How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph) or (Page Number)
Quote #1
I was skared when they came in and tolld me it was time to go for the operashun. (7.13)
We'd be scared too, Charlie. Charlie seems more afraid of the pain than the long-lasting effects of the surgery, which gives us a sense of how his mind works pre-surgery.
Quote #2
I was scared he was going to be angry and holler at me so after I was finished I said can I go back to my own job now. (9.35)
Charlie's not a fan of people hollering at him, though he'd probably wouldn't mind if someone wanted to holla at him. He's had people yelling his ears off since he was a kid, starting with his dear old mum.
Quote #3
There in the clothes hamper he finds Norma's underwear with dried blood. What had she done wrong? Whoever had done it might come looking for him. (11.85)
Okay, so this part is pretty important: after this moment, Charlie has a lifetime of being scared of all things related to sex, a fear we see come up repeatedly.
Quote #4
I only knew that I couldn't stop pressing her. And yet there was a terror in my throat as I begged her. (11.94)
Charlie is putting it all on the line here. This isn't the cute butterflies-in-stomach kind of nervousness, either. Is he scared of something besides rejection?
Quote #5
Dr. Strauss feels that emotionally I'm still in that adolescent state where being close to a woman, or thinking of sex, sets off anxiety, panic, even hallucinations. (11.102)
Hallucinations about sex? Not sure that's the average teenage experience, Charlie, but maybe that just says something about how skewed his perceptions of being a kid are.
Quote #6
Rose, terrified, runs after her. Matt sits there staring at the newspaper in his lap. Charlie, frightened by the hysteria and the screaming, shrinks into a chair whispering softly. (12.118)
Just call them the Family of Fear. We don't get to see Rose this vulnerable often, since she's usually the one inflicting fear upon the fam.
Quote #7
She shrugged. "Well, you were like a scared little kid." (14.196)
The prospect of having sex with Fay sends Charlie into a fear mode. Why do you think this is? It might be the alcohol talking, but we also can't help but wonder if he isn't also freaked out by being close a woman after growing up with such a meanie for a mom.
Quote #8
The nausea swept over me, the choking tension, the buzzing in my ears, my stomach knotting and stretching as if it wanted to tear itself out of my body. (16.275)
This is some heavy stuff, but it seems like something Charlie expected to happen when he returned home. Who or what is Charlie afraid of here?