The Greasy Lake by Boyle - Book Report/Review Example

Greasy Lake Thomas Coraghessan Boyle’s short story ‘The Greasy Lake’ emphasizes upon the theme of maturation or coming of age. This is similar to the work of James Joyce, ‘Araby’ where the little boy is disillusioned in the end after living in his world of fantasy. The central character of the story, the unnamed narrator, helps in giving shape to the essence of the story through the narration of his life and transformations he goes through in different situations. According to him wearing leather jackets, spending time will friends who live dangerously, sipping grape juice and gin only in order to adopt a ‘bad guy’ image in front of others. In fact the very first sentence of the story sets the foothold for the theme to develop, “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” (Boyle, 341). The narrator therefore recollects his older days as a mature human being; he explores a time when behaving like a social revolutionary was cherished and finally accounts for the events which turns him into a more acceptable human being irrespective of his position as a social being. The author points out that the narrator actually pretends to be something which in reality, he is not through the following words of the narrator: “We were bad. We read Andre Gide and struck elaborate poses to show that we didnt give a shit about anything” (Boyle, 341). The narrator with his friends involves himself in a wicked tussle with the bad character ‘Bobby’. Their toughness is tested at this point of time. One may find that even while fighting, as the narrator’s friends play their role in the fight, the narrator does not stay back and watch. In fact he attempts to take out the tire iron he stores in the driver’s seat. He justifies his action, saying, “I keep it there because bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver’s seat, for just an occasion as this” (Boyle, 343). Once again the author carefully brings out the desperation in the narrator to appear formidable to the other social beings. In fact this fight was his first involvement after sixth grade, so he was not much used to such conflicts apart from the need to appear cool and bad. The narrator in fact represents a typical teenage youngster who feels like an outcast from the society and enjoys this feeling too by trying their best to live up to the essence of being a teen. Later he and his friends attempt to rape a woman but during their criminal attempt, they face a pair of headlights approaching them and in confusion they flee in different directions; in the words of the narrator, “There we were, dirty, bloody, guilty, dissociated from humanity and civilization, the first of the Ur-crimes behind us....there we were, caught in the spotlight. Nailed” (Boyle, 345). These lights appear like “accusing fingers” coming towards the narrator who feels guilty revealing his inner truthfulness despite his outer pretensions. When he tries to escape into the water he comes across a dead body of a guy referred as Al. He seems to undergo a change of soul and begins to avoid such dangerous and criminal activities. The dead body and the preceding narrow escape therefore makes him realize his mistake and come out of the illusion. Afterwards the narrator meets his friends and picks up a key from the grass, calling it the ““jewels in the first tapering shaft of sunlight” (Boyle, 348). This key is symbolic in nature, which shows the door to a new path; different from the illusion he has been into. He perhaps has taken the door by now and moves away from the world of crime and darkness. A realization dawns on him and throws light on the reality which take shim towards witnessing death as a result of such activities. The most important testing time arrives when the drunken girl (Al’s friend) proposes him to join the party. The narrator shows his maturity and denies this offer, saying, ““I wanted to get out of the car and retch, I wanted to go home to my parents’ house and crawl into bed”(Boyle, 348). This shows his white side where he needs to be protected and feels averse to the dark world he was forcefully driving towards. He realizes that he may find safety and peace only in the security of his parents’ home. The author does not point out definitely what or who changes the narrator’s mindset and arouses the guilt in him, but indications reveal that perhaps it was the close encounter with danger and death both of which were results of the lifestyle he led. He at last could not take the harsh reality and the threat of getting caught and punished (when the headlights spotted them in the act of rape) seemingly transformed him. He also realizes the value of life when he finds the dead body of Al and hence feels the necessity of protection. This is how he experiences the coming of age especially during the time of crisis in his life where he witnesses the stark truth and its certain end. The story also analyses the association between external look and identity. The pretentious look adopted by the narrator helps him develop a personality, which does not define his true identity. However he lives with it, quite satisfied with the appearance he carries in public. He seems happy with the personality he has developed with the help of his friends until he faces another side of reality from where his life’s journey takes a new bent. He changes his identity by altering his social habits and this is the prime indication of his will to change his ways. This comes from the maturity reached by his very core. His soul seems to have changed along with his change of ways. The Greasy Lake in Boyle’s story itself might be interpreted as a representation of “violence and death”. The narrator compares the decision of his group to move towards Bobby’s car with the “a tactical error, damaging and irreversible in its way as Westmoreland’s decision to dig in at Khe Sanh” (Boyle, 343) and this seems to signify the war at Vietnam and the oppositions from several Americans on moral and political fundaments. According to Gleason, the short story of Boyle reflects an “escape from the constraints of conventional American life and as a place where drug use and sex lead to spiritual enlightenment” (Gleason, 18). The enlightenment comes from the feeling of guilt and abstaining from the bad habits. The narrator first leads an extreme lifestyle and then a couple of incidents change his nature and principles, which led him towards the darkness. The author does not exactly mentioned what arouses the sense of guilt and causes him to change course but perhaps it was the pair of headlights and the sense of danger or the threat of getting caught red handed, which initiated this change. Later when he discovers the dead body of Al, a guy who also leads a cool life like him, the narrator realizes the value of life and hence decides not to waste it. He feels the need to be protected and therefore in his house. Hence the narrator undergoes the coming of age experience when he faces the crisis situation of his life and then witnesses the stark truth of every life, its inevitable end. References Boyle, Thomas Coraghessan. Greasy Lake, In, Fiction, Kirszner, L. & S.R. Mandell (eds), Paulina publishers. 1985. Gleason, Paul William. Understanding T.C. Boyle. University of Carolina Press, 2009. Read More