In what ways does Christopher Boone show maturity thus far into the novel? Even from the beginning of the book Christopher has often commented on his own maturity now that he is 15 years old, “I used to have lots of Behavioral Problems, but I don’t have so many now because I’m more grown up and I can take decisions for myself and do things on my own…”(Hadden,46) He even lists all of his previous issues and talks a little about how his parents reacted to that, “Sometimes these things would make Mother and Father really angry and they would shout at me or shout at each other.”(Hadden,47) In the past I have often commented on Chris’s trouble on reading people’s emotions, but what’s interesting is that for the first time in the book Chris seems to have noticed that some of his earlier actions had made other people, his parents, angry and emotional upset. This could mean that maybe at an earlier age he either wasn’t as observant and methodical as he is now, or after his mother’s death he became even more emotionally detached then he was before his mothers death, and his observant, and analytical ability has increased because he may use it as a coping mechanism. Since he doesn’t seem to smile, or cry, and laugh, he may actually still be grieving over his mother’s death, in his own way. Whoa that got pretty deep… but it is a possibility! Anyway it could be that Christopher has subconciously made himself more mature in response to the death of his mom, although I haven’t found anything to support this, it is something to think about. Thats all I wanted to say...
--- Classroom Philosopher (<---- I hope to god I spelled that correctly…)
Christopher from the very start of the book has shown a lot of innocence to himself as a person. With the way he speaks and articulates, it’s in a childish way at times. For example, “he wants to do sex with you.” (Page 34). The way he grammatically speaks is one reason why I believe he speaks the way he speaks. When he talks about things that he has full knowledge of he seems sound like an adult. An example of this is “I have decided to give my chapters prime numbers 2,3,5,7,11,13 and so on because I like prime numbers…” One specific thing that striked me about christopher is his certain change in maturity. Noticing how he isn’t able to tell a lie simply because it mentally just makes him uncomfortable. I notice how he’s learning to be able to tell little white lies. He tells them because he understands the aspect and concept behind them.
Another way Rebellion has hurt him is because the rebellion has affected the relationships with his father and Mrs.Shear who is the dead dog's owner and neighbor of Christopher who used to be friends with the father. It has affected the relationship that he has had against his father because his father told him not to find out the mystery of the dead dog. He loved him and he just wanted to protect him. He just wanted to keep him out of trouble. Christopher didn't know how to take direction from people. Whether they were authorities or not. He was still determined and curious to find out about the dead dog. He didnt litsen to his father, so his father got mad at him. This would affect the relationship between the father and the son for two reasons. One reason why this would affect the relationship is because of trust issues. The father had some trust issues with the son. Which is why he made him promise to stop the missing dog case. The promise was a big deal to him, because with his Autism, he couldn’t lie. So he was kind of forced to stop the case rather than being casually told to mind his business. This broke trust because the father made him promise against his own will instead of him being left alone and being able to solve it out for himself.
Christopher is a very self aware of his action for example when the policeman took him to the jail cell and started questioning him about did he kill the dog christopher responded no then the policeman asked if he mean to hurt the police officer and christopher replied by saying that it wasn’t an accident. Which means that he doesn’t feel bad for what he did because he doesn’t like to be touched
There are some ways that rebellion helps and hurts the protagonist. The protagonist's name is Christopher. The book ( The Curious incident of the dog in the night time ) is about a boy with Autism who tries to figure out a case about a dead dog. He shows some rebellion as he is figuring about about the dead dog which helps him in some ways, but could also hurt him in some ways. One way reason why rebellion has helped him is because he could figure out the truth about situations. He is a great detective and he doesn't stop until he gets the answers that he is looking for. This could help anyone in any situation when they are trying to accomplish in an important task or goal to them and they don't let anything get in to their way. In the story, Christopher still finds out the mystery of the dog and doesn't let anything stand in his way. He is destined. He doesn't let the fact that he was arrested or that his father told him to stop figuring out the mystery stop him from figuring it out. One quote I chose was on page #20, was “ Father said: Just try and keep your nose out of other people's business. ” , I thought about it for a little and I said, “ I am going to find out who killed Wellington. ”, And father said, “ Were you listening to what I was saying, Christopher?. ”, I said “ Yes, I was listening to what you were saying, but when someone gets murdered you have to find out who did it so that they can be punished. ”, and he said, “ It's a bloody dog, Christopher, a bloody dog.”. I replied, “ I think dogs are important, too. ”, He said “ Leave it. ”, And I said, “ I wonder if the police will find out who killed him and and punish the person. ”. Then father banged the steering wheel with his fist and the car weaved a little bit across the dotted line in the middle of the road and he shouted, “ I said leave it, for God’s sake. ”.”
this quote explains about after his father told him not to figure out the mystery about the dead dog mystery, he still went after the mystery. He was still going to go after the mystery. This hurted him because this broke the trust in the relationship between the father and the son. The father also got angry at the son a lot more for not listening to him. The father was losing trust for him. The father was trying to keep him from getting traumatized about why the dog was dying, but he didn't want to listen to that. Later on in the story when Mrs. Alexandra tells him a little about the truth to the dead dog mystery. He starts to get traumatized in his mind a little bit. This makes him even more curious about the dog mystery and makes him rebel against his father even more. .
One reason why rebellion has helped him is because it has made him learn more about his universe around him. Not only has he learned more about the universe around him, but more about himself. He used to question why he reacted to the way he reacted to situations, but he understood why as he started becoming more rebellious to what his father told him. He was so observant that he knew the truth and a lot more about life than others around him. For example, he could tell when something was wrong and needed to be fixed. He was a great problem solver from becoming rebellious. With the dead dog mystery, even though it was none of his business who killed the dog. He still knew how important dogs were just like human beings. That dogs were just as important as human beings. Most people like his father didn't think that animals were as important as people. He also used a little bit of science that dogs were living creatures just like humans. One bit of a quote that I choose was “ and he said, “ It's a bloody dog, Christopher, a bloody dog.”. I replied, “ I think dogs are important, too. ”, He said “ Leave it. ”. ”. This quote shows the intelligence level between the father and Christopher. This also shows how rebellion has made him more intelligent than others around him.
