T.C. Boyle's "Greasy Lake": Satire, Adolescence, and Moral Failure

Introduction

"Greasy Lake" is one of the most notable, readable, and critically acclaimed contemporary short stories written by T. Coraghessan Boyle. The fact that he drew a line and an idea from the iconic rock star Bruce Springsteen has generated considerable press, although the story stands on its own as a piece of biting social satire — mixed with humor, drenched in bad behavior, felonious sexual conduct, and alcohol. Not all critics praise the story, however. Though well written, it is very dark, it sometimes stretches credulity, and the behavior of its characters is mindlessly violent and morally bankrupt.

The Greasy Lake Story: Setting and Social Context

"Thirty-three percent of teenagers experience problems at home, school, work, or in the community stemming from substance abuse. The fact that teenagers become addicted more quickly than adults contributes to these problems… between 1977 and 1987 — the window of time in which Boyle's story was written — alcohol was responsible for approximately 54% of all fatal automobile crashes in Colorado" (University, 2004).

What author Boyle demonstrates, beyond his obvious talent for constructing strong narrative and tapping into the contemporary subculture of drugs, rowdiness, alcohol, and mindless violence, is what Larry McCaffery calls "razzle-dazzle verbal energy" (McCaffery, 1985, p. 15). The three male "spirits," as McCaffery describes them, are out and about on a warm June night searching for "the heart of a Saturday night." They are "bored, drunk, clad in torn-up leather jackets" — fairly typical suburban adolescents hoping to stir up some mischief. They get all they can handle and more.

McCaffery references Springsteen's lyrics — as many scholars and journalists do when examining this story — explaining that "what's a fella to do when Thunder Road leads only to more housing developments and shopping malls" (p. 15). Hence, the bored teenagers end up at Greasy Lake, an ironic location. The Native Americans who once resided here celebrated the virtues of this lake, clean and productive for their community. Now it is a ruin, littered with used condoms, shattered glass, beer cans, and other trash. One could argue that the degraded condition of the once-pristine lake is a metaphor for the setting and theme of the story. While the lake's original inhabitants lived in a sustainable, productive culture, the teenagers in this narrative — with their asinine, imbecilic mentality — have spoiled the human dimension of the place much as the refuse has degraded the water itself.

Alcohol, Violence, and the Descent into Chaos

The alcohol consumed by the three protagonists contributes mightily to their dull-witted search for adventure. McCaffery describes their quest as emitting "the rich scent of possibility," though that scent "turns sour in a hurry" as a "vicious thug is mistaken for a buddy, the car keys are lost," a bloody fight breaks out, and a tire iron is used in the fracas (p. 15). After a skull is cracked, the narrator dives into the "primal ooze of Greasy Lake itself." While submerged in the slimy water, he hears his parents' station wagon being destroyed and has "a grisly encounter with the corpse of a dead biker" (p. 15).

Regarding the chain of mistakes that leads to disaster, trying to hold a glass of gin in one hand and a roach clip in the other was "the first mistake," according to the narrator. He dropped his car keys in his eagerness to investigate his friend Tony, whom he suspected of having sex with his girlfriend in the back seat of a parked car. Perhaps they would see a little action and "roughhouse a little," Boyle writes. However, the boys' first real mistake was getting drunk and smoking marijuana, which clouded their judgment. Their second mistake was pulling up behind the 1957 mint Chevy, flashing bright lights, and honking the horn. The third came when the narrator bent down to find his keys.

At this point in the story, Boyle reminds readers that the events take place during the Vietnam War — a detail that, for any reader attuned to that era, helps set the tone and theme. It was an age of rebellion, of burning draft cards in protest, of marijuana becoming the drug of choice for millions of young people, and of Walter Cronkite delivering the latest body count on the evening news.

The narrator compares dropping the car keys to the "tactical error" that General William Westmoreland made by ordering U.S. troops to dig in at the bloody outpost of Khe Sanh in the late 1960s. This comparison strains logic considerably. Three drunken teenagers getting their comeuppance beside a trashed lake is a whisper compared to the slaughter of American forces in Vietnam, which was a hurricane, a tsunami, and a catastrophe by any measure.

Conclusion

The story by Boyle is dramatic and dark, telling a tale of drunken adolescents drinking gin and smoking weed — which in itself is not a revelation. But the quality of Boyle's writing has brought him fame and well-deserved respect. Although the story contains gaps and moments of implausibility, they do not ultimately undermine the work. Just as the Vietnam War was a large-scale disaster, this small disaster involving three stoned teenagers is, in the end, simply over — and that, perhaps, is the most honest thing the story has to say.