Research PAPER on Greasy Lake Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Greasy Lake - Research Paper Example Evidence of being wealthy is because firstly, Digby’s parents pay his tuition at Cornell. Secondly, the narrator’s parents bought him a nice car. Thirdly, the boys live in a town with â€Å"housing developments, shopping malls and street lights, (Boyle, 396). Lastly they abuse drugs like coke and cocaine which are not cheap. The boys being nineteen years old think they are now adults and can do whatever they want, and they choose to be known as horrific boys in the small town (Youngs, 23). In my view, the boys option of being dreadful may have been brought about by the fact that they were living in a wealthy neighborhood where nothing much happens so they were bored (McDowell & Hostetler, 24). The narrator describes himself and his friends as appallingly awful characters. Their outrageous reputation is revealed by their clothes, the narrator says, â€Å"we wore torn up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what some body claimed was cocaine (Boyle, 125).† Parents want their young children to be clean shaven, but in this case, â€Å"†¦Digby wore a gold star in his right ear†. To further characterize their gross character the narrator describes the manner in which the three boys lived their daily lives. He says â€Å"...Able to mange a ford with lousy shocks over a rutted and gutted blacktop road at 85 while rolling a joint (Boyle, 124).† This illustrates how the boys were living recklessly and dangerously, but they are not terrible as they try to prove. This is evidenced when Digby allows his parents to pay his tuition fees to Cornell because he wants to go to school. These actions get the boys think they are the toughest boys around. In my judgment, I reckon the boys to be small adults who are rebellious and aggressive (McDowell & Hostetler, 25). This is a stage of life that everybody has to go through just like the three teenagers were experiencing. The boys in Greasy Lake situation are made worse because of boredom and resources they can afford to spend around. The night the reality of the consequences of being horrible dawns on them is when they run into much trouble than they anticipated. The boys are troublesome as well as naughty; thus they decide to play a grim trick on their friend. It is three days after the summer break and the boys go â€Å"in search of thrills†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Boyle, 120). They go into their usual place where a majority of people like to hang out during the day, but they go at night. The boys are soon to realize that bad boys are those born in the streets and who fend for themselves on the streets. As for me, I think the boys are not that tough they are just naive. This is because they are still young and have no clue as to the realities of life (Youngs, 24). Furthermore, they own nothing as they drive their mother’s cars and use their dad’s money. They are just trying to prove what they are not. Greasy La ke was once a clear and magnificent water body, but time has deteriorated it the author describes the river as â€Å"... Now it was fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires. .. So stripped of vegetation, it looked like the air force had strafed it† (Boyle, 125). The place is just awful, but I can relate the symbolism depicted by the author. Just like the boys were courteous sometime before, as one confesses that he has never had to fight since sixth grade, they are now filthy, just

Book review for No No Boy by John Okada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Book review for No No Boy by John Okada - Essay Example The novel is a fiction, not memoir. The divided loyalties and the mental blocks are the issues with Ichiro Yamada who is interned during World War II. The author has written a book that clubs personal ideology with national ideologies and aspirations and how the combustible youth is caught in a dilemma of the emotional world between his country of origin and the country of which he is the citizen. Ichiro fails to answer appropriately two critical questions in the questionnaire related to allegiance to America. His improper answers and denial to serve in the American armed forces and his repudiation to abjure allegiance to Japan send him to prison. On his release from the prison, Ichiro moves back to Seattle and the ground realities of the social life there bother him intensely. His parents are proud of being Japanese and he accepts United States as his own. With this dilemma he meets and has discussions on the subject with many people, but is unable to sort out the conflicts within h is inner world. Kenji, one of his intimate friends joins the military and during the war operations loses a leg with just two years to live. Ichiro sees parity in his mental anguish and the physical pain of Kenji. His friends and his own brother take potshots at him for not joining the army, which they term as betrayal of the country. The two friends discuss whether or not it is feasible to trade places. Ichiro admits candidly "I wasn't in the army, Ken, I was in jail. I'm a no-no boy." (p. 62)Though this is a joke between the two friends, it throws light on the type of social environment prevailing at that time which Ichiro finds it tough to challenge. The war has sharpened the conflicts of generations and anti-emotions have turned out to be hard. Adjusting with the new identity, even though one wants to go with, is hard due to the societal and familial pressures. Ichiro is compelled to bow before the hard identity scenario created by his mother. She wants him to identify with her Japanese identity and sets her own terms and conditions for loving him. Their views points about national identity are poles apart. He finally makes the decision that he is an American and looks forward to the future with cautious positivity. He is unable to think in tandem with his mother who has been in United States for thirty-five years and yet she identifies with the Japanese, viewed from all angels. John Okada was born and raised in Seattle and he attended University of Washington. The friend and foe of literary creations is time. Time intervened for more than a decade, before this book is able to hit the stands of popularity. This first literary creation by the author was published in 1957 and it remained unnoticed for years until it shot into fame when the literature of the Asian American minority groups becomes popular in the American literary scene by 1970s. This novel is the reflection of the inner crisis of the young Japanese who is confronted with the dual challenge of identity. Race is the crying question around which all other subsidiary confusion hangs around. Every segment in the town is labeled with the racial tag and its separate identity stands pronounced. â€Å"Oriental† is a big umbrella under which the categories of Japanese, Chinese and Asians are accommodated. Races victimized by the whites are also not at peace with each other and they are at loggerheads with their own problems. The younger generation has to break through such communal