Tone Of Greasy Lake

GreasyLakeis a story of three boys becoming young men during one summer night. The youngteens go for a summer vacation in an area near a shiny and muddy lake. Thepresence of barriers at the site threatens to overwhelm them as they work on a tensiondiffusion strategy. The resultant conflict leads the boys to realize thatchanges to adulthood cannot happen overnight. They understand the burden andresponsibilities that full-grown men undergo on a daily basis. The poem'snarrator has two friends: Digby and Jeff. While at the lake, the three individuals cameacross a bad “greasy” being. The encounter resulted in one of the threecharacter’s epiphany experience (Boyle 134). As he gained an insight, lifeunfolded to him in a different view.

Al and his friends show up and the boys run off to Greasy Lake, where the narrator runs into a corpse and hides in fear. Typical writing for this author Theme for his works: Boyle traces the struggle of different groups of people. Greasy Lake has a feeling of suspense in the air, almost implying that trouble could happen at any moment. The tone of the book is suspenseful, so having the setting at Greasy Lake adds to the suspense of the story. Greasy Lake symbolizes the unsettling part of life that people do not want to see.

Boylewas born in New Yorkduring the baby boom generation (Walker249). His teenage life is characterized by adventure and partying. The poethails from a middle-class family and had all the life provisions as he grew up.At one time in his late teens, he kept a bad company of highly influentialfriends that molded his rebellious character. His warm behavior deteriorated ashe embraced his friends’ uncouth manners. He hardly resisted as he fearedlosing the company that he dearly valued. In fact, he recalled his engagements in dangerous activities as athrill-seeker. Boyle underwent all the traumatizinglife experiences during his youth. His encounters as a young boy inspired hispoetic story on GreasyLake. In fact, analystsargue that Boyle is personified in the poem as oneof the three characters. Digbyand Jeff are two characters thatrepresent Boyle’s teenage friends (Gleason 4).

Theauthor uses a graphic tone unsuitable for the underage population. He utilizesan explicit and aggressive tone in describing the insults from his friends.This is intentional in order to capture the real life conversation of19-year-olds. The author took a great effort to incorporate adventure and thefears of young boys about to become adults. As the teens get involved in aconflict, the author's tone changes to reflect the horror of the emergent “bad”character and the threat it poses to the young men (Boyle 130).

WhenBoyle sets his narrative in GreasyLake,he offers a reflection of corruption and weak state of moral values in thesociety and among the youngsters (Kane 121). He conceives an atmosphere thatcan accommodate all the characters in the poem. This is possible through thecentering of the plot at a lake. Greasy lake plays a vital role as a characterand a setting. Boyle’sstory is appalling to middle –aged readers as deliberately set by the author.

TheGreasyLake, while being murky and fetid, wasone of the most preferred spot for the youngsters to spend nights and to enjoythe serenity. Due to the cleanliness and transparency of its waters, theIndians named the lake “Wakan”. In essence, the lake symbolized the behavior ofteens spoiled both literally and metaphorically by violence, sex, and alcohol(Gleason 18).

Boyleexposes his literary skills artistically by creating an uncertain and wildatmosphere. He converts the lake as a setting that symbolizes sin, evil andcorruption. As the events in the narrative turn out to be extreme, the writeraccords additional freedom to the characters to captivate the attention of the readers. A description of both the narrator and hisfriends as “bad characters” not only amplifies their behavior while at the GreasyLakebut also makes the story more convincing and real. Boyle (135)describes the lake as smelling of decay to depict the diminishing morals of theyoung men.

Theauthor personifies and describes the GreasyLake and its environs indetail to expound on the narrator’s traits (Shine, 24). Beer taints hischaracter and culture, corrupting him as the lake itself. As the narrator tothe GreasyLake during the fateful night, theauthor hints of a possibility of unfortunate events. The style is intentionalto keep the reader on track and to generate anticipatory mood. The worstmistake that the narrator did was to start a fight and thus the loss of hiskeys. The entire event opened Pandora’s Box and changed the course of thestory. Indeed, it foreshadowed the turn of events in the future that wouldthreaten his life and those of his colleagues. He almost became as a killer and a rapist. In the first place, thenarrator could not explain how he ended up in the murky water area lying nextto a dead man. It soon dawned on him that GreasyLaketakes lives. Immediately, he repulsed his dangerous lifestyle. His actions emulate that GreasyLakeis a representation of culture and society.

Symbolically,the narrator repented and is baptized in GreasyLake’smurky waters. It is a fulfillment of his foreshadowing regarding dropped keysas “the floodgate” yields the dangers in the following night. The baptism bywater is an imagery to signify transformation of the life of the narrator, Digby and Jeff(Boyle 131). While the lake was in a poor condition during the narrator’ssubmergence, his emergence as a cleansed and transformed person postulates thathe was indeed “dirtier” than the personified water. Drugs were offered to thenarrator and his friends after the baptismal event in the lake. They bluntlydeclined to revert to their “old ways.” It was clear they had moved on to starta new life after they turned down offers of an attractive woman. Boyle,therefore, keeps the reader’s hope on triumph of good over evil as the storyends (Werlock 32).

Dueto the occurrence of horrific events in the fateful night, there is a highprobability that the protagonists mend theirways in the future. The subsequence of events that yielded the narrator’sepiphany at GreasyLake can make him torefrain from participating in impulsive activities (Kathryn 5).

How the Poem Affects Me

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Ihave a 17-year-old sister that just cleared high school. Already, she hasstarted engaging in dangerous behaviors that can threaten her future. If she doesnot receive assistance immediately, chances are that she is going to retrace footstepsof Jeff and Digbyin the story. What I am worried about is that my younger sister would regrether current involvements in the future. Nobody should deny a teenager a chanceto enjoy his/her youth. However, when push comes to shove, it is necessary tointervene and prevent a catastrophe. I am well-aware of the effect of peerpressure among the adolescents.

Afterreading Boyle’s story, I became increasinglyconcerned on the dangers that my sister and her friends are exposingthemselves. As a caring sister, I intend to hold a discussion with my sister onhow she can take control of her life. If she resists, I will recommend GreasyLakepoem for her to read. The horrific scenes in Boyle’sbook and the fate of the three teenage friends can be enough to transform hermindset.

Boyle, T C.Greasy Lake& Other Stories. New York,N.Y: Penguin, 1986: 1-216. Internet resource.

Gleason, Paul W.UnderstandingT.c.Boyle. Columbia,S.C: University of South Carolina Press,2009. 1-56. Print.

Kane, RichardC. 'Earth,Water, and Fire: Elemental Representations of Feminist Force In Stories by JohnCheever, T.CoraghessanBoyle, and TobiasWolff.'Journal of the Short Story inEnglish. Les Cahiers de la nouvelle42(2004): 111-134.

Kathryn, Raines. 'Greasy Lake.'(2006): 1-7. Print.

Shine K, Neuleib J. Introductionto Literature. New Jersey:Pearson Custom Publishers; 2008:1-42.

Walker, Michael. 'Boyle's'Greasy Lake'and the Moral Failure ofPostmodernism.'Details:Studies in Short Fiction 31.2 (Spring 2010): p247-255.(1994). Print.

Backstreets

Werlock, Abby H. P, and JamesP.Werlock.TheFacts on File Companion to the American Short Story. New YorkNY:Facts On File, Inc, 2010:12-65. Internet resource.