the crazy night, they were now
ready to head home to the comfort of their bed. They learned their lesson and were on the point of tears, they definitely will not be doing that again.
Boyle implies that there are many perceptions of the universal term "bad," and that often people can't truly understand the definition until they
encounter that threatening situation.... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
It is implied that because they drove around drinking gin and having "fun" they were the true definition of bad, but when they met Bobbie they
never knew what he was capable of. He searched and searched for the boys and even though he couldn't find them, he left some serious damage on
the car they were driving. Not only that, but the narrator saw a dead body and never could he live up to it if he had actually murdered someone too.
The narrator even goes as far as to say he felt joy when he heard Bobbie again. Although it is never actually said, you can tell that this "bad character"
they think they are is just a

Analysis Of The Movie ' Greasy Lake '
Most people know the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the personification of teen rebellion and independence. It illustrates the free–spirit disobedience
that lies in the hearts of teenagers. In T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Greasy Lake" and Anne Tyler's "Teenage Wasteland," the reader is given a glimpse of
the turbulent times encompassed during teenage years, including the questioning of authority. Through the authors' style of writing, the theme of both
stories are almost identical; the reader can conclude that both authors have diverse tactics in the way they tell the stories. Both characters in each
story go through teen rebellion but have different perspectives on how to approach these issues. In order to show the different approaches that each
story illustrates, both authors demonstrate initiation stories. In "Greasy Lake" the narrator experiences rebellious behavior because he believes that
being "bad" is cool. However, by the end of the story, the reader can identify that the narrator went through some sort of transformation. In the
beginning, the narrator worries about his image of being "bad" because he believes that his peers will think differently of him. The story clearly
demonstrates that the narrator's focus is on being cool, "There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be
bad, when you cultivated decadence like a taste. We were nineteen. We were bad. We read Andre Gide and struck elaborate poses to show that we
didn 't give

Reading Between The Raindrops By T. Coraghessan Boyle
Reading Between The Raindrops Water is a key symbol used in many different pieces of literature to symbolize two predominant things; calm
water symbolizes peace and tranquility, while rain or storms symbolize disaster and misfortune (Robertson). T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author of
"The Love of My Life", began writing this story based on a news event a few years prior. The news article was a huge motivating factor to the
author who stated that the story should break the readers' hearts as it had broken his when he first read it (Schilb and Clifford 556). The main
characters in "The Love of My Life", Jeremy and China, begin as high school seniors who appear to be madly in love. When China falls pregnant
after a camping trip the two took together it is made very clear that they do not want to keep the child; Jeremy states that China should go to an
abortion clinic upon finding out. Ultimately, China gives birth to the baby girl, and she immediately tells Jeremy to get rid of it. He does as she says.
Boyle... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Boyle is sure to state that "it wasn't going to rain, not a drop." The lack of expected rain symbolizes that the couple was expecting the trip to be
pleasant and that it was a perfect time in their relationship (Robertson). The serene happiness soon comes to an end. "What else? The rain, of course.
It came midway through the third day, clouds the color of iron fillings, the lake hammered to iron , too." (Schilb and Clifford 560). The rain storm
symbolizes, and gives an indication to the reader, that something dreadful may be happening. After it began to rain unexpectedly, in the next paragraph
it is revealed to the reader that China forgot her birth control pills and Jeremy only brought two condoms. Shortly after, the reader discovers that the
baby was conceived due to China and Jeremy's absentmindedness on the backpacking

Historical Poetry Essay
Literature 115–003 April 22, 2010 Donna Craine The Hit Man's Contradiction T. Coraghessan Boyle is a unique modern author whose work is a
mixture of humor and social exploration. Boyle seems to have a very morbid sense of humor; most of what he writes pushes the envelope and
challenges the meaning of what humor is. T. C. Boyle was born on December 2, 1948. He grew up in a small town in Iowa and first had dreams of
being a musician. To this day Boyle still performs in a garage band and is very passionate about music. Boyle quickly realized in college that he
could not make a living from music and drifted through classes until liberal arts became his passion. Boyle was successful in schooling from that point
on, "He received a Ph.D.... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
"He responds to the Hit Man's knock, expresses surprise at the Hit Man's appearance. The Hit Man takes Cynthia by the elbow, presses a twenty
into her father's palm, and disappears into the night." This is a very unique first date story even for the culture of the 80's which seemed to be
more sexually open than ever before. On an average first date the male usually tries to impress the father and gets a lecture about what time he
should safely bring the daughter home. But the Hit Man is different and Boyle creates these differences by contrasting the Hit Man to the social
norms of the eighties. The next major event of the story I find conflicting with the history of T. C. Boyle is when the narrator skims over the death
of the Hit Man's parents. The narrator only gives this event in the Hit Man's life five lines of the story. When the Hit Man's mother is in the,
"Hospital dying of cancer or heart disease," or something the Hit Man doesn't even care; he is out "shooting pool, lifting weights and drinking milk
from the carton." Briefly skimming over these events makes you believe that Boyle didn't have a good relationship with his parents. When in fact
that's quite the opposite, Boyle has always been a family man and at one point of his life he was even employed at the same school where his mom
was a secretary and his father was a janitor. (Cite this information) This is further proof that Boyle uses contradictions to the normality of his life to
create a dark

