Baptism by Greasy Lake Nick Pattelli 9th Grade

In T.C. Boyle’s transcendent short story “Greasy Lake,” the eponymous lake reflects the evolution of the boys from naïve greasers to enlightened, mature teenagers. At the start of the story, the boys relish their bad boy image as they drive up to greasy lake to drink gin and smoke reefer. As the story progresses, however, and they find themselves in the lake, hiding from those they perceive to be sinister people, the boys are baptized and ultimately changed as a result of their misadventure.

Early on, the boys drive to the lake, wanting to smoke and drink and act like the bad guys they think they are. They’re all college students who believe that they’re bad boys because they’re exceptionally immature: “We wore torn-up leather jackets,” the narrator says, “slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether” (Para. 3). One of the boys, Digby, “allows” his father to pay for his tuition at Cornell (Paragraph 3). The other, Jeff, thought of quitting school so that he could pursue a career as a “painter/musician/head-shop proprietor” (Para. 3). In other words, he wants to pursue a career that involves little money and nothing good. Most importantly, though, Jeff's desired career path reflects both his own...