This is the kind of initiation story in which the protagonist finds him/herself. Christopher is navigating through life, carrying his problems formed from autism as a burden and as helpful tools. He is on this adventure to find out who killed the dog not only to unmask the criminal, but to learn to interact and socialize with different sorts of people, something he hated and was bad at since he was born. Throughout the story he gets better at this, learning something about himself that he never would have learned otherwise. This can be seen in the text when Christopher is speaking to the old lady next door named Ms.Alexander. “And she said, “It’s very nice of you to come say hello.” I didn’t reply to this either because Mrs. Alexander was doing what is called chatting, where people say things to each other which aren’t questions and answers and aren’t connected.” Christopher is learning how to conversate with people about things that aren’t exactly logical or concrete but abstract, something he never understood. This illustrates the beginning of his maturity in the story, as it is easily observed that he is getting out of his own comfort zone.
How does rebellion help and or hurt the protagonist? In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon, the main character, Christopher, decides to rebel against his father's commands. Christopher gets caught up in a animal murder when he goes to check on a wounded dog. Christopher holds the dog to comfort it only to get caught by its owner. He sat there, with a dead dog in his arms, and no good explanation. The police arrive and arrest Christopher for suspension and not complying with an officer. After being released from the police station Christopher made it his goal to solve the murder of the dog ‘Mr. Wellington.’ But his father explicitly told him not to. “Then he said, ‘Christopher, you have to stay out of trouble, OK?’... I thought for a little and I said, ‘I am going to find out who killed wellington’ Father said, ‘Were you listening to what I was saying Christopher?” Pg 20 Christopher goes against what his Father said and starts poking around his neighborhood to try and figure out what happened. He ends up meeting new people and eventually his father finds out. “Then Father asked ‘What the hell were you doing poking round her garden?” Pg 48 When Christopher's father finds out he gets angry. Christopher directly disobeyed what his father asked him what not to do. This ended up with his father lashing out and yelling at Christopher for not listening. It also shows that Christopher's father, Ed, solves problems with anger. When something happens that displeases Ed instead of being calm and trying to solve the problem, he hits things and yells. “Then he shouted, ‘I will not have that man’s name mentioned in my house.” Pg 49 Why does Ed result to yelling, because Christopher is a difficult child to deal with. Christopher is a difficult child because he does not listen and he disobeys orders. Furthermore, by Christopher being rebellious it causes Ed to be impatient and end up yelling.
How Does Rebellion Help or Built The Protagonist ?
Christopher, the main character is an odd, but intelligent 15 year old kid with autism. So far, in the book he introduces his quest, which is to find out who killed Wellington, his neighbor's dog. Chris cares a lot about this dog, but his dad argues that he should mind his business and not become a detective. Although his father tells him that, Chris does not listen and rebels against his dad orders by investigating about Wellington’s death. Rebellion helps Chris step out of his comfort zone and grow up a little. On page 20, Chris is with his dad, who tells him to mind his business about the death of Wellington. Chris refuses to listen to his orders. (Pg 20) “Father said “Just try and keep your nose out of other people’s business.” I thought for a little and I said, “I am going to find out who killed Wellington.” And father said “Were you listening to what I was saying Christopher ?” I said “Yes, I was listening to what you were saying, but when someone gets murdered you have to find out who did it so that they can be punished.” This part of the passage suggests that Chris, has a hard time listening to what people say, he’ll rather do what he wants to do. It also implies that he is very determined. Chris is not going to let his dad stop him. This can be a sign of him growing up and becoming more independent. This rebellion helps Chris step out his comfort zone. For example, Chris does not like talking to strangers. But, if he wants to find out who killed Wellington, talking to strangers is something he is going to have to do. He is aware of that as he proceeds in his investigation. On page 34, Chris says why he doesn't like strangers, (pg 34) “I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.” Chris does have a hard time communicating with people. But, on page 35, is where Chris words show that he is possibly coming out of his comfort zone. (Pg 35) “So talking to the other people in our street was brave. But if you are going to do detective work you have to be brave, so I had no choice.” Chris is stating his issue about talking to strangers, but by him continuing to be a “detective” even with that issue, it indicates him coming out of his comfort, which is part of growing up.
Despite stereotypes, Christopher seems to have a lot of self awareness. Christopher knows himself very well and he is sure of who he is. As a character develops, they change and Christopher will too or else it wouldn’t be a good story. But, where Christopher is in his life right now, he is very clear on what he likes, dislikes and does. It can be argued that Christopher lacks self awareness, which is supported by some of his more questionable actions such as hitting a cop. But that doesn’t make Christopher unaware of himself, it just makes him unaware of others and how to act in the world. Marked on my post it on the third page of the book, I noticed and wrote down that he is aware of himself. In this part of the book Christopher is describing to us how he doesn’t understand what certain facial expressions mean. Siobhan shows him different images “I was unable to understand what these meant.” He is unaware of what different facial expressions can mean, but he is aware of his unawareness. Another example of Christopher’s self awareness is when he tells us about his behavioral problems “I used to have lots of behavioral problems, but I don’t have so many now because I’m more grown up…” Many people who have behavioral problems are somewhat unaware of their actions or don’t know that what they’re doing is considered wrong or bad. But Christopher tells us about them and then proceeds to list specific problems he has.
Fabian Johnson Ms.Mcginnis Blogspot english 10/16/15 The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time
Eq: How does Rebellion Help or built the protagonist? Throught the first portion of the story we begin to realize more and more about Christopher's personality and his behavior, The story is focused on how he wants to find out who killed wellington. He focuses on who did it and why but this conflicts his father's wishes on minding his own business but since christopher is autism he seems to do whatever he pleases. Christopher has autism and this forces him to be isolated from family and the outside word, christopher's relationship with his father is a difficult one because of the fact that when christopher's mother died chris didn't get the chance to see his mother when she was in the hospital. Ever since this part of his life him and his father have had a rocky relationship ever since that happened. In the story we see that when he disobeys his father wishes in order to break out of his shell on page 49 christopher and his father have fight about telling chris to stop being a detective and getting into people's business’’what the hell were you doing poking round her garden ,’ i was doing detective work ,’ how many times do i have to tell you , keep your nose out of people's business ‘’ this quote is showing me that even though he isn't listening to his father he will do what he wants and this will be the only way he will break out of his shell
EQ: How does rebellion hurt or help the protagonist? After Christopher gets caught up with the police being caught on the scene of Ms. Shears’ dead dog Wellington, he is told by his father not to get involved in other people’s business. However, instead of listening to his father, he decided he was going to figure out who killed Wellington and be a detective by asking around people in his neighborhood if they saw anything. On page 34 Christopher says, “Talking to strangers is something I don’t usually do... I do not like talking to strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand… It takes me a long time to get used to people I do not know… So talking to other people in our street was brave.” By choosing to rebel by being a “detective” it reveals how Christopher is going out of his way to face the real world and do something new that he’s not completely comfortable with or used to doing. This rebellion helps Christopher because he’s pushing himself outside of his comfort zone. By doing that, he’s working on his social skills, understanding other people and dealing with other people. On the other hand, by rebelling against what his father tells him to do, this obviously makes Christopher’s father mad at him and he gets scolded which makes their relationship a bit rocky and a negative vibe because his father is so frustrated with him. After Christopher returns home his father confronts him about his “detective work”, “Father banged the table with his fist really hard so that the plates and his knife and fork jumped around… “Ok Christopher. I am going to say this for the last and final time. I will not tell you again. Look at me when I’m talking to you for God’s sake. Look at me. You are not going to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed that bloody dog. You are not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog. You are not to go trespassing in other people’s gardens. You are to stop this ridiculous bloody detective game right now.” (pg 50). The stern actions and language Christopher’s father uses with him shows how upset he is with him for not listening to his orders and only hurts the relationship they have with each other. Considering that they are pretty close with each other, they definitely both dislike getting into arguments like this.