Adulthood In William Faulkner's Barn Burning
When does someone reach adulthood? Usually, one defines themselves as an adult when they turn eighteen, but there is more than simply turning
another year older. Adulthood has a physical aspect where by turning eighteen a person is considered an adult biologically, but there is a
psychological aspect as well where a person is mentally mature and able to make decisions for themselves. In Barn Burning by William Faulkner, he
writes about a young, hungry, and illiterate boy, Colonel Sartoris, who deals with the matters of right and wrong. He has to make a decision on
sticking with his blood, even though he is treated wrongly by his father, or doing what he feels is right. There are moments where he falters in his
choices after his moment ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The events that led up to the narrator's moment of epiphany, involved him and his friends starting trouble with someone they mistaken as their friend
and almost rape a girl, but are snapped out of their actions by the approaching headlights from another car (Boyle 531–532). This can be an indication
of the narrator's lack of mental maturity as he is not concerned with the consequences of this actions, eventually leading to the narrator's two
moments of epiphany. The first moment of epiphany occurs when he finds a dead body floating in the lake while he is hiding with his friends in
the lake (Boyle 533). Consequently, by him injuring a person it leads him to a dead corpse of another, realizing what his actions of acting "bad"
could result to. The second was when he thinks back to the dead man floating in the lake, who is "probably the only person on the planet worse off
than I [the narrator] was" (Boyle 534). At this point in time, the narrator realizes his actions could have been more fatal than just some bruises. While
he still has to face the consequences of his actions from his parents, at least he wasn't

Greasy Lake Theme
Autumn M. Ward Ward 1
Ms. Loheide
English 102
11 Mar. 2017
Journey Towards the Dark Side In "Greasy Lake," T. Coraghessan Boyle uses setting to portray the theme of the journey that one goes on to transition
from childhood to adulthood. At the beginning of the short story, "greasy lake" was seen as this fun place that "bad guys" went to hangout. They
smoked cigarettes, drank liquor, and gave their best attempt at finding girls. By the end of the story, it was a completely different place. The speaker
found a dead body, his buddies almost raped an innocent girl, he nearly ruined ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The story takes place in the 1960s. During this time, there was a really lot of controversy in the United States involving war. The Vietnam War
was was at its peak. The war began in 1955 and did not end until 1975. Many of the young men went into the war the same way that the narrator
and his friends went to greasy lake. They thought they were perceived as "bad" and brave. Just as the narrator and his friends headed to greasy
lake, they were unsure of what the night was going to bring. They experienced and saw things that they were not prepared for. In a way, the
narrator's car resembles the war as well. The car belonged to his parents. He took the car out unharmed, and in good condition. He brought it home
broken and tattered. The car resembles the boys who went off the the war. The narrator would not have ended up in the situation he was in if he
did not lose the keys to the car. Something as insignificant as misplacing a set of keys changed his life. Just as something insignificant started the
war. Almost every person has experienced a "greasy lake" at some point or another. Driving around with a car full of friends on a Friday night is
certainly not a new tradition for young people. For some kids, it can be as simple as stopping at the corner store for twenty dollars worth of junk food,
listening to the radio at the maximum volume and talking about life. For others, it may not be that simple. There have always been youngsters like Jeff,
Digby,

