Figurative Language In Greasy Lake
In "Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author illustrates the journey towards adulthood for three teenage boys in a time when it was hip to be "bad." The narrator, the protagonist of the story, and his friends, Digby and Jeff, consider themselves to be "dangerous characters"(129) as they keep toothpicks in their mouths, wear torn-up leather jackets, sniff glue, and drink gin. The story begins with the "bad" boys taking out the narrator's mother's station-wagon to cruise the local strip, while eating and drinking alcohol. As the night winds down, the boys head to a disgustingly filthy place where the "bad" go to be bad called Greasy Lake. This begins a series of terrible events where the boys beat someone almost to the point of death,
…show more content…
The story is packed with imagery and figurative language. The language used by the author to describe the lake as "fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and charred remains of bonfires" (129) creates an image of chaos and uncertainty. This also parallels the boy's uncertainty in their journey to and from badness. Boyle use of similes to expand on his descriptions such as "my heart turning over like a dirt bike in the wrong gear" (131) to drives home to the reader the intensity of the fight between the greasy character and the boys. The author also uses several metaphors and personification to give more detail and feeling to the story. For example: "Behind me, the girl's screams rose intensity, disconsolate, incriminating, the screams of a Sabine women, the Christian martyrs, Ann Frank dragged from the garret" (132). This metaphor demonstrates how truly horrific their act had been and the realization of the consequences of their actions. The use of personification by the narrator to describe the body as a "victim bobbing sorrowfully in the lake at my back" (134) illustrates the narrators feeling of pity for the dead greasy character by giving his lifeless body a sorrowful emotion. This helps the narrator to connect some of the bad outcomes of being "bad". Boyle use of informal/streetwise diction and irony helps to communicate the experiences of teenage boys trying to be bad. The raw and direct ways the story is told reflects the unpredictability of being a
The story is packed with imagery and figurative language. The language used by the author to describe the lake as "fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and charred remains of bonfires" (129) creates an image of chaos and uncertainty. This also parallels the boy's uncertainty in their journey to and from badness. Boyle use of similes to expand on his descriptions such as "my heart turning over like a dirt bike in the wrong gear" (131) to drives home to the reader the intensity of the fight between the greasy character and the boys. The author also uses several metaphors and personification to give more detail and feeling to the story. For example: "Behind me, the girl's screams rose intensity, disconsolate, incriminating, the screams of a Sabine women, the Christian martyrs, Ann Frank dragged from the garret" (132). This metaphor demonstrates how truly horrific their act had been and the realization of the consequences of their actions. The use of personification by the narrator to describe the body as a "victim bobbing sorrowfully in the lake at my back" (134) illustrates the narrators feeling of pity for the dead greasy character by giving his lifeless body a sorrowful emotion. This helps the narrator to connect some of the bad outcomes of being "bad". Boyle use of informal/streetwise diction and irony helps to communicate the experiences of teenage boys trying to be bad. The raw and direct ways the story is told reflects the unpredictability of being a