EQ: What is the real purpose of the quest? Christopher’s is in special needs school and other kids make fun of him, he tries to ignore the kids from the other school but he still dislikes being mistreated. Although he is very intelligent people don’t realize it because he has trouble communicating. So his purpose is to prove that he is intelligent to other, he wants to complete his inner goal by doing the A levels and going to university. Since he is in a special school nobody has done the exam so it is hard for him to do it. Although he persisted the headmistress into doing it, so he does want to complete his goal. “And Father said, “Christopher is getting a crap enough deal already, don’t you think, without you shitting on him from a great height as well. Jesus, this is the one thing he is really good at.” This quote shows Christopher’s father’s support and how he wants Christopher to at least attempt his inner quest. Since he is autistic and not many people kind since he has trouble communicating, he wants to not only prove to the people around him but himself. Although he is very intelligent and knows a lot about science and math, he wants to prove to himself that he can do the test and go far in his education.
EQ: How Does Rebellion Help or Hurt The Protagonist? After Christophers encounter with finding wellington dead and having an altercation with the police, he summons the curiousity to find out who killed Wellington. His father tells him specifically to mind his business but since his curiousity level is on 100% he ignores his fathers warning and still attempts to find out what happened. On page 56 Christopher says "And then I did some reasoning. I reasoned that father had only made me do a promise about five things, which were 1. Not to mention Mr. Shears' name in our house 2. Not to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed that bloody dog 3. Not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog 4. Not to go trespassing in other people's gardens 5. To stop this ridiculous bloody detective game And asking about Mr. Shears wasn't any of these things And if you are a detective you have to Take Risks, and this was a Super Good Day, which meant it was a good day for taking risks, so I said, "Do you know Mr. Shears?" which was like chatting. Christopher rebels against his father by analyzing what his father warned him about in order to figure out another way to get information about Mr. Shears and Wellingtons killer. He uses the concept of chatting with Mrs. Alexander to not break his promise that he made to his father. Overall, Christopher uses his knowledge and facts to rebel against his father without actually breaking a promise. (Jasmine Robles)
How does rebellion help or hurt the protagonist? The protagonist, Christopher, found his neighbor’s dog dead and his neighbor called the police thinking Christopher killed her dog so he was at the police station being interrogated. His dad then came and got him from the police and he then told his dad that he wanted to figure out who killed the dog and his dad said not to but he rebelled and he did it anyways. Now he is doing some detective work to figure out who killed the dog. Rebellion helped the protagonist because on page 42 he figures out that Mr. Shears is a prime suspect to him and that Mr. Shears had to have killed the dog because he wanted to make Mrs. Shears upset. Christopher wouldn’t have figured out who could of killed Wellington if it weren’t for him rebelling because on page 31 he comes to the conclusion that Wellington was probably killed with Mrs. Shears’s fork and by someone who had the key to her shed. He determined this by going to Mrs.Shear’s house and investigating even though his dad told him to stay out of her business. This rebellion helped him figure out who really killed Wellington making him innocent and proving his innocence. Rebellion also hurt the protagonist because on page 48-50 his father asked him what he did that day and Christopher said nothing. However, his dad knew he was lying because Mrs. Shears called him and told him Christopher broke into her garden that day so his dad yelled at him. This hurt the protagonist because it illustrates that his since Christopher lied to his dad he has now lost some trust in him and it’s hard to gain that back. In conclusion, rebellion hurt and helped the protagonist because it hurt his relationship with his father however it helped redeem his innocence.
How is the protagonists affected by the world? In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Hadden, the main character named Christopher Boone is affected by the world since he has autism. Autism basically affects how a person’s brain and body works. Christopher likes and dislikes a lot of things. Liking things from prime numbers or making sure he has a reason for everything to disliking something like when people touches him. He despises it. It makes him uncomfortable. He insists that things must be a certain way. He wants everything to have an answer even if it's irrational. Christopher has trouble reading certain faces that people make. That affects him because then he doesn’t know what the other person is feeling. He gets confused. “I didn’t understand what someone was saying. But it was very difficult to decided which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because people’s faces move very quickly (pg3).” In this moment he was talking to his friend Siboan and he couldn’t read the faces that his friend drew. It makes it hard for him to socialize or communicate with anybody because he only know the basic feelings like sad or happy. He doesn’t know how to respond to it.