Analysis Of Greasy Lake By T. Coraghessan Boyle
In the short story "Greasy Lake," the author T. Coraghessan Boyle introduces us to the narrator and his group of friends who are going to Greasy
Lake to have some fun like the rest of the kids their age. Although the author does not give us the name of the narrator, we learn that he is nineteen
just like his other two friends. As the story progresses, we learn that after arriving at the lake, they confuse someone's car for their friend Tony
Lovett's car, so they decide to play a little joke. They soon learn that it is not Tony but rather a stranger who is looking for trouble and wants to pick a
fight with them. After looking for trouble with this bad character's girlfriend, they bolted out of the scene when a second car arrived. As the protagonist
It was so much for the narrator to take in that his "blood was beating in [his] ears, [his] hands were shaking, and [his] heart [was] turning over like
a dirtbike in the wrong gear" (131). He was even more scared when he strikes the greasy character and knocks him unconscious but mistakes him as
dead. When the young female approaches them, after discovering what they had done to their lover, he holds her captive to try to rape her. His
primal instinct kicks in, and he wants all he can get of her because "[they] were bad characters, and were scared and hot and three steps over the
line" (132). As a car approaches them, the narrator runs to the lake without looking back. It is there where he has his moment of truth. He swims
until he reaches the woods where he can hide perfectly from view. While waiting for the coast to get clear of any other greasy characters, he feels
something wet yet soft come in contact with his shoulder. As he reaches to touch it, he realizes it was a corpse of a man, who we later learn is named
Al, that was floating close to him. It is there that he learns that Al himself must have been a bad character as well and that is the reason why he ends up

Greasy Lake Summary
We often share large parts of our world view with our peers and our parents. That is because our environment is a key factor in defining who we
are, and in the case of younger people, who we are to become. In the short story "Greasy Lake", the narrator goes through a life changing event that
begins to mold him into the person he will be. By using a mix of setting, allegory and characterisation in "Greasy Lake," Tom Coraghessan Boyle
brings forth the defining aspect of the late teenage years in young adults and how those years play a major role in the development of one's world view.
For a start, Boyle makes use of the time and setting of the short story to portray a violent atmosphere. The short story is littered with aggressive
connotations and military language, whether it is used to illustrate the environment or the actions of the characters. Early on in the story, the protagonist
describes the island in the centre of greasy lake as "a single ravaged island a hundred yards from shore, so stripped of vegetation it looked as if the
air force had strafed it" (132). Ravaged hints at the ever present aggression in the story whereas strafed and the air force refers to the militaristic
undertone. In addition to this, the main character also references to well–known military events: "This was a tactical error, as damaging and
irreversible in its way as Westmoreland's decision to dig in at Khe Sanh" (133). Once again, the use of tactical marks the atmosphere as warlike. By

Relationship Between Tiller And Indian Camp
In Ernest Hemingway's story "Indian Camp," a young boy goes with his father to a nearby logging camp to aid a woman undergoing a difficult labor.
In T. Coraghessan Boyle's story "If the River was Whiskey," a boy yearns to take a fishing trip with his father, but when the two finally make that
journey, the trip does not live up to Tiller's expectations. The stories have different plots, but the conflict they explore are the same – a complicated
relationship between a father and a son. Nick from "Indian Camp" and Tiller from "If the River was Whiskey" come to the same revelation about their
fathers, by the ends of the stories, both boys understand that their fathers are seriously flawed.
An important similarity between the two fathers is that both are severely flawed and their sons come to acknowledge this. Nick from "Indian
Camp," notices his father's flaws when they arrive at the shanties where the Indians live. Both Nick and his father enter to hear a woman screaming
in pain. This later causes Nick to plead with his father asking, "Oh, Daddy can't you give her something to make her stop screaming" (Hemingway
76)? But Nick's plea falls on indifferent ears and his father does nothing to ease her pain. Nick at this moment realizes his father's flaw. To Nick, the
screams of the woman show she is in a heap of pain and for his father to completely ignore her pain is insensitive, particularly with him being a doctor.
Nick then watches his father cut into the

Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake
In the story, Greasy Lake (1948–1955), Coraghessan Boyle wrote about three teenagers friends who were looking for trouble and finding it. Boyle
talks about a time when it was good to be bad. The author used conflicts and plots as an evidence in the story. In the story three friends on third
night of their summer vacation night were driving around to look for trouble. Digby, Jeff and the narrator all head out for the evening in the
narrator's mother's Bel Air. They bought some beers and maybe some recreational drugs and heads out to greasy lake. When they reached, they saw a
car parked on the far side of the lot. They thought it was their friend Tony Lovett's car and decided to harass him but unfortunately it was bobby's car.
bobbies anger at

