In his short story “Greasy Lake,” T. Coraghessan Boyle uses setting to show corruption of a today’s youth, created desirable atmosphere, and really show the inner character. He does this by centering the story at the Greasy Lake and using the Lake as both a setting and character.
Greasy Lake is described by the narrator in very blunt terms and tells you what to expect. However, the narrator see’s the lake as the cool place to hang out and forget about there boring college life. The lake 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, the narrator explains that lake was not always dirty but, was named “Wakan” by “the Indians”, the name “a reference to the clarity of its waters.” (130) The changes in the lake, from clear to murky, signifies the corruption of the society’s morals vs. the purity of the native americans. Greasy Lake is a symbol for the today’s youth culture with it corruption, alcohol, sex, and violence. …show more content…
At the narrator is pure as the lake was in indian time but as time went on the narrator becomes a corrupted as the lake was. As the character ventures to the lake that night, readers can easily predict that the their actions are not going to lead to a good ending . The narrator himself says that losing his keys after starting a fight was “[his] first mistake, the one that opened the whole floodgate,” (131) foreshadowing the consequences of that action. After almost killing someone with a jack and nearly raping a woman, the narrator finds himself next a dead man in greasy lake. However, after encountering all of this the narrator realizes that he gone too far down the road and must make his way back. Since Greasy Lake represents the culture and society that the narrator is lives in, the lake is an exact split image of
Greasy Lake is described by the narrator in very blunt terms and tells you what to expect. However, the narrator see’s the lake as the cool place to hang out and forget about there boring college life. The lake 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, the narrator explains that lake was not always dirty but, was named “Wakan” by “the Indians”, the name “a reference to the clarity of its waters.” (130) The changes in the lake, from clear to murky, signifies the corruption of the society’s morals vs. the purity of the native americans. Greasy Lake is a symbol for the today’s youth culture with it corruption, alcohol, sex, and violence. …show more content…
At the narrator is pure as the lake was in indian time but as time went on the narrator becomes a corrupted as the lake was. As the character ventures to the lake that night, readers can easily predict that the their actions are not going to lead to a good ending . The narrator himself says that losing his keys after starting a fight was “[his] first mistake, the one that opened the whole floodgate,” (131) foreshadowing the consequences of that action. After almost killing someone with a jack and nearly raping a woman, the narrator finds himself next a dead man in greasy lake. However, after encountering all of this the narrator realizes that he gone too far down the road and must make his way back. Since Greasy Lake represents the culture and society that the narrator is lives in, the lake is an exact split image of