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. Jul 06, 2009 This is Greasy Lake. The song states that Greasy Lake is 'on the dark side of route eighty-eight'. This is one of many mentionings of racial tension in this area as Springsteen was growing up. The side of the road that Lake Shenandoah was created on was where a majority of the African-American residents of Lakewood settled. 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” is a terrifying piece.T. C. Boyle masterfully depicts a society of “badcharacters” that most of his audience has not experienced for itself.The pressures and dynamics which move andshape the actions of every individual in the piece are orchestrated to showwhat Boyle illustrates as a people who “cultivated decadence like a taste.” Itis both incredibly disturbing and powerful.

The tone ofthe piece greatly reflects the culture described, acting as an agent to drawthe reader into the first-person narrative.Every step the author makes is part of a long, chemical process to suckthe reader in.The imagery is disgustingand symbolic; a lake once pure and clear is now “murky and fetid”, its banksstrewn with trash and broken glass.Thisspecific detail seems like a philosophical afterthought when first read, anattempt to factor disdain for the reigning society and actions to come in thescenery.Then the main character triesto swim across it.The main character isbeing chased, tries to swim across it, and discovers a dead body.The amount of potency in that moment alone isenough to knock the reader out of breath.Yet though it is the most pungent of the passive realizations, it isminute in scope to the emotional deathblows dealt to Boyle’s audiencethroughout.Never breaking tone, Boylebreaks down the ingredients of every disgraceful scene.From the murder (or what is assumed as such)to the attempted rape, I found myself trapped to read over each line multipletimes.Had I not, my initial flinchingduring the subject matter would have done what my subconsciousness intended andwithdrawn from the raw violence.

Backstreets

Greasy Lake Short Story

Instead Ifully drank the formula Boyle required in order to dream this nightmare.The morality was bent to that of a “badgreasy character”.The main character’sconcerns were not primarily for his disgusting actions.At least three times he freaks out thinkingabout how much trouble he will be in.Though I think it is safe to assume that by the end this is adistraction.

Thesentence “This was nature” is employed twice in the piece to top off a heftydescription of scenery.This acts as avisible turning and driving force in the main character’s view.Whereas the first shows a loose andrebellious culture outside of supervision, the next is a stark contrast.Looking at his wrecked car in the midst of awaking day, the main character is done with being “bad”.

Tone Of Greasy Lake