How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I had developed this theory all summer: if I could be perfectly, ideally, totally normal for the first day of my senior year, which was today, then I could do it for the first week, which was only Wednesday through Friday. And if I could be normal for that first short week, I could do it for the next long week. After that, I'd just have to repeat the have-a-normal-week process seven more times. I'd worked out a calendar. (1.1)
Maybe you lack the massive dysfunction of Karl's life, but this is one thing you most likely can relate to. What teenager doesn't want to be normal? Thing is, as most young-adult heroes figure out at some point, it's not exactly that easy.
Quote #2
You know how a girl who isn't naturally pretty will wear too much makeup and get way too careful about matching colors? Or the way a not-so-smart guy who wishes he was smart will always bring up some really hard book he read, or keeps repeating the only fact he knows about a subject? So you always keep noticing that she's not really pretty, or he's not really smart, and they can feel you noticing that, so they get all insecure and keep doing it more? That was Larry and weird. (5.3)
It might be the 1970s, but guess what—high school kids still had identity crises. It's hard to notice because the Madmen's larger family issues engulf our attention, but beneath all of the abuse and neglect, they're just trying to figure out who they are. Even Larry, who just wants to be as bizarre as possible.
Quote #3
I always liked that time of day, when people were shutting up their shops, putting the town to bed for the night, going home to do normal stuff with their normal families. I wondered if they got to enjoy being normal, to know just how terrific it was, or whether it was just invisible to them like air? Sometimes I got so pissed off at how easy the normal people had it that I just wanted to walk down the street shaking them and screaming into their squishy self-satisfied faces. (7.1)
When it comes down to it, Karl is jealous of other people for (seemingly) being normal because they don't seem to realize how lucky they are. Really, though, are they? If he could see what was really going on inside those houses, he might be surprised.
Quote #4
I shrugged. "Well, s***, I want out of Lightsburg. I'll always be the Shoemaker boy, here. And I'm not one of your peace-and-love never-comb-your-hair never-take-a-bath never-finish-a-sentence just be-be-be me-me-me free-free-free and love-me-'cause-I'm-so-mellow-groove-a-delic hippie freak types, anyway. A reliable paycheck with free bed and food, and a ticket out of town for good? And all they want me to do is char some babies? Well, all right then, a deal's a deal, line up the cradles, hand me the flamethrower, and fetch me the barbecue sauce." (8.92)
Ever live in a sibling's shadow? Worse, have you ever lived in a parent's shadow? Karl is doomed to forever be known in Lightsburg as "the mayor's kid"—make that "the drunken ex-mayor who wouldn't give his blessing to the plastic development neighborhood project's kid." What's really sad is that in a time when joining the Army was what most kids his age were trying to avoid, Karl is ready to hit the road for Vietnam tomorrow if they'd let him.
Quote #5
"In the first place, maybe I'm wrong and you're a turd, but you seem like a pretty decent guy. I don't think you have it in you to really cut off all your old friends, and I don't think you're going to like being normal. Here's a whole line of cars full of kids; how many of them are normal? Most of them, right, by definition? And if you threw a rock down the line what would be your chance of hitting a happy person?" (12.27)
In Karl's screwed-up world, the only person with a lick of reason is a skinny girl with braces who looks like a tree in a Dr. Seuss book. Marti may not be normal herself, but she at least knows what's what in terms of social politics.
Quote #6
Mom already looked real different than she had when Dad was alive. Her hair wasn't long yet, but instead of the ash-blonde pageboy, she now had an untidy mop of hooker-blonde yellow hair; she sort of looked like a dandelion smoking a cigarette. Just now, she was in a tie-dyed halter top that she'd bought the week before, and a lot of clunky jewelry, and very low tight jeans. It was like she was going to a costume party as Darla. (14.7)
Think Karl and his friends are the only characters searching for an identity? Think again. After Karl's dad dies, it's almost like his mom doesn't know where to go from there. So, she dyes her hair, starts going by Beth instead of Betty, and starts dressing like she leads a double life as a hippie and a working girl. She's going about it in a really messed-up way, but perhaps Beth really just wants to be normal herself.
Quote #7
He made himself stand up straight, which must have hurt. He turned and stalked away in his funny I'm-mad stiffed legged strut. I guess he has a right to be mad, I thought, and just like that, right as I thought that, I became aware of kids whispering "Psycho," and it was like a red fog just switched off, leaving me standing in an ordinary hallway. (15.97)
Karl is not just "the mayor's kid"—at school, he's also known as "the psycho who killed Squid's rabbit and beat the poop out of the quarterback." When you're in high school, the last thing you want is a reputation. Not to mention the fact that this particular reputation puts a serious damper on his plan to be normal.
Quote #8
"Some years ago […] Karl did a couple really bad things, which were pretty scary—well, really scary—and so a lot of kids that don't know him call him 'Psycho Shoemaker,' which really hurts his feelings and is so unfair, but it also means that some kids who don't know him are scared s***less of Karl." (17.50)
Karl may be the school psycho, but at least his friends know who he really is. In particular, it's kind of awesome that Bonny defends Karl, even though they broke up because he didn't want to drink with her anymore.
Quote #9
I thought how normal kids were probably spending their Friday nights after a game. Probably having pizza, or road drinking, or making out. Whereas I was standing on Mug Me Street in Toledo, Ohio, with a baseball bat and a purse. (17.93)
The Madmen's night out in Toledo to rescue Paul from the gay stroll has to be some kind of turning point where Karl realizes that this is his life, and no matter how hard he tries, he's never going to be normal. Really, it's probably one of the first moments in the book where he starts to realize Marti could actually be right about giving up on his friends being a bad idea.
Quote #10
After a block, [Paul] said, "When we had that fight I was really hurt."
"I'm sorry I called you a f*****. I know you're not."
"But I am." (21.84-86)
Ultimately, a big part of Tales of the Madman Underground is the characters coming to a sense of acceptance of who they are and deciding to own up to what they can't change. In this case, Paul is gay, and that's really the end of that story. It's funny how Karl tries to tell him he isn't even though both of them know otherwise. Just as Paul set an example for Karl when they were kids, he's now showing Karl how to gracefully accept who he is.