Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Sarcastic, Poignant
The first-person viewpoint gives us an up-close and personal look at Karl's life in this book, and part of that is getting a front-row seat to his cynical, bitingly sarcastic view of the world. The master of tirades, Karl lets it rip on pretty much everything, from his mom's "super super lady" (2.41) to the school's inept way of getting kids in therapy to Vietnam, all of it laced with profanity. Listen to him here as he harps about his plan to join the Army rather than go to college:
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).
Once again—dang, that's some serious rage. Not to mention a pretty twisted view of the world.
On the other end of spectrum, though, the book can be shockingly emotionally poignant. The scene at the end, for example, when Gratz helps Karl set up his bank account, then takes him for a walk at the nearby college campus, lets these two characters, who have largely been on each other's cases for most of the book, talk it out in terms of their conflicting emotions regarding Karl's dad, expressing feelings in a way they haven't been able to.
Take Gratz's thoughts on the Madmen, for example. Although he's largely had a negative attitude toward them, he's finally able to tell Karl what he's realized as a result of helping him deal with his situation. "I just couldn't stop thinking, Karl can't let a friend down, and they can't let him down, and that's really the way Karl is most Doug Shoemaker's son," he says. "The only people who were really helping my old friend's son were all those crazy kids I despised." (26.73). Aw. Feelings.