Youthful Delusions

    "Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghesson Boyle is a short story that explores many topics, including youth, counterculture, and human nature. He does this through the lens of a man looking back on a traumatic event of his youth. Of the stories we've read, I think "Greasy Lake" is the best due to his use of point of view in characterizing both the protagonist in his youth as well as the narrator reflecting upon his actions as a teenager.
    The protagonist of "Greasy Lake" and his friends view themselves as bad characters. They are young; they are nineteen and cruising past the suburbs to reach somewhere more fitting of their character, or at least what they believe to be their character. Boyle opens the story with vivid description of these boys, dropping hints that they may not be as bad as think they are. They drive their parents "whining station wagons" past housing developments and strip malls to get to Greasy Lake, a place known for the "bad" people it attracts. He implies that these kids don't live in the rougher parts of the town that they consistently go to, but rather in one of the many housing developments that drive by on their way there.
    The narrator is a much older version of the protagonist, reflecting on the events of his past. This point of view allows the narrator to reveal the true nature of his youth.. He looks back on the events of the story and makes commentary on how they were bad. The events of the story seem to change this, however, at least slightly. When the boys try to prank a man they think is their friend, the story takes a turn for the worst when they realize that he is not. Through the violence that ensues as the man they pranked attempts to physically punish them, much is revealed about the three characters from the suburbs. The narrator makes it clear that these boys aren't as bad as they think. The protagonist keeps a tire iron under his front seat, and though he never uses it, he keeps it there because "bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver's seat." He doesn't keep the tire iron there because he himself is a bad character, but rather because he aspires to be one. Slowly, the narrator reveals details about the boys that paint them less as bad characters and more as kids trying to look a part.
    This slow revelation of the protagonists true self lends depth to both his character and the story. Because the narrator is telling this story long after the events occurred, it appears he has had time to reflect upon those events and form opinions on his actions (not that those opinions are always agreeable). The reader gains a fuller view of both the protagonist while the events are taking place and of his current state as the narrator. This makes for an interesting and engrossing short story.