This story in some ways reminds me of the movie "Dazed and Confused" and the book "The Outsiders." The narrator opens this short story with descriptions of Greasy Lake itself and the narrators two friends Jeff and Digby, the "bad" dudes. We learn that Digby and Jeff are supposedly tough and dangerous as evidenced by their ability to roll joints while driving at high speed and wear their sunglasses at night among other things. This sets up the narrator as somewhat of a tag-along who looks up to his two friends. But then when they start fighting the "greasy character" it is the narrator who ultimately brings the fight to an end.
When the narrator is explaining why he and his friends tried to rape the girl from the car he mentions "Virgin Spring" which was a movie from 1960. In the film a Swedish girl is raped and killed by three shepherds.
I think that by the end of the story the narrator has gotten a dose of reality. He realizes that being "bad" isn't clean and glorious like he thought. This is evident when the wasted girl calls them "bad characters" and the narrator almost starts crying.
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I agree with you. When I read this story, I thought that the lake must signify something...especially since it's the title of the story. So that's something else to think about.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's such vast character development in such a short time frame. It's evident at the end that the narrator no longer wants to be "bad" and has a whole new outlook on life in general. That night was a sort of "wake up call." I also like your reference to "The Outsiders." I forgot about that book, haha. But yea, there is definitely a "greaser" type feel to these characters. Good analysis
ReplyDeleteI thought that the characters of Jeff and Digby paralleled the hoodlums in A Clockwork Orange, only they were unable to complete the entire process of rape/gang rape. They drove around in a car that didn't belong to them and they constantly found themselves in crazy situations, such as this.
ReplyDeleteWould you still consider the narrator a "good" person since he felt bad after being called out on his actions?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying on this except for one thing. My interpretation was that he almost cried at the end because he felt like an literal "bad person" for attempting to rape someone, almost killing a man, and then not saying that the man the woman was looking for was floating in the lake and then she called him a bad person. Though she meant it in a slang way, I think he took it literally and almost cried.
ReplyDeleteSo that's my random thought. Great job on the analysis though
Did you get anything from the dead body? I felt like it was some sort of a symbol.
ReplyDeleteStephen, yeah I agree with you that he felt guilty and dirty that he actually had become a "bad" person.
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