Analysis of Setting and Characterization in "Greasy Lake"...
In his short story "Greasy Lake," the lake with the community teenagers create a stereotypical scene of current youth pop culture. Many youth who
read this story can find the ironic references and similarities with their lifestyle in today's world. T. Coraghessan Boyle uses the setting of the story to
expose a world lacking self–discipline and showing immorality amongst a community youth, which can sometimes be rather common today. This
also aids in creating an atmosphere that surrounds suspense and impaired judgement to better develop the characters of the story. Boyle is able to
achieve this by creating a setting with the story of the Greasy Lake and describing the Lake as both a setting and main character. Greasy Lake is
described by the narrator as an aura of possessiveness and suspense to the average reader. However, while somewhat stereotypical, the narrator and
his friends see the lake as the most ideal location to get together on late nights. This can be translated as the beginning of setting a scene for a
location in which the adolescent youth can meet, with the reference to Bruce Springsteen's words from a song that opens the story: "It's about a
mile down on the dark side of Route 88" (Boyle, 125). The words from the song create a scene of how the youth had essentially treated the lake as their
own place. The image is further made clear when the faint island in the middle of the lake is described as "a single ravaged island a hundred yards from

Summary Of ' Greasy Lake ' Essay
Christine Berndt Ms. Granger English Comp 1A 29 November 2016 A Greasy Turnaround In T. Coraghessan Boyle's short story "Greasy Lake", the
reader is brought into an intense situation that occurs on one of the first nights during the young adult boy's summer vacation. The narrator, whose
name is never revealed, is out on an adventurous night with his friends Digby and Jeff. While out, they find themselves discovering whether or not the
idea of who they thought they wanted to be and, associate themselves with, was actually what they desired. This conveys the idea that fantasy and
reality do not always correlate due to inevitable consequences.Michael Adams a British journalist for BBC described Boyle's upbringing as having a
"rebellious youth who played drums, sang in a rock–and–roll band, and drove fast cars". Along with this Adams states that Boyle "Did not get along
with his father, a school–bus driver whose alcoholism killed him at age fifty–four in 1972. Boyle's mother, a secretary, was also an alcoholic and died
of liver failure". Greasers most often come from rough family backgrounds and find themselves indulging in fast cars, and enjoy mischievous activities
such as drugs and alcohol. With the rough and untraditional childhood that T. C Boyle endured perhaps it inspired him to develop "Greasy Lake". The
stories central conflict arises when the characters head out to Greasy Lake after they did not find suitable entertainment elsewhere. When they

Mental Change In Greasy Lake By T. Coraghessan Boyle
Written in 1985, author T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Greasy Lake" is a short story retelling a catalyst incidence that led to a mental change in a group of
rebellious youths. The most critical scene where this change is most apparent surfaces after the "bad" guys left and the narrator was left plunged in the
muddy river, contemplating his life and that of the corpse beside him. Through this short but intense story, Boyle has successfully integrated the
elements of characterisation and setting to vividly illustrate the realization about life for the teenagers. The first to be exploited was how
characterisation of the narrator and his friends in the scene has contributed to the theme of changing. The clear tactile imageries in the paragraph such...
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The instance of morning coming when the sky turned "from black to cobalt" and the trees "separate[d] themselves from the shadows" suggests a new
beginning just as the teenagers trudged out from the shadows of the lake – their wrongdoings. Their mishaps are no longer noticeable, lying on the
field as if "from a vanished civilization". Their desert from "badness" have been implied in this setting as a naturally right thing, like "nature".
Moreover, the sound of bird chirping, the sight of dew on leaves, and the smell of "sun firing buds and opening blossoms", are all symbolisms of a
brand new promising start, an opportunity to rid the old selves and change for the new, like buds and blossoms and morning light breaking the dark.
Although the vestige of the past is still vaguely there, "the broken glass and garbage", "the mud and shattered glass", the narrator and his friends have
forgiven their errors and improved upon their view of life, bending and decided their future that was "no more than five feet from the open door" – "the
keys". No greater symbolism can be expressed when the narrator mentioned the "glinting" keys "like jewels in the first tapering shaft of sunlight".
These are the concluding sign that indicated the rightful directions that the youths have taken and their concluded resolve to abstain from all "badness"
from

