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Introduction

Greasy Lake Analysis This opening paragraph is very introductory: it impresses immediately upon the reader the setting and character type. The reader is brought into this world of badness and decadence, so that they will later understand better the actions and reactions of the characters, which would seem weird if not for the context in which they take place. The introductory paragraph establishes the feeling of a community of badness: to feel as they belong in this social group, in order to be accepted, being bad is essential. Opening sentence sets tone/atmosphere/setting for the rest of the story, so that we sort of expect the type of characters and events we are later introduced to. "There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style..." "Out of style" suggests that, as discussed later, it was simply not "cool" to be good, and if one was, one would be "out of style" and thus out of the group or community. ...read more.

Middle

They are trying to prove that they "didn't give a s**t about anything", because that is what is accepted in the group as "cool". As the narrator describes one unforgettable night in his young adulthood, he reveals more about himself through his description of the setting. The action takes place in a postmodern city. The author describes the setting as being in the 'center of the town' with 'housing developments'. This carefully sets the scene for an inhuman, violent action and an outright display of moral failure in postmodernism. This moral failure is to be shown throughout the story, where the naivete of the adolescent and his two friends Digby and Jeff is mocked by the ironic, amused, and detached tone of the narrator. The setting describes the passage of the protagonist from water to land, and from night to morning. ...read more.

Conclusion

This is unnatural and incongruent to the real definition of nature, but it nevertheless reflects the narrator's distorted perception, as well as representing the narrator's lifestyle at the time. "There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style..." Opening sentence sets tone/atmosphere/setting for the rest of the story, so that we sort of expect the type of characters and events we are later introduced to. "Out of style" suggests that, as discussed later, it was simply not "cool" to be good, and if one was, one would be "out of style" and thus out of the group or community. This time probably refers to the 1950's, and the story then relies strongly on the lifestyle and culture of that period. However, another interpretation of that sentence could be that the narrator was simply referring a time in his life, around the age of nineteen, meaning that, at that age, "courtesy and winning ways went out of style". ...read more.

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