Contradictions between individuals and their clothes appear quite frequently in the novel. Although the idea of wearing "sports clothes" while not playing sports might not seem all that weird in today's era of basketball shorts and running shoes, it's a disparity well worth noting.

This is a nice way of saying that Tod is funny looking. Still, you'd be wrong to peg him as a simpleton. Although you might end up detesting many aspects of Tod's personality by the end of the novel, there's no debating the fact that he's a complex guy. Whether that's a good thing, however, is entirely up for debate.

Tod is obsessed with "the people who come to California to die." Although we don't understand this oft-repeated phrase at first, it quickly becomes clear that these people—whoever they are—are driven by feelings of disappointment. They come to California because there's nothing else for them, and they soon realize that California doesn't have anything for them, either. And that's never a good thing, folks.