Greasy Lake Summary
What is "bad"? People associate abominable places with the word"bad" and enticing locations with the word "good". If someone were to go to Disney
World he or she would say it is a good place. But if that same someone were to go to a run down cabin in the woods he or she would say it was a bad
place. The story "Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghessan Boyle takes place in Greasy Lake. The narrator of the story describes the lake as "fetid and murky,
the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans....". Just from this one sentence it is clear that the lake is a bad place. As the
story progresses T. Coraghessan Boyle uses the setting of Greasy Lake to first give hints about the theme and then to reveal the theme in the end of
story. To begin, the setting is introduced with "It was 2:00 A.M; the bars were closing. There was nothing to do but take a bottle of lemon
–flavored gin
up to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The narrator gets into a fight with a "bad greasy character" after disturbing him and his girlfriend. "The first lusty Rockette kick of his steel–toed boot
caught me under the chin..." Later the narrator and his friends try to rape the girlfriend. "We were on her like Bergman's deranged brothers– see no
evil, hear none, speak none–panting, wheezing, tearing at her clothes, grabbing for flesh. The events that take place at Greasy Lake intensifies the
theme of "bad" as the reader finds out that being bad is no longer looking cool and defending oneself, a courageous and dignified attribute. Now
"bad" is preying on girls. Boyle uses the setting to show two of the three aspects of the theme so far. First he plays around with "bad" and makes it
look cool. "There was a time when chivalry and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad.." Then Boyle uses the events that happen
at the setting to suggest that being "bad" can get out of

Analysis of Greasy Lake by Tom Coraghessan Essay examples
Analysis of Greasy Lake by Tom Coraghessan
"Greasy Lake" by Tom Coraghessan Boyle, is the story of a group of adolescents, searching for the one situation that will proclaim them as bad boys
and how their minds change. As the story begins, the narrator gives the impression that he feels he and the others boys should have taken notice of
some obvious clues about themselves. These clues would have led them to the conclusion that they were far from the bad guys they wished to be.
However, the oblivious teenagers ignore these obvious signs and continue in search of their goal.
In this story, Boyle uses many symbols to create the theme. The individual vehicles are each symbols in the portion of the story that they appear. For
example, early ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The discovery of the biker's body is the turning point in not only the story, but also in the narrator's life. In a short time, he has been beaten, has
knocked out someone with a tire iron, almost raped a woman, found a dead body, and watched his mother's Bel Air station wagon be destroyed. Which
was all done for the rush of excitement. While hiding in the water that was previously seen as a tarn of doom, with all the nights occurrences spinning
in his head, he has an epiphany. Standing there he realizes what becomes of "tough–guys" and discovers that he has found his salvation within his true
self. Accordingly, as the narrator emerges from Greasy Lake, he is a new person with a newly discovered perspective. As the sun is rising and the
songs of birds replace the sounds of crickets, he leaves the pool of once dismal waters (Boyle 118). This signals his rebirth and his baptism as a
reformed adolescent.
The narrator shares this story from his youth in the words of an educated man. His actions as a teen are in stark contrast to his phraseology as an
adult. Early in the story, he viewed "nature" as sex, drugs and rock and roll (Boyle 112–113). However, as the story ends and the turmoil subsides, the
narrator sees nature for the first time, through the eyes of a person matured by this traumatic experience. The "sun firing buds and opening blossoms"
replaced the once revered beer and

Comparing Cons And Greasy Lake By T. Coraghessan Boyle
There is a common theme in both "Cons" by Jess Walter and "Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghessan Boyle and that is death. In both stories, someone
dies and there is guilt carried with them. In "Cons", One man kills a young couple who his walking on the sidewalk. In the story "Greasty Lake",
the teenage boy sees a dead body floating in the lake and doesn't tell anyone. They both now must go through life with this negative memory. In the
story "Cons" the narrator Kyle was driving home while he was drunk. He had to swerve the car to get avoid hitting another drunk driver. When he
swerved to avoid the crash, he ended up on the sidewalk where a young couple was walking. The crash killed the young man instantly and the women
was taken to the hospital and... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Kyle in the story "Cons" lived with his poor decision making for the rest of his life. It effected everything he did. He had to live with the guilt he
felt every day for the rest of his life. On his first date with Lisa he said, "You should know that I was in prison...I drove up on a sidewalk. There was
a young couple on a date and I hit them and they died" (Walter, 2). This is also how he introduced himself when he met Lisa's parents. Walter feels
that his mistake now defines him. When he meets someone new he feels that he must first tell them he has been to prison. His mistake has completely
taken over his life. He thinks that he is worthless because of his past

