The “Bad Character” (Bobbie) Character Analysis

When the narrator, Digby, and Jeff arrive at Greasy Lake, they spot a metallic blue ’57 Chevy, and assume it is their friend Tony Lovett’s car. As they honk their horn and hoot at “Tony,” a “very bad character in greasy jeans and engineer boots rip[s] out of the driver’s door.” He immediately starts attacking the three boys. They attempt to subdue him with lame “kung-fu” moves, but it isn’t until the narrator attacks the Bad Character with a tire iron that the Bad Character drops to the ground. The boys’ defeat of the Bad Character makes plain to them the horrific reality of being “bad,” and the fact that their torn leather jackets and fake karate cannot prepare them for the realities of the “greasy” underworld of their hometown. The Bad Character is the human embodiment of danger; he is “a man of action,” according to the narrator, and his dangerous clothing and fearsome bearing are sharp in the narrator’s mind as he recounts their brawl.