In the story “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” Christopher is a 15-year-old boy that doesn’t like the outside world. He doesn’t get people and how they act. Animals are simpler and he likes them more. Human interactions just scare him so he only talks to his father and few people he knows. Since the death of Wellington, he decides to that detective work is needed to find the murderer. This shows Christopher growing out of his shell of fear and persevering to find the murderer even though he hates talking to strangers. As a result, people in the world around him react differently to his awkwardness. On page 36 Christopher went to the house of Mr. Thompson to find out any clues of the death of Wellington. “Do you know who killed Wellington?’ I did not look at his face. I do not like looking at people’s faces, especially if they are strangers. He did not say anything for a few seconds.” After finding out that he was talking to Mr. Thompson’s brother he asked again, Do you know who killed Wellington?” He said, Who the fuck is Wellington?” Christopher’s awkwardness and lack of capability of human interaction is shown when Mr. Thompson’s brother talks to Christopher in some sort of mannerless way. His awkwardness is shown again on page 41 when he is talking to Mrs. Alexander, the nice old lady across from Mrs. Shears’s house. Christopher usually only has conversations with people he knows like his father and the doctors. When he has conversations with strangers, Chris gets really uncomfortable and doesn’t understand the niceness Mrs. Alexander is showing him. “And she said, ‘ I’m Afraid marzipan is yellow, too. Perhaps I should bring out some biscuits instead. Do you like biscuits?’ And I said, ‘Yes, some sorts of biscuits.’ And she said, ‘I’ll get a selection.’... she was inside the house for more than 6 minutes and I began to get nervous because I didn’t know what she was doing in the house. I didn’t know her well enough to know whether she was telling the truth about getting orange squash and Battenberg cake. And i thought she might be ringing the police and then I’d get into much more serious trouble because of the caution. So I walked away.” This shows how Christopher cannot tell if people tell the truth or not. His awkwardness of socialization is getting to him so instead of waiting for the old lady to come back, he ran off because he thought she was going to get him into trouble. The world reflects differently towards Christopher but he takes it all the same way when he actually socializes with strangers.
EQ: How does a protagonist change throughout the story?
At the beginning of the story Christopher is intelligent and observant about what is happening. Christopher is intelligent because he thinks more deeply into his detective investigation on who killed wellington and why. This can be seen on page 42 as Christopher begins to question himself about the information he knows so far, so that he can have a deeper understanding of who could be the prime suspect. On page 42 it states “1. Why would you kill a dog? a) Because you hated the dog. b) Because you were mad c) Because you wanted to make Mrs. Shears upset, 2. I didn't know anyone who hated Wellington, so if it was (a) it was probably a stranger. 3. I didn't know any mad people, so if it was (b) it was also probably a stranger. 4. Most murders are committed by someone who is known to the victim. In fact, you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas day.-This meant that Mr. Shears was my Prime Suspect.” This begin to show how Christopher is beginning to put the information he knows into place and knowing who his suspect is. Then Christopher is known as an observant as he is questioning his mother death like how did she die, This can be seen on page 27 when Christopher had a flashback to when his mother had died and his dad told him it was a heart attack, so he question it and want to learn how. On page 27 it states “I said,”What kind of a heart attack?” because I was surprised. Mother was only 38 years old and heart attacks usually happen to older people, and Mother was very active and rode a bicycle and ate food which was healthy and high in fiber and low in saturated fat like chicken and vegetables and muesli.” This passage shows how Christopher was very suspicious at the time and question his father on his mother's death because it wasn’t adding up. I think that as the story continues Christopher would become a better thinker in observants because of what he is doing to make conclusions.
'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Mark Haddon is a story written from the perspective of a teenager who has mental condition. Christopher is a teenager living with his father in a small English town. Though through first glance, one might view Christopher as simple minded and immature, however Christopher has demonstrated several times through the book so far that he has matured. One of these moments, is when he talks about the death of his mother. This is best shown on page 28 when Christopher tells the reader what kind of heart attack his mom died from, "...an aneurysm is when a blood vessel breaks open and the blood doesn't get to the heart muscles because it is leaking." The usage of the gruesome details of possibly how his mother died is comforting. His mother passed away when he was younger. He appreciates honesty and likes everything to be clean-cut. For Christopher, the idea of independence is a commodity that he wants and his acceptance of his mother's death is a sign of maturity. He's no longer bound to the constant state of grieving and anger that his father seems to be in because he understands he has to move on. This is also present when when he goes against his father's orders on page 48, "I was doing detective work trying to find out what killed Wellington." In this moment. Christopher was not supposed to not have anything else to do with the case. While it could be easily argue that disobeying your parents is not a mature thing to, it could also be that in this moment, he is being mature by making his own decisions to overcome those obstacles. he knows that people around him think he is weird and that his interest in the death of Wellington is odd and possibly dangerous. However by disobeying his father's orders to keep himself out of the case, shows him coming into maturity by making his own decisions. He has thought quite a bit about it and its obvious that he finds solace in a clean cut truth, so he's not just doing this case to piss off his dad but rather bring to him closure.
What is the purpose of the quest? Christopher isn't just trying to find out who killed a dog, he doesn't have any connections to the dog like he said early in the book. The reason that he wants to establish the killer, is to find out more about others than he could if he were to just talk to them. He doesn't have the social skills to talk to people in a way that they would be willing to communicate their feelings willingly, or would even respond to what he's saying in a positive way. But through this investigation he is force learning about other people that he considers important to him. He is not just finding out about the dog but he is steadily focusing more about the way conventional people would act as opposed to the way he acts. A place this can be seen is when he is being made fun of by the kid who his father claimed was going to be a garbage man. Christopher said he was stupid but he kept focusing on the word that the kid called him a "spaz" Christopher obviously does not consider himself a spaz, and in the traditional sense he doesn't care at all about what people think of him, but he does wonder why this kid, who is considered normal, considers him weird, this is evident of Christophers intent to learn about the rest of societies expectational characteristics.
How is the protagonist different from those around him?
Christopher is different from those around him. He looks at things differently, he has a different way of thinking, and he acts differently towards certain situations. One way Christopher differs from those around him, is by the way he thinks. Christopher has a certain way of looking at things, that other people don’t usually follow. In chapter 47 in “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time” by Mark Haddon, the school psychologist, Mr. Jeavons, is asking Christopher about his process of determining how he feels. Christopher states, “Mr. Jeavons, the psychologist at the school, once asked me why 4 red cars in a row made it a Good Day, and 3 red cars in a row made it a Quite Good Day, and 5 red cars in a row made it a Super Good Day, and why 4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don’t speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks. He said that I was clearly a very logical person, so he was surprised that I should think like this because it wasn't very logical.” Usually, people don’t think like this. For example, Mr. Jeavons. Christopher needs a logical explanation to explain why he feels the way that he does, unlike others. He does not just go with the flow, and feels however he feels. He needs numbers, arguments, reasons for feeling the way he does. The cars help him determine how he feels, they make him feel comfortable. Another way Christopher differs from those around him, is because he acts differently in certain situations. In the beginning of the book, Christopher sees a dead dog, and he reacts differently than someone usually would. In chapter five, Christopher states “I pulled the dog and lifted him into my arms and hugged him. He was leaking blood from the fork holes.” This dog isn’t even Christopher's dog, but he still felt some sort of connection. Usually, when someone sees a dead dog on the street, they wouldn't go up to it and hug it, especially when it isn't there. But clearly, Christopher isn’t like others. He feels more peaceful with the dogs, so when he sees a dead dog, he wants to comfort it, Lastly, the other way Christopher differs from people, is by the way he looks at things. Also in chapter 5, Christopher explains his relationship with dogs. “I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross, and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.” This quote heavily implies that Christopher's relationship with dogs is far more different than with humans. Christopher feels more comfortable with dogs. Dogs cannot confuse him, and they'll stay faithful to him. Humans, however, are different. Humans are far more complex, and that confuses Christopher. Their emotions vary and Christopher does not know how to handle that. Dogs are straightforward and he’s very comfortable with that.
