The Potency of Polution

"Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a somewhat depressing short story. In the second paragraph, Coraghessan writes, "The Indians had called it Wakan, a reference to the clarity of its waters. Now it was fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires." This before and after description of the lake's condition foreshadows the unveiling of another kind of pollution equal in its toxic effects: the corruption of the surrounding society.

As the story progresses, we learn what the pollutants of the culture are: underage drinking, smoking, illegal drug use, lying, immature pranks, fighting, sexual obsession, and even attempted rape. Through the use of these tools, young lives that were once pure began to mimic the fate of the lake and, as a result, became dirty and corrupt. The description of the lake provides the reader with a sense that restoration is impossible and leads one to ask if the demise of the characters is irreversible as well? The author's use of the statement, "this was nature" , implies that the degradation of beauty is to be expected rather than mourned. If that is true, is it human nature to destroy itself as well as its surrounding environment?

I think that while it can easily be assumed the individuals will experiment to some degree with harmful practices, people are not forever lost. While the state of Greasy Lake was beyond alteration, the lives in the story were not. The individuals could, with a series of wise decisions, place their lives on a more profitable track and follow it back to a more pristine state. I believe that the lake embodied what the boys lives would amount to if they did not amend their ways. Their refusal to fall into the final temptation provides some amount of hope that they will begin to restore their lives.