Because the story is told from the perspective of the main character, the gravity of the events of his misadventure at Greasy Lake is more resonant. If the story were narrated from a third-person point of view, it would have a distancing effect, and the frightening and appalling things the narrator observes and experiences would have far less emotional impact.
Another aspect of the emotional investment a first-person narrator offers is that he begins the story speaking from the perspective of a teenager who is bored and restless; the town he describes is ordinary, and the reader understands that he and his like-minded buddies are likely going to find some trouble at Greasy Lake. While that makes the plot arc somewhat predictable, it leaves plenty of room for Boyle to develop the details of what the young men find themselves doing. They are not blameless victims, which makes the story...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
take an unexpected turn.
The narrator's first-person point of view both puts us at the scene of "Greasy Lake" in an up-close and personal way and allows us inside the thoughts of the narrator as the story unfolds. First-person narration is the most intimate form of story telling, and this perspective works effectively in a story that is about a frightening but half-comic and emotionally fraught coming of age experience during the course of one night.
The first-person perspective also captures the often chaotic, kaleidoscopic feeling of being out of control and not quite sure what is going on that characterizes many of the events the narrator experiences.
The first-person voice also allows for the narrator to develop a wry, self-ironic tone as he describes himself and two friends, sheltered college students from middle-class homes, who swagger out under the illusion they are tough and cool. The technique of having an older, wiser adult version of the central character telling the story allows the interjection of humor into the narrative and is a vehicle for communicating both the immediacy of emotions and thoughts the teen self felt at the time and the more detached and critical view of the older self looking back.
Using the first person point of view, the narrator endeavors to convey how "bad" he and his friends were when they were just out of high school. The narrator explains that he and his two friends were dangerous. They wore leather jackets, drank gin, read provocative literature, and stayed out all night. However, the narrator also subtly mocks himself and his friends because, in hindsight, he knows they were not as dangerous as they tried to make themselves appear. He says they "struck elaborate poses to show that [they] didn't give a shit about anything." They are literally "posing" as dangerous guys. They have embraced this idea of rebellion and do their best to act like members of a dangerous gang to live out that fantasy.
But when real danger occurs, the narrator moves from bragging to humbleness. Once he and his friends get involved with someone much more dangerous than they are, they panic. The narrator nearly kills their assailant and in the heat of the violence, they start to sexually assault the girl. In that panic, they resort to foolish and thoughtless choices.
The narrator is older and looking back on this event, he contemplates how foolish he had been. But, he does show that he learned from the event. The brush with the corpse in the lake made him aware of his own mortality. That, and the violence that ensued that night were wake up calls. When the three boys finally leave, they decline the drugs and company of the two girls. At this point, they have quit their roles as dangerous rebels. Taken from the narrator as an older man, we can see how he looks back upon this as a lesson learned.