Christopher shows maturity throughout the text a lot. He does not know how to control some of the things that he does. Such as when he hit the police office, he didn’t know another way of trying to say that the police office was in his personal space. He is a very determined and curious about everything that he does. I think that with him being determined and sticking with the task shows maturity. He really wants to try and find out what happened to wellington and who killed him. When he was in the room with his dad and the police officer and he was asking did he kill the dog he felt offended in a way because he knew that he wasn't the one who did it but it seems that he wasn't being believed. Also, it seems that since Christopher isn’t really good with giving people hugs and stuff, him and his dad have this certain type of code that they use that show each other they love they have for each other instead of giving him a hig. Christopher is a very intelligent person but sometimes he seems to get frustrated with the types of things that go on.
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ReplyDeleteIn what ways does Christopher Boone show maturity thus far into the novel? Even from the beginning of the book Christopher has often commented on his own maturity now that he is 15 years old, “I used to have lots of Behavioral Problems, but I don’t have so many now because I’m more grown up and I can take decisions for myself and do things on my own…”(Hadden,46) He even lists all of his previous issues and talks a little about how his parents reacted to that, “Sometimes these things would make Mother and Father really angry and they would shout at me or shout at each other.”(Hadden,47)
In the past I have often commented on Chris’s trouble on reading people’s emotions, but what’s interesting is that for the first time in the book Chris seems to have noticed that some of his earlier actions had made other people, his parents, angry and emotional upset. This could mean that maybe at an earlier age he either wasn’t as observant and methodical as he is now, or after his mother’s death he became even more emotionally detached then he was before his mothers death, and his observant, and analytical ability has increased because he may use it as a coping mechanism. Since he doesn’t seem to smile, or cry, and laugh, he may actually still be grieving over his mother’s death, in his own way.
Whoa that got pretty deep… but it is a possibility! Anyway it could be that Christopher has subconciously made himself more mature in response to the death of his mom, although I haven’t found anything to support this, it is something to think about.
Thats all I wanted to say...
--- Classroom Philosopher (<---- I hope to god I spelled that correctly…)
Christopher from the very start of the book has shown a lot of innocence to himself as a person. With the way he speaks and articulates, it’s in a childish way at times. For example, “he wants to do sex with you.” (Page 34). The way he grammatically speaks is one reason why I believe he speaks the way he speaks. When he talks about things that he has full knowledge of he seems sound like an adult. An example of this is “I have decided to give my chapters prime numbers 2,3,5,7,11,13 and so on because I like prime numbers…” One specific thing that striked me about christopher is his certain change in maturity. Noticing how he isn’t able to tell a lie simply because it mentally just makes him uncomfortable. I notice how he’s learning to be able to tell little white lies. He tells them because he understands the aspect and concept behind them.
ReplyDeleteAnother way Rebellion has hurt him is because the rebellion has affected the relationships with his father and Mrs.Shear who is the dead dog's owner and neighbor of Christopher who used to be friends with the father. It has affected the relationship that he has had against his father because his father told him not to find out the mystery of the dead dog. He loved him and he just wanted to protect him. He just wanted to keep him out of trouble. Christopher didn't know how to take direction from people. Whether they were authorities or not. He was still determined and curious to find out about the dead dog. He didnt litsen to his father, so his father got mad at him. This would affect the relationship between the father and the son for two reasons. One reason why this would affect the relationship is because of trust issues. The father had some trust issues with the son. Which is why he made him promise to stop the missing dog case. The promise was a big deal to him, because with his Autism, he couldn’t lie. So he was kind of forced to stop the case rather than being casually told to mind his business. This broke trust because the father made him promise against his own will instead of him being left alone and being able to solve it out for himself.
ReplyDeleteChristopher is a very self aware of his action for example when the policeman took him to the jail cell and started questioning him about did he kill the dog christopher responded no then the policeman asked if he mean to hurt the police officer and christopher replied by saying that it wasn’t an accident. Which means that he doesn’t feel bad for what he did because he doesn’t like to be touched
ReplyDeleteThere are some ways that rebellion helps and hurts the protagonist. The protagonist's name is Christopher. The book ( The Curious incident of the dog in the night time ) is about a boy with Autism who tries to figure out a case about a dead dog. He shows some rebellion as he is figuring about about the dead dog which helps him in some ways, but could also hurt him in some ways. One way reason why rebellion has helped him is because he could figure out the truth about situations. He is a great detective and he doesn't stop until he gets the answers that he is looking for. This could help anyone in any situation when they are trying to accomplish in an important task or goal to them and they don't let anything get in to their way. In the story, Christopher still finds out the mystery of the dog and doesn't let anything stand in his way. He is destined. He doesn't let the fact that he was arrested or that his father told him to stop figuring out the mystery stop him from figuring it out. One quote I chose was on page #20, was “ Father said: Just try and keep your nose out of other people's business. ” , I thought about it for a little and I said, “ I am going to find out who killed Wellington. ”, And father said, “ Were you listening to what I was saying, Christopher?. ”, I said “ Yes, I was listening to what you were saying, but when someone gets murdered you have to find out who did it so that they can be punished. ”, and he said, “ It's a bloody dog, Christopher, a bloody dog.”. I replied, “ I think dogs are important, too. ”, He said “ Leave it. ”, And I said, “ I wonder if the police will find out who killed him and and punish the person. ”. Then father banged the steering wheel with his fist and the car weaved a little bit across the dotted line in the middle of the road and he shouted, “ I said leave it, for God’s sake. ”.”
ReplyDeletethis quote explains about after his father told him not to figure out the mystery about the dead dog mystery, he still went after the mystery. He was still going to go after the mystery. This hurted him because this broke the trust in the relationship between the father and the son. The father also got angry at the son a lot more for not listening to him. The father was losing trust for him. The father was trying to keep him from getting traumatized about why the dog was dying, but he didn't want to listen to that. Later on in the story when Mrs. Alexandra tells him a little about the truth to the dead dog mystery. He starts to get traumatized in his mind a little bit. This makes him even more curious about the dog mystery and makes him rebel against his father even more. .
