Greasy Lake by T. C. Boyle and Young Goodman Brown, by...

How â€Å"bad† can one be when put in a seriously â€Å"bad† situation? â€Å"Greasy Lake,† written by T. Coraghessan Boyle, depicts some rebellious characters getting into situations that are too rebellious for them to handle. These various situations, as well as the characters themselves, tell the reader something more than what is actually happening in the story. This makes â€Å"Greasy Lake† an allegory, because it can be read at a literal level, but interpreted on a second, more meaningful level. The story of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, can be considered an older parallel to â€Å"Greasy Lake.† The main character, an adventurous young man, sets out to do an evil deed and finds himself witnessing something more evil than he can†¦show more content†¦Greasy Lake can be seen as a â€Å"typical† teenage hang-out and it can be seen as a breeding ground for troublesome and malicious acts. The char acters in â€Å"Greasy Lake† can be viewed in different lights. The narrator and his two friends, Digby and Jeff, are three mean boys whose lives seem to be centered around getting drunk and high from dusk until dawn. The narrator praises Digby and Jeff for their slick and dangerous lifestyles. Their skills consist of dancing, drinking, and â€Å"rolling a joint as compact as a Tootsie Roll Pop stick† (65) while on a bumpy drive. These characters scream trouble. They seem like harmless teenagers out to have a good time but it can be interpreted that these characters will attract mischief. After a night of bar-hopping, dancing, eating, drinking, and smoking, they decide to continue the party with a bottle of gin on the shores of broken glass and charred wood. These characters can be interpreted as young, naive, wild, reckless fools. The decisions these kids have been making the entire night have not been good ones. They have driven to bar after bar, consuming drink afte r drink. Obviously, their decision making is impaired. The reader should realize that the road the boys are travelling on is one that leads to a bad place. It is a place that has everything to do with Greasy Lake. It’s a place where dangerous things happen. The allegorical element that is found in the boys is