Symbolism In T. Craghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake

“The Indians called it Wakan, a reference to the clarity of its waters. Now it was fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred murky remains of bonfires. There was a single ravaged island a hundred yards from shore, so stripped from vegetation it looked as if the air force had strafed it. We went up to the lake because everyone went there, because we wanted to snuff the rich scent of possibility on the breeze, watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the primeval susurrus of frogs and crickets.” (Boyle 168) “Greasy Lake”, written by T. Craghessan Boyle

Boyle refers to Greasy Lake as fetid and murky; the mud banks glittered with broken glass. When describes the banks as glittering with broken glass, the first thing I thought of was that the broken glass looked like stars at night when they reflect light shown at them. On the other end of the spectrum, the broken glass could resemble a minefield since Greasy Lake was compared to being strafed by the airfield. The vegetation is stripped off of a stray island in the middle of the lake; the broken glass strewn all over the bank makes walking on the bank a hazard. I think of all of the carelessness that occurs there and how it creates dangers for whoever is at Greasy Lake at the same time, or for those there later. Boyle uses some symbolism too. All of the people there that leave their trash on the ground harms the experience for other people as well as harming the environment. Boyle shows the dramatic impact that littering can cause to the surroundings. The broken glass presents the danger of cutting your feet when walking on the bank of the shore without shoes on. The water of the lake, which was once clear, is now murky and putrid. An island located in the middle of the lake is completely stripped of vegetation. The once beautiful Greasy Lake is now destroyed due to the carelessness of

He shows that teenagers are thought to seek out trouble to get into. He makes the reader assess his or her own character. He makes the reader think of the things they have done in the past. Boyle made me look at myself to see if I was like the Jeff, Digby, and the Narrator. Boyle strategically used imagery to give the reader a detailed template of what the Greasy Lake was like. Boyle also uses irony. He talked about how the Indians named Greasy Lake Wakan because of the clarity of the waters. This shows how corruption can completely ruin something so pretty. As I read the text, it made me think how being around corruption can cause a change to whom somebody is. I think since it was normal for the boys to be around that environment, that it caused them to have this ugly side to them that they did not know they had. When put through a trying situation, it caused them to act like the characters that were affiliated with Greasy