One reason why rebellion has helped him is because it has made him learn more about his universe around him. Not only has he learned more about the universe around him, but more about himself. He used to question why he reacted to the way he reacted to situations, but he understood why as he started becoming more rebellious to what his father told him. He was so observant that he knew the truth and a lot more about life than others around him. For example, he could tell when something was wrong and needed to be fixed. He was a great problem solver from becoming rebellious. With the dead dog mystery, even though it was none of his business who killed the dog. He still knew how important dogs were just like human beings. That dogs were just as important as human beings. Most people like his father didn't think that animals were as important as people. He also used a little bit of science that dogs were living creatures just like humans. One bit of a quote that I choose was “ and he said, “ It's a bloody dog, Christopher, a bloody dog.”. I replied, “ I think dogs are important, too. ”, He said “ Leave it. ”. ”. This quote shows the intelligence level between the father and Christopher. This also shows how rebellion has made him more intelligent than others around him.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of initiation story in which the protagonist finds him/herself. Christopher is navigating through life, carrying his problems formed from autism as a burden and as helpful tools. He is on this adventure to find out who killed the dog not only to unmask the criminal, but to learn to interact and socialize with different sorts of people, something he hated and was bad at since he was born. Throughout the story he gets better at this, learning something about himself that he never would have learned otherwise. This can be seen in the text when Christopher is speaking to the old lady next door named Ms.Alexander. “And she said, “It’s very nice of you to come say hello.” I didn’t reply to this either because Mrs. Alexander was doing what is called chatting, where people say things to each other which aren’t questions and answers and aren’t connected.” Christopher is learning how to conversate with people about things that aren’t exactly logical or concrete but abstract, something he never understood. This illustrates the beginning of his maturity in the story, as it is easily observed that he is getting out of his own comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteHow does rebellion help and or hurt the protagonist?
ReplyDeleteIn “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon, the main character, Christopher, decides to rebel against his father's commands. Christopher gets caught up in a animal murder when he goes to check on a wounded dog. Christopher holds the dog to comfort it only to get caught by its owner. He sat there, with a dead dog in his arms, and no good explanation. The police arrive and arrest Christopher for suspension and not complying with an officer. After being released from the police station Christopher made it his goal to solve the murder of the dog ‘Mr. Wellington.’ But his father explicitly told him not to.
“Then he said, ‘Christopher, you have to stay out of trouble, OK?’...
I thought for a little and I said, ‘I am going to find out who killed wellington’
Father said, ‘Were you listening to what I was saying Christopher?” Pg 20
Christopher goes against what his Father said and starts poking around his neighborhood to try and figure out what happened. He ends up meeting new people and eventually his father finds out.
“Then Father asked ‘What the hell were you doing poking round her garden?” Pg 48
When Christopher's father finds out he gets angry. Christopher directly disobeyed what his father asked him what not to do. This ended up with his father lashing out and yelling at Christopher for not listening. It also shows that Christopher's father, Ed, solves problems with anger. When something happens that displeases Ed instead of being calm and trying to solve the problem, he hits things and yells.
“Then he shouted, ‘I will not have that man’s name mentioned in my house.” Pg 49
Why does Ed result to yelling, because Christopher is a difficult child to deal with. Christopher is a difficult child because he does not listen and he disobeys orders. Furthermore, by Christopher being rebellious it causes Ed to be impatient and end up yelling.
How Does Rebellion Help or Built The Protagonist ?
ReplyDeleteChristopher, the main character is an odd, but intelligent 15 year old kid with autism. So far, in the book he introduces his quest, which is to find out who killed Wellington, his neighbor's dog. Chris cares a lot about this dog, but his dad argues that he should mind his business and not become a detective. Although his father tells him that, Chris does not listen and rebels against his dad orders by investigating about Wellington’s death. Rebellion helps Chris step out of his comfort zone and grow up a little.
On page 20, Chris is with his dad, who tells him to mind his business about the death of Wellington. Chris refuses to listen to his orders. (Pg 20) “Father said “Just try and keep your nose out of other people’s business.” I thought for a little and I said, “I am going to find out who killed Wellington.” And father said “Were you listening to what I was saying Christopher ?” I said “Yes, I was listening to what you were saying, but when someone gets murdered you have to find out who did it so that they can be punished.” This part of the passage suggests that Chris, has a hard time listening to what people say, he’ll rather do what he wants to do. It also implies that he is very determined. Chris is not going to let his dad stop him. This can be a sign of him growing up and becoming more independent.
This rebellion helps Chris step out his comfort zone. For example, Chris does not like talking to strangers. But, if he wants to find out who killed Wellington, talking to strangers is something he is going to have to do. He is aware of that as he proceeds in his investigation. On page 34, Chris says why he doesn't like strangers, (pg 34) “I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.” Chris does have a hard time communicating with people. But, on page 35, is where Chris words show that he is possibly coming out of his comfort zone. (Pg 35) “So talking to the other people in our street was brave. But if you are going to do detective work you have to be brave, so I had no choice.” Chris is stating his issue about talking to strangers, but by him continuing to be a “detective” even with that issue, it indicates him coming out of his comfort, which is part of growing up.
How self aware is the protagonist?
ReplyDeleteDespite stereotypes, Christopher seems to have a lot of self awareness. Christopher knows himself very well and he is sure of who he is. As a character develops, they change and Christopher will too or else it wouldn’t be a good story. But, where Christopher is in his life right now, he is very clear on what he likes, dislikes and does. It can be argued that Christopher lacks self awareness, which is supported by some of his more questionable actions such as hitting a cop. But that doesn’t make Christopher unaware of himself, it just makes him unaware of others and how to act in the world. Marked on my post it on the third page of the book, I noticed and wrote down that he is aware of himself. In this part of the book Christopher is describing to us how he doesn’t understand what certain facial expressions mean. Siobhan shows him different images “I was unable to understand what these meant.” He is unaware of what different facial expressions can mean, but he is aware of his unawareness. Another example of Christopher’s self awareness is when he tells us about his behavioral problems “I used to have lots of behavioral problems, but I don’t have so many now because I’m more grown up…” Many people who have behavioral problems are somewhat unaware of their actions or don’t know that what they’re doing is considered wrong or bad. But Christopher tells us about them and then proceeds to list specific problems he has.
