Greasy Lake - critical analysis (Anxiety of Adulthood)
...eing some girls take off their clothes” (129). What nineteen-year-old boy would pass up this great opportunity? On the way to the lake Digby is ferociously pounding the dashboard, and Jeff is hanging his head out the window to release the horrible feeling he got from the alcohol. When the boys arrive at the lake they see a car similar to Tony Lovett’s car, so the immature boys decide they are going to act as if they are a cop by flashing their lights and pounding on the horn. If only they knew how much their lives are about to change. At this point the narrator realizes that it isn’t Tony Lovett in the car; it is actually a stranger that is very furious. While exiting his mother’s car the narrator “loses his grip on the key to his mother’s car, which he believes to be his first mistake of the night. The second mistake of their night is when they identified the car at the lake incorrectly” (130). Now, the greasy bad character exits his car, and he is seen as “a man of action” because he does not back down from any situation he must face (131). Ironically this allows the three young boys to see that “bad” is not the word necessary to describe their attitudes or actions. The bad character then approaches the car where he then “Laid Digby out” (131). Until this moment it is unseen that Digby could be beat because he just finished a course in martial arts. “The narrator is getting the tire iron from under his mother’s seat in her vehicle where it is kept because bad characters always keep their tire irons in close reach for any situation they may encounter” (131). Even though the tire iron is under the driver’s seat of the narrator’s mother’s car, this is the first time he is using the strong tire iron for protection in a fight. The strong and “bad” narrator is terrified due to the situation he is in. I believe that the narrator can not be seen as “bad” because he is terrified, and no strong and “bad” person is terrified by anything. At this time the narrator is thinking of anything and everything that could possibly happen due to the situation he and his friends got into. “Dreaming of the time when the detectives are there questioning the murderer about what happened” is when the narrator is overwhelmed with fear (131). This fear is a feeling that is not felt by any criminal or true “bad” person. The three boys believe the greasy, “bad” character is dead when suddenly a girl runs out of the car screaming at the three young boys. All the boys notice is the girl’s figure, but they believe the most attractive thing on her is her toenails, even though she came out only in a panty and a guy’s shirt. The three young boys then see a car drive up, which they think is a cop. So, all three young boys are running into places where they cannot be found because they are in the process of rapping the girl. Once this car drives up, the young boys are not worried about anything but living through this horrible night. At this point the narrator is not worried about his mom’s car because ...