Essay on Setting in Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle
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.
The lake itself plays a major role throughout the story, as it mirrors the characters almost exactly. For example, the lake is described as being "fetid and
It is ironic that not only is the lake named Greasy Lake, but the individuals who hang out there are also referred to as being greasy characters as well.
The 3 main characters find themselves surrounded by "dangerous" characters, and get stuck in the middle of a huge fight. As if things aren't bad
enough, the main characters then attempt to rape a girl that is with the man they just fought. Very soon after more people show up ready to join in the
deviant behavior, all while in the presence of this dirty, disgusting lake. "I'd struck down one greasy character, and blundered into the waterlogged
carcass of a second" (128). No matter what the main characters do, or how they react to the conflicts presented, they constantly find themselves in the
presence of more greasy characters at the greasy lake.
The author also makes a connection between the lake and the characters in his use of the word "nature." Fairly early in the story Boyle explains that
the characters go to the lake to "plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars" which again shows us the connection between
the disgusting lake and the deviant teen boys. (125). Boyle then concludes the paragraph by saying, "This was nature," which describes the attitudes
and behaviors of the teenagers that go to the lake (125). Yet towards

Themes In Greasy Lake
Jordan Ford
Mailin Barlow
ENC 1102
27 Feb 2018
The Theme of Adolescence Found Within T. Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake
Adolescence is a terrifying ride that everyone experiences. Often times we butt heads with one another. We go to places that reflect on who we are or
want to be. At the endo of it all the irony of it is palpable. T. Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake explores this theme.
Boyle is known for his creative and compelling use of contemporary dialogue. ("Boyle, T. Coraghessan") This fits in well with all of the talking
amongst the teens. Boyle was born "in a lower–middle class home in (a wealthy part of) New York..."("Boyle, T. Coraghessan") This could easily been
where his thoughts on the young and rich may have formed. His views ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The narrator and his friends think that they're tough as nails. Verbally it's ironic that the boy's say that their bad but their reasoning is hilarious.
One was bad because he "allowed his father to pay for his tuition at Cornell..."(Boyle), a high tier, Ivy League University and another wanted to quit
school to be a painter. As the story goes on it is apparent that the boys believe in their faГ§ade despite being pampered teens. Dramatically irony
shows up when the trio of "bad" (Boyle) characters meet someone who's been down the road they're headed and it not being what they expected. The
Situational irony is prevalent when the boys are finally recognized as the bad characters that they've been trying so hard to be, but all they want to do
is cry and "get out of the car and retch..."

My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun Literary Analysis
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;/Coral is far more red than her lips' red;" (1–2) When one reads those lines in Shakespeare's "My Mistress'
Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun", to a normal eye it may seem as if Shakespeare is attacking his mistress with harmful words for no reason in disgust.
But in contrast, if one looks closer throughout the poem, one begins to find abnormalities in its text, to some individuals it would simply state it as just
gibberish. As it turns out, Shakespeare was only poking fun at how others would never would have a relationship as pure as his; any other individual
would paint their mistress out to be a beyond what she actually is. That gibberish is just one of the literary techniques that authors put in place... Show
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"And the, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long,
long time." (Vonnegut Jr. 221) InKurt VonnegutJr.'s poem "Harrison Bergeron" Vonnegut did not truly mean they remained everlastingly in the air
kissing, this is a figure of speech. Moreover, he wanted the reader to imagine them being larger than life itself for a moment of which they were above
anything else all the while being majestic and fantasizing in the process. In T. Coraghessan Boyle's story, "Greasy Lake" he wrote "I put the car in gear
and it inched forward with a groan, shaking off pellets of glass like an old dog shedding water after, heaving over the ruts on its worn springs,
creeping toward the highway." (Boyle 302). Boyle gives the car human characteristics to show the reader that it is badly beaten up and worn down.
The car is indicative to the main character if he was to stay on the course of being "bad" (Boyle

