Like the lake, the main characters are so adumbrated that you cannot see their true selves. In the story "Greasy Lake," T.C. Boyle uses diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax to express the narrator's facetious tone. The characters change their behaviors and appearances to convey a "primal badness" because they are embarrassed to be in the upper class.
             First of all, the higher level vocabulary the narrator uses for these kids is much higher than one would initially imagine. This expresses the diction applied in this piece of literature. Boyle uses words like "decadence" and "susurrus" to help describe the nature and setting of Greasy Lake. He mostly uses words that one would not usually use on a normal day-to-day basis; words like "snuff," "fetid," and "feculent." This brilliant vocabulary clashes with the words and phrases the narrator uses to try to sound "tough." For instance, "pumping his girlfriend" and "my bowels turned to ice." He is very intellectual, but he doesn't want to admit it because he's trying so hard to be rebellious.
             Secondly, Boyle illustrates imagery in this selection. As I read through this passage, I noticed the narrator mention frogs on page 261 and twice on page 265. At the first glance, I ignored it until I eventually realized the frogs were used to represent the characters. The characters were being so vociferous and all of a sudden they fell silent and had no idea what to do next. The imagery also helps us to paint a picture of the setting and the scenery that is pounded in our heads using similes such as "the air soft as a hand on your cheek" and "so stripped of vegetation it looked as if the air force had strafed it." Boyle makes it clear to us on the very first page that the waters are murky and not clear. This reference to the water is telling the read...