Greasy Lake

Enlly Bugarin

AP English Lang

Mrs. Guerard

September 7, 2012

Greasy Lake

Greasy lake is a funny story about three nineteen-year-old boys enjoying their third day of summer,  they see themselves as rebels. The narrator describes these “dangerous characters”, Digby and Jeff, in a serious tone. Nevertheless, his description of these “bad characters” makes the reader think the total opposite of bad; “Digby wore a gold star in his right ear and allowed his father to pay his tuition at Cornell,” and “Jeff was thinking of quitting school to become a painter/musician/headshop proprietor.” The narrator refers to Digby as a dangerous character, but then he proceeds to say that he will be attending Cornell, an Ivy League, completely discrediting his previous description. T.C Boyle then starts off describing Jeff’s decision to quit school, but this decision to quit school is not for any radical reason such as going into drugs or just out of pure laziness. On the contrary, I found it was hilarious when the narrator described Jeff’s decision to drop out of school, to become a painter or musician, as a decision that a “dangerous character” would make.

The narrator’s descriptions in the two paragraphs of the essay are meant to portray the boys as carefree. Instead, his descriptions have an opposite effect of what he desires. “We drank gin and grape juice, Tango, thunderbird, and Bali Hai,” the narrator carefully names all the “hardcore beverages”  they were consuming with the motive to make themselves look “badass”, when in reality they are all cheap liquor. After Boyle’s descriptions of the mock-worthy activity conducted by the “dangerous characters”, the story takes a serious turn when the incident at Greasy Lake begins to take place.  “Whatever it was we were looking for. We weren’t about to find it as Greasy Lake. Not that night”, this foreshadows the event that the boys later experience at the Lake as well as change the tone of the story.

The fight scene is serious and at the same time comical. I could imagine the greasy character that the boys had molested taking action against their joke. The narrator’s description of the fight is very vivid. Building off of the description earlier provided by Boyle, I am not surprised by the “fighting skills” held by the boys. For example, Digby’s skills in martial arts, which he attained through completing a course for physical education, were no match for the greasy character’s uneducated punches.  “Digby poked the flat of his hand in the bad character’s face..”  and “Jeff was on the guy’s back, biting at his ears.”

The scenes that prorceed seem somewhat rushed and unexplainable. Like the dead corpse that is found by one of the boys. Overall, the story has a good plot. It is casual and comical at the same time, and it portrays the ignorance of the boys who considered themselves “bad”.