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Norman Duchamp is Teddy Duchamp’s father. A veteran of World War II, according to Teddy he stormed the beaches at Normandy and saw action in France. Possibly because of what he experienced during his wartime service, he is an abusive and mentally unstable parent. He burns both of Teddy’s ears, ruining his hearing, as punishment for Teddy breaking a plate when Teddy is eight years old. After that, he gets involuntarily committed to psychiatric care at a Veteran’s Affairs hospital.
Norman Duchamp Quotes in The Body
The The Body quotes below are all either spoken by Norman Duchamp or refer to Norman Duchamp . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
He was the dumbest guy we hung around with, I guess, and he was crazy. He’d take the craziest chances you can imagine, and get away with them. His big thing was what he called “truck-dodging.” He’d run out in front of them on 196 and sometimes they’d miss him by bare inches. God knew how many heart attacks he’d caused, and he’d be laughing while the windblast from the passing truck rippled his clothes. It scared us because his vision was so lousy, Coke-bottle glasses or not. It seemed like only a matter of time before he misjudged one of those trucks. And you had to be careful what you dared him because Teddy would do anything on a dare.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28
Quotes
Still, it’s mostly just the idea of holding that pail in my two hands, I guess—as much a symbol of my living as his dying, proof that I really do know which boy it was—which boy of the five of us. Holding it. Reading every year in its cake of rust and the fading of its bright shine. Feeling it, trying to understand the suns that shone on it, the rains that fell on it, the snows that covered it. And to wonder where I was when each thing happened to it in its lonely place, where I was, what I was doing, who I was loving, how I was getting along where I was. I’d hold it, read it, feel it…and look at my own face in whatever reflection might be left. Can you dig it?
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Norman Duchamp Quotes in The Body
The The Body quotes below are all either spoken by Norman Duchamp or refer to Norman Duchamp . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
He was the dumbest guy we hung around with, I guess, and he was crazy. He’d take the craziest chances you can imagine, and get away with them. His big thing was what he called “truck-dodging.” He’d run out in front of them on 196 and sometimes they’d miss him by bare inches. God knew how many heart attacks he’d caused, and he’d be laughing while the windblast from the passing truck rippled his clothes. It scared us because his vision was so lousy, Coke-bottle glasses or not. It seemed like only a matter of time before he misjudged one of those trucks. And you had to be careful what you dared him because Teddy would do anything on a dare.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28
Quotes
Still, it’s mostly just the idea of holding that pail in my two hands, I guess—as much a symbol of my living as his dying, proof that I really do know which boy it was—which boy of the five of us. Holding it. Reading every year in its cake of rust and the fading of its bright shine. Feeling it, trying to understand the suns that shone on it, the rains that fell on it, the snows that covered it. And to wonder where I was when each thing happened to it in its lonely place, where I was, what I was doing, who I was loving, how I was getting along where I was. I’d hold it, read it, feel it…and look at my own face in whatever reflection might be left. Can you dig it?
