Greasy Lake
...ity on the breeze” (556). He may have wanted to come across as bad but realistically, he wasn’t. His “two dangerous characters”, or best friends, were college students whose families were so well off they paid for college themselves. “Digby wore a gold star in his right ear and allowed his father to pay his tuition at Cornell: Jeff was thinking of quitting school” (556). The narrator was an unconfident, inexperienced, and immature guy. “For all we all we knew we might even catch a glimpse of some fox’s…then we could slap backs with red-faced Tony…and go on to new heights of adventure and daring” (557). This narrator wanted was to be a “bad” character; and rather he was prepared for it or not, he found himself confronted with one. “The first lusty Rockette kick of his steel-toed boot caught me under the chin, chipped my favorite tooth, and left me sprawled in the dirt” (558). Once confronted with a real tough guy he resorts to his “bad” guy props to attempt to protect himself. “I kept it there because bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver’s seat” (558). Feeling “mindless, raging, and stung with humiliation” the arrogant narrator and his friends protect themselves and instantly shift their yearning eyes to the tough guy’s female acquaintance. “We were on her like Bergman’s deranged brothers”(559). Naturally, viewing the sight of this “fox” these pubescent guys wanted more than an illustration from this already tainted girl. With no thought but much regret, he participated with his friends as they took their next step towards being “bad”, and attempted to rape the girl. “Panting, wheezing, tearing at her clothes, grabbing for flesh. We were bad characters, and we were scared and hot and t...