Fabian Johnson
ReplyDeleteMs.Mcginnis
Blogspot english
10/16/15
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time
Eq: How does Rebellion Help or built the protagonist?
Throught the first portion of the story we begin to realize more and more about Christopher's personality and his behavior, The story is focused on how he wants to find out who killed wellington. He focuses on who did it and why but this conflicts his father's wishes on minding his own business but since christopher is autism he seems to do whatever he pleases. Christopher has autism and this forces him to be isolated from family and the outside word, christopher's relationship with his father is a difficult one because of the fact that when christopher's mother died chris didn't get the chance to see his mother when she was in the hospital. Ever since this part of his life him and his father have had a rocky relationship ever since that happened. In the story we see that when he disobeys his father wishes in order to break out of his shell on page 49 christopher and his father have fight about telling chris to stop being a detective and getting into people's business’’what the hell were you doing poking round her garden ,’ i was doing detective work ,’ how many times do i have to tell you , keep your nose out of people's business ‘’ this quote is showing me that even though he isn't listening to his father he will do what he wants and this will be the only way he will break out of his shell
EQ: How does rebellion hurt or help the protagonist?
ReplyDeleteAfter Christopher gets caught up with the police being caught on the scene of Ms. Shears’ dead dog Wellington, he is told by his father not to get involved in other people’s business. However, instead of listening to his father, he decided he was going to figure out who killed Wellington and be a detective by asking around people in his neighborhood if they saw anything. On page 34 Christopher says, “Talking to strangers is something I don’t usually do... I do not like talking to strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand… It takes me a long time to get used to people I do not know… So talking to other people in our street was brave.” By choosing to rebel by being a “detective” it reveals how Christopher is going out of his way to face the real world and do something new that he’s not completely comfortable with or used to doing. This rebellion helps Christopher because he’s pushing himself outside of his comfort zone. By doing that, he’s working on his social skills, understanding other people and dealing with other people.
On the other hand, by rebelling against what his father tells him to do, this obviously makes Christopher’s father mad at him and he gets scolded which makes their relationship a bit rocky and a negative vibe because his father is so frustrated with him. After Christopher returns home his father confronts him about his “detective work”, “Father banged the table with his fist really hard so that the plates and his knife and fork jumped around… “Ok Christopher. I am going to say this for the last and final time. I will not tell you again. Look at me when I’m talking to you for God’s sake. Look at me. You are not going to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed that bloody dog. You are not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog. You are not to go trespassing in other people’s gardens. You are to stop this ridiculous bloody detective game right now.” (pg 50). The stern actions and language Christopher’s father uses with him shows how upset he is with him for not listening to his orders and only hurts the relationship they have with each other. Considering that they are pretty close with each other, they definitely both dislike getting into arguments like this.
Justin Gosine
ReplyDeleteEQ: What is the real purpose of the quest?
Christopher’s is in special needs school and other kids make fun of him, he tries to ignore the kids from the other school but he still dislikes being mistreated. Although he is very intelligent people don’t realize it because he has trouble communicating. So his purpose is to prove that he is intelligent to other, he wants to complete his inner goal by doing the A levels and going to university. Since he is in a special school nobody has done the exam so it is hard for him to do it. Although he persisted the headmistress into doing it, so he does want to complete his goal. “And Father said, “Christopher is getting a crap enough deal already, don’t you think, without you shitting on him from a great height as well. Jesus, this is the one thing he is really good at.” This quote shows Christopher’s father’s support and how he wants Christopher to at least attempt his inner quest. Since he is autistic and not many people kind since he has trouble communicating, he wants to not only prove to the people around him but himself. Although he is very intelligent and knows a lot about science and math, he wants to prove to himself that he can do the test and go far in his education.
EQ: How Does Rebellion Help or Hurt The Protagonist?
ReplyDeleteAfter Christophers encounter with finding wellington dead and having an altercation with the police, he summons the curiousity to find out who killed Wellington. His father tells him specifically to mind his business but since his curiousity level is on 100% he ignores his fathers warning and still attempts to find out what happened. On page 56 Christopher says "And then I did some reasoning. I reasoned that father had only made me do a promise about five things, which were 1. Not to mention Mr. Shears' name in our house 2. Not to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed that bloody dog 3. Not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog 4. Not to go trespassing in other people's gardens 5. To stop this ridiculous bloody detective game And asking about Mr. Shears wasn't any of these things And if you are a detective you have to Take Risks, and this was a Super Good Day, which meant it was a good day for taking risks, so I said, "Do you know Mr. Shears?" which was like chatting. Christopher rebels against his father by analyzing what his father warned him about in order to figure out another way to get information about Mr. Shears and Wellingtons killer. He uses the concept of chatting with Mrs. Alexander to not break his promise that he made to his father. Overall, Christopher uses his knowledge and facts to rebel against his father without actually breaking a promise. (Jasmine Robles)
How does rebellion help or hurt the protagonist?
ReplyDeleteThe protagonist, Christopher, found his neighbor’s dog dead and his neighbor called the police thinking Christopher killed her dog so he was at the police station being interrogated. His dad then came and got him from the police and he then told his dad that he wanted to figure out who killed the dog and his dad said not to but he rebelled and he did it anyways. Now he is doing some detective work to figure out who killed the dog.
Rebellion helped the protagonist because on page 42 he figures out that Mr. Shears is a prime suspect to him and that Mr. Shears had to have killed the dog because he wanted to make Mrs. Shears upset. Christopher wouldn’t have figured out who could of killed Wellington if it weren’t for him rebelling because on page 31 he comes to the conclusion that Wellington was probably killed with Mrs. Shears’s fork and by someone who had the key to her shed. He determined this by going to Mrs.Shear’s house and investigating even though his dad told him to stay out of her business. This rebellion helped him figure out who really killed Wellington making him innocent and proving his innocence.
Rebellion also hurt the protagonist because on page 48-50 his father asked him what he did that day and Christopher said nothing. However, his dad knew he was lying because Mrs. Shears called him and told him Christopher broke into her garden that day so his dad yelled at him. This hurt the protagonist because it illustrates that his since Christopher lied to his dad he has now lost some trust in him and it’s hard to gain that back.
In conclusion, rebellion hurt and helped the protagonist because it hurt his relationship with his father however it helped redeem his innocence.
How is the protagonists affected by the world?
