Greasy Lake is a short story written by the American writer named T. Coraghessan Boyle. The short story appears in a collection published in 1985 with other 15 short stories.
The themes discussed in the collection range from what humans perceive as being a Bad Boy behavior in Greasy Lake to recollection of the past in the short story entitled The Hector and Quessadillia.
In Greasy Lake, the author analyzes a group of rebellious teenagers trying to appear more dangerous than they are in reality. The main character and the narrator of the story remain unknown, creating thus a sense of mystery and drama. The children spend their time in dangerous places, frequented by vandals and junkies and one night they get involved with a man named the Bad Character who took his girlfriend there to have sex with her.
While running away from the Bad Character, the narrator discovers a body in the water. He chooses however to remain silent and to not reveal what he found.
The short story has the purpose of analyzing what is really important in life. The narrator and his friends try to find their purpose in life and thus they try to emulate a behavior they deem as being desirable. The narrator however reaches the conclusion at the end that what matters is not whether a person is perceived as being bad or good, but rather the gift of life that can be taken away from someone in a blink of an eye.
