When your parents are abusive, alcoholic, and just generally not there, your friends can be more like family than your actual family is. That's how it is for Karl and the rest of his buddies in the Madman Underground in Tales of the Madman Underground. While none of them want to be thrown into a mandatory therapy group where they have to talk about their feelings with their peers, they eventually form a bond that transcends any goals the adults in charge had for them. And, from the deaths of parents to identity crises, these kids have a lot to be there for each other for.
Questions About Friendship
- What about Karl and Paul makes them such good friends? How do their personalities complement each other?
- What forms the basis of the Madmen's bond? Where does their extremely wide base of trust come from?
- Karl uses the analogy of being Tonto to Paul's Lone Ranger. What does he mean by this analogy? How does the TV show provide a metaphor for how he relates to his friends?
- Karl and Squid have an extremely interesting story about how their friendship began. What does that experience say about them as characters, as well as the Madmen in general?
Chew on This
The administrators may mean for the therapy group to serve as a superficial way to address teens with emotional needs, but it literally saves the lives of many of the participants.
The emotional core of Tales of the Madman Underground is the testing and renewal of Paul and Karl's friendship.