How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Sling Blade.
Quote #4
DOYLE: Let's all just be a family till your mentally retarded friend and your homosexual friend get here.
Doyle is the father no one asked for and no one wants. Karl, Frank, and Vaughan all wish they had better (or simply alive) fathers, but none of them are desperate enough to accept Doyle as a father figure.
Quote #5
VAUGHAN: Linda and Frank are very important to me. They're like family. My own family was never like a family.
We can't think of a character in this movie who doesn't have family issues. Now we can add Vaughan to the mix, with Frank, Karl, and Linda. Vaughan says out loud what Frank and Karl are doing—they are making their own family.
Quote #6
VAUGHAN: They're horrible people. As a matter of fact, for years I prayed every night that my father would die... and finally I realized, through a lot of therapy, that I was wasting my energy on hating him. So now I just don't care.
Lots of father issues in this movie, folks. Frank's dad is dead, and he's sad about it. Vaughan and Karl both wish their own fathers were dead. Later in the film, Karl's attitude toward his father will mimic Vaughan's—he'll stop wanting to kill his father and will instead just accept the fact that he'll be dead soon.