What Is The Theme Of Summer Love In Birnam Woods
The short story, "Birnam Woods," by T.C. Boyle, revolves around a dysfunctional couple's journey to survive in a harsh winter. While Keith
struggles to earn a living as a substitute teacher, Nora has a degree but does not care to find a job. Together they live in a shack without electricity,
so they try to find a new home. They become house sitters for a rich old couple. Later Nora proceeds to find a job as a hostess at a restaurant. After
Keith meets Steve at Nora's workplace, they discuss Keith and Nora's relationship, which Keith reveals lacks passion. This discussion opens the door
for Steve to make a move on Nora. As Steve approaches Nora with a poem and Tequila, Nora doesn't resist his charm. Dejected, Keith then leaves
the house and finds a couple in their bedroom, passionless like the winter. The scene makes Keith realize that when passion dies, so does the
relationship. In the end, Keith discovers that he and Nora have been living the winter life, and Nora has moved on in search of another summer life.
Boyle's story shows the bell curve of a relationship with summer as the climax and winter as the low point. Therefore, Boyle tells the reader to enjoy
the young, summer love while it lasts, before winter comes.
Relationships does not last forever; the love between the two lovers can also be broken up by physical and mental events. Also, love very often
represents youth, because
Ma 2 people chase love as a way of recapturing the dream of when they were young. As a

Symbolism In Greasy Lake By T. Coraghessan Boyle
In his short story "Greasy Lake," T. Coraghessan Boyle employs the setting to reflect the state of morality and corruption of a society's youth,
create an appropriate atmosphere, and better develop the characters of the story. Boyle is able to achieve this by centering the story at the Greasy
Lake and utilizing the Lake as both a setting and character. Greasy Lake is described by the narrator in a deliberately appalling to the average
reader. However, the narrator and his friends see the lake as the most favorable location to spend their days and late nights. The lake itself is
described as "fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires." (130)
However, as the... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Originally the narrator is as corrupted as the lake; though born pure and "clear" he becomes tainted by the "beer" and wildness of his culture. As the
character ventures to the lake on the night that the majority of the story takes place in, it is not difficult for the reader to correctly predict that some
action he takes will lead to some unfortunate event for him and his friends. The narrator comments that losing his keys after unknowingly instigating a
fight is "[his] first mistake, the one that opened the whole floodgate," (131) foreshadowing the grave and life–threatening events to come. After nearly
killing a man and nearly raping a woman, the narrator finds himself in the murky waters of Greasy Lake next to a rotting body of a dead biker.
However, after emerging from the water after what appear to be many hours, the narrator realizes how repugnant and unpleasant Greasy Lake is and
realizes after seeing the dead body in the lake what happens to the people that frequent the lake. Since Greasy Lake represents the society and culture
that the narrator is living in, the fact that he realizes that the lake is this repulsing is a self–realization that his life style is the same. The narrator is
symbolically baptized in the dirty waters of Greasy Lake. He foreshadows when he comments that the mistake of dropping his keys "[opens] the
floodgate" of the events of the night to come. The water imagery helps emphasize the baptism and rebirth of the narrator and his friends

T. Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake
Greasy Lake Essay In a short story of "Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghessan Boyle points out the characters from going "Good to be Bad" where
everything happened in Greasy Lake. It all started with the main characters, The Narrator, Digby, and Jeff, being bad characters and drinking
underage. One night they all went up to Greasy Lake, and they did any terrible act that was possible. Later that night, they were driving and Digby
spotted Tony Lovett's car. The story gets worse when the narrator loses his keys, and realized it was not Tony's car. Digby and Jeff were involved to
fight off the bad character and the narrator had no choice but to use a tire iron he kept under the driver's seat and smash the bad character head.
Another car shows up to scene and everyone ran away, once the narrator ended up in the lake and found the dead body floating. Right where ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
One of the characters named Digby, goes to Cornell University, and has his father pay his tuition. The second character Jeff, was thinking of quitting
school to become a painter/musician/head–shop. The third character is the narrator, who always wears a torn–up leather jacket and was also setting bad
example to his friends and anyone around. The narrator started his badness by "sniffed glue, or somebody claimed it was cocaine and drank gin and
grape juice," (Boyle 687). Together the teenagers were being rebellious looking for trouble in the summer evening. Throughout the story the characters
ran into some trouble, but what caught the narrator to change his appearance was when he saw the dead body in the lake. When the group reunited by
the next morning, they appear to be disappointed of the action they had taken. The end of story changed the character's actions from being bad to
rebellious free. Boyle uses characters to provide a lesson for readers to understand that there are consequence for your

