Regression to Childhood in "Greasy Lake"

"(I was nineteen, a mere child, an infant, and here in the space of five minutes I'd struck down one greasy character and blundered into the waterlogged carcass of another.)" (7) After mistakenly interrupting the romantic interlude of a greasy man and his girlfriend at Greasy Lake, the evening becomes a succession of negative events for the three boys. Following a fight with the greaser, the boys then turn their attention to his screaming girlfriend, as …

…indicating a new day is literally beginning. For the boys, however, this new day is figurative, as it represents a change in their attitudes towards adolescent mischief, overconfidence and dangerous characters. As this new day begins, it also represents several escapes for the boys, as they are departing from Greasy Lake, the temptation of the promiscuous girls with their unknown drugs and finally, leaving behind their former ideas about the appeal of being bad characters.