Greasy Lake Symbolism
Unlike novels, short stories require an author to tell an interesting story with fleshed out characters. To create such a piece, the author must have a methodical approach to the words they choose. So how can the author's choice of words shapen the devolvement of the story? Richard Ford's story, "Under the Radar," and T.C Boyle's, "Greasy Lake," are great examples of how astute word choice provide depth in establishing the setting, developing characters, and as a catalyst for how the events will unfold.
T.C Boyle's, "Greasy Lake," focuses on the conflicts of three 19-year olds, set in the 1960s, between their perceived self-image and the true self within. The story tells the tale of three young kids, fueled with cheap lemon-flavored gin, a lingering high, and a hunger for danger. Bored on during their third night of summer vacation, the boys decide to go to the local …show more content…
The symbolism in this story is used metaphorically and as means of foreshadowing. The lake is used as the center of symbolism and emphasizes how a once pure and divine creation can be easily tainted by poor choices. When the boys arrive at Greasy Lake, a "copper" is parked along the shore, and next to it, a 57 Chevy (169). These vehicles are hotrods symbolic of true "greasers". Furthermore, the biker, "Al," is symbolic of consequences for action. He was a "bad boy" who made poor decisions and ended up bloated corpse in the trash-filled lake. Moreover, the murky water and corpse give the narrator an epiphany, an almost symbolic baptism. This event is also foreshadowed during the narrator's mistake of dropping the keys "The first mistake, the one that opened the whole floodgate..." (169). The narrator is metaphorically cleansed by the water, giving him a sudden moment of clarity, a moment in which he realizes that he is in fact not "bad" in nature and that if he pursues this false image, then he too will end up like
T.C Boyle's, "Greasy Lake," focuses on the conflicts of three 19-year olds, set in the 1960s, between their perceived self-image and the true self within. The story tells the tale of three young kids, fueled with cheap lemon-flavored gin, a lingering high, and a hunger for danger. Bored on during their third night of summer vacation, the boys decide to go to the local …show more content…
The symbolism in this story is used metaphorically and as means of foreshadowing. The lake is used as the center of symbolism and emphasizes how a once pure and divine creation can be easily tainted by poor choices. When the boys arrive at Greasy Lake, a "copper" is parked along the shore, and next to it, a 57 Chevy (169). These vehicles are hotrods symbolic of true "greasers". Furthermore, the biker, "Al," is symbolic of consequences for action. He was a "bad boy" who made poor decisions and ended up bloated corpse in the trash-filled lake. Moreover, the murky water and corpse give the narrator an epiphany, an almost symbolic baptism. This event is also foreshadowed during the narrator's mistake of dropping the keys "The first mistake, the one that opened the whole floodgate..." (169). The narrator is metaphorically cleansed by the water, giving him a sudden moment of clarity, a moment in which he realizes that he is in fact not "bad" in nature and that if he pursues this false image, then he too will end up like