Male And Female Relationships : The Gilb 's Love And The...
Male and female relationships have different aspects to them. The male in most male and female relationships reflect how dependent the female will
be in everyday life. Depending on how dependent the female is on the male in her life, may cause her to not be able to think for herself. The more
dominant the male is, the more dependent the female will be. This statement can be proved in Fin's "The Bridegroom," in Gilb's "Love in L.A.," and in
Boyle's "The Love of My Life."
Ha Jin is the author of the short story, "The Bridegroom." Tobias states that "'The Bridegroom' takes place in Muji City." The city that this short story
takes place in affects the plot of the story because beliefs are different in Muji City than other places around the ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Huang Cheng is a dominant man. He is a man who will always get his way. Since Cheng is this way, "conflicts can't be resolved" ("Bridegroom
Theme"). Cheng began to worry about his niece, Beina because "she turned twenty–three and still had no boyfriend." This shows dominancy in Cheng
because it shows that he controls and worries about everything that Beina does. Cheng feared that "she'd end up an old maid" (365). If Beina
would have ended up as an old maid this would make Cheng look like a bad guardian. It would appear that Cheng did not have good control over
his niece. Cheng thought that he had found the perfect man for Beina but then he realized that "Baowen had been one of the most handsome
unmarried men in the factory, and nobody had expected that Beina, stocky and stout, would win him"(365). This made Cheng realize that he made
the wrong decision because it will only draw more attention to him and Beina. Beina's marriage was not what Cheng had in mind for her. He did not
expect her to enjoy it or become attached. Cheng was upset because Beina was not listening to him. He tried to use his power to make her divorce
him, but her attention and focus moved to another man in her life. Cheng thought he wanted his niece to get married, but he realizes that he misses the
control that he had over her. He realizes that "when Beina still refuses to divorce her husband and insists on his goodness and the inviolability of their
marriage vows, her uncle

Movies Cause Failure In Relationships
According to recent studies, the average American takes about 3,500 to 5,000 marketing messages a day and spends about 41 hours per week
using technology such as cell phones, TV and internet. Living rooms of the modern era are centered around a TV, in our modern age we all grow
up drowning in a sea of technology and social media. Videos, movies, books, television, internet and the social media sites all clamor for our
attention. From an early age, television, movies and books provides a false idea of what romantic relationships are like and what it should be.
There is nothing like life Prince Charming, it does not really exist, and the hero does not always save the girl. I really think that the movies today in
our community is nothing more than a propaganda only because it teaches us the wrong things about relationships that are not true and many times
not possible in our community. These brings me to the point that I am trying to get across is that, Social media, movies and TV teaches us things
about relationships that are not possible and are wrong, which causes failure in relationships. Consider these examples from the movie that shows
how movies cause failure in relationships. I have also seen many movies that clearly demonstrate how movies, social media sites and media cause
failure in relationship. One of the best example would be the movie Notebook. There is a scene from the movie where the main character says, I
wrote you 365 letters, I wrote you every day for a

Essay about Compare a&P and Greasy Lake
John Updike's "A & P" and T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Greasy Lake" have many similarities as well as differences as coming–of–age stories. "A & P" is
about a nineteen–year–old boy working at a grocery shop who stands up against the manager trying to defend and impress the girls he is attracted to
who are not "decently dressed" (Updike 18). "Greasy Lake" is a story of several nineteen years old youths who play a prank on a bad character and
experience what real bad characters can do. Fortunately, Sammy and the narrator realize their deficiency В– infantility В– after their conflict with other
people just like the ancient Greek proverb says, "Through suffering comes wisdom" (qtd. in Vannatta 1637). In Sammy's case, "enraged that Lengel has
Hiding near the lake, the narrator is consternated and his true self В– the good side of his character В– is stimulated: "He is more shaken by guilt than
by fear that Bobby's friends will hurt him. He is, in fact, later overjoyed to hear the sound of Bobby's voice" (Vannatta 1636). He, as well as
readers, finds that even though he call himself "bad", deeply within his heart, he has many good personalities (traits?), such as sympathy for other
people (is sympathy a personality?). After he encounters the corpse of the motorcyclist and experiences what Bobby's friends do with his mother's
car, the narrator further more distinguishes the difference between one's appearance and one's inner self: a truly bad character does not have a
"label" on his face. At the end of the story, "when the young woman says that the three [teenagers] look like В‘pretty bad characters', the narrator's
reaction is hardly one of pride: В‘I thought I was going to cry'" (Vannatta 1638). Finally, the narrator completes this significant step towards
maturity. He does not try to act like a bad character any more because he is not born to be bad. All he wants is to go home and start his new life.
Both stories are told in first person from the narrators' point of views which allow reader to discover the immaturity in both protagonists' character
through their minds. In "A & P", there are many places where Updike demonstrates

Analysis Of Greasy Lake And Barn Burning

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Analysis Of Greasy Lake And Barn Burning