Greasy Lake-Feb8

The narrator of “Greasy Lake” is undisclosed however the two associate characters are known as Jeff and Digby. The boys are seemingly privileged but have rebellious tendencies. I would assume the tendencies are related to the general society’s standard at the time for those of this age. Other than making themselves appear hard and rough, the boys are looking for an adventure, a story to prove just how “bad” they really are. They are out to prove themselves.

The most vivid passage for me in this selection is located in the introductory statements of the passage. It appears as the author is describing the background/environment of the story.

“Through the center of town, up the strip, past the housing developments and shopping malls, street lights giving way to think streaming illumination of the headlights, trees crowding the asphalt in a black unbroken wall… fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and charred remains of bonfires. There was a single ravaged island a hundred yards from shore, so stripped of vegetation it looked as if the air force has strafed it.”

This passage is the most vivid for me as it allows me to view the setting in my mind. I am able to imagine the murky waters surrounding a common teen hang out, beer bottles littering the ground. The adjectives used and the word choice really allows the reader to be transported to the greasy lake.

I think the most important “object” and my favorite, in “The Things They Carried”, would be “the land”. Following war the land generally reverts to how it was used before, a place used for growing crops and raising families. Wars are always fought over terrain that has more than one purpose. It is not just a battlefield. After the war and a battlefield is no longer needed, the land is one again just land. The soldiers involved in Vietnam will most likely never be able to erase the happenings of their service. These men will always remember the beautiful scenery at which they had to be prepared for a face and rifle to appear behind at any moment. Mentioning the land as one of the things the men carried allows the reader to link both beauty and danger and through this link I found the “land” and story very relevant to today.