ReplyDeleteIn The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Hadden, the main character named Christopher Boone is affected by the world since he has autism. Autism basically affects how a person’s brain and body works. Christopher likes and dislikes a lot of things. Liking things from prime numbers or making sure he has a reason for everything to disliking something like when people touches him. He despises it. It makes him uncomfortable. He insists that things must be a certain way. He wants everything to have an answer even if it's irrational. Christopher has trouble reading certain faces that people make. That affects him because then he doesn’t know what the other person is feeling. He gets confused. “I didn’t understand what someone was saying. But it was very difficult to decided which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because people’s faces move very quickly (pg3).” In this moment he was talking to his friend Siboan and he couldn’t read the faces that his friend drew. It makes it hard for him to socialize or communicate with anybody because he only know the basic feelings like sad or happy. He doesn’t know how to respond to it.
EQ: How is the protagonist affected by the world?
ReplyDeleteIn the story “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” Christopher is a 15-year-old boy that doesn’t like the outside world. He doesn’t get people and how they act. Animals are simpler and he likes them more. Human interactions just scare him so he only talks to his father and few people he knows. Since the death of Wellington, he decides to that detective work is needed to find the murderer. This shows Christopher growing out of his shell of fear and persevering to find the murderer even though he hates talking to strangers. As a result, people in the world around him react differently to his awkwardness. On page 36 Christopher went to the house of Mr. Thompson to find out any clues of the death of Wellington. “Do you know who killed Wellington?’ I did not look at his face. I do not like looking at people’s faces, especially if they are strangers. He did not say anything for a few seconds.” After finding out that he was talking to Mr. Thompson’s brother he asked again, Do you know who killed Wellington?” He said, Who the fuck is Wellington?” Christopher’s awkwardness and lack of capability of human interaction is shown when Mr. Thompson’s brother talks to Christopher in some sort of mannerless way.
His awkwardness is shown again on page 41 when he is talking to Mrs. Alexander, the nice old lady across from Mrs. Shears’s house. Christopher usually only has conversations with people he knows like his father and the doctors. When he has conversations with strangers, Chris gets really uncomfortable and doesn’t understand the niceness Mrs. Alexander is showing him. “And she said, ‘ I’m Afraid marzipan is yellow, too. Perhaps I should bring out some biscuits instead. Do you like biscuits?’ And I said, ‘Yes, some sorts of biscuits.’ And she said, ‘I’ll get a selection.’... she was inside the house for more than 6 minutes and I began to get nervous because I didn’t know what she was doing in the house. I didn’t know her well enough to know whether she was telling the truth about getting orange squash and Battenberg cake. And i thought she might be ringing the police and then I’d get into much more serious trouble because of the caution. So I walked away.” This shows how Christopher cannot tell if people tell the truth or not. His awkwardness of socialization is getting to him so instead of waiting for the old lady to come back, he ran off because he thought she was going to get him into trouble. The world reflects differently towards Christopher but he takes it all the same way when he actually socializes with strangers.
EQ: How does a protagonist change throughout the story?
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the story Christopher is intelligent and observant about what is happening. Christopher is intelligent because he thinks more deeply into his detective investigation on who killed wellington and why. This can be seen on page 42 as Christopher begins to question himself about the information he knows so far, so that he can have a deeper understanding of who could be the prime suspect. On page 42 it states “1. Why would you kill a dog? a) Because you hated the dog. b) Because you were mad c) Because you wanted to make Mrs. Shears upset, 2. I didn't know anyone who hated Wellington, so if it was (a) it was probably a stranger. 3. I didn't know any mad people, so if it was (b) it was also probably a stranger. 4. Most murders are committed by someone who is known to the victim. In fact, you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas day.-This meant that Mr. Shears was my Prime Suspect.” This begin to show how Christopher is beginning to put the information he knows into place and knowing who his suspect is.
Then Christopher is known as an observant as he is questioning his mother death like how did she die, This can be seen on page 27 when Christopher had a flashback to when his mother had died and his dad told him it was a heart attack, so he question it and want to learn how. On page 27 it states “I said,”What kind of a heart attack?” because I was surprised. Mother was only 38 years old and heart attacks usually happen to older people, and Mother was very active and rode a bicycle and ate food which was healthy and high in fiber and low in saturated fat like chicken and vegetables and muesli.” This passage shows how Christopher was very suspicious at the time and question his father on his mother's death because it wasn’t adding up. I think that as the story continues Christopher would become a better thinker in observants because of what he is doing to make conclusions.
'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Mark Haddon is a story written from the perspective of a teenager who has mental condition. Christopher is a teenager living with his father in a small English town. Though through first glance, one might view Christopher as simple minded and immature, however Christopher has demonstrated several times through the book so far that he has matured. One of these moments, is when he talks about the death of his mother. This is best shown on page 28 when Christopher tells the reader what kind of heart attack his mom died from, "...an aneurysm is when a blood vessel breaks open and the blood doesn't get to the heart muscles because it is leaking." The usage of the gruesome details of possibly how his mother died is comforting. His mother passed away when he was younger. He appreciates honesty and likes everything to be clean-cut. For Christopher, the idea of independence is a commodity that he wants and his acceptance of his mother's death is a sign of maturity. He's no longer bound to the constant state of grieving and anger that his father seems to be in because he understands he has to move on. This is also present when when he goes against his father's orders on page 48, "I was doing detective work trying to find out what killed Wellington." In this moment. Christopher was not supposed to not have anything else to do with the case. While it could be easily argue that disobeying your parents is not a mature thing to, it could also be that in this moment, he is being mature by making his own decisions to overcome those obstacles. he knows that people around him think he is weird and that his interest in the death of Wellington is odd and possibly dangerous. However by disobeying his father's orders to keep himself out of the case, shows him coming into maturity by making his own decisions. He has thought quite a bit about it and its obvious that he finds solace in a clean cut truth, so he's not just doing this case to piss off his dad but rather bring to him closure.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the purpose of the quest?
ReplyDeleteChristopher isn't just trying to find out who killed a dog, he doesn't have any connections to the dog like he said early in the book. The reason that he wants to establish the killer, is to find out more about others than he could if he were to just talk to them. He doesn't have the social skills to talk to people in a way that they would be willing to communicate their feelings willingly, or would even respond to what he's saying in a positive way. But through this investigation he is force learning about other people that he considers important to him. He is not just finding out about the dog but he is steadily focusing more about the way conventional people would act as opposed to the way he acts. A place this can be seen is when he is being made fun of by the kid who his father claimed was going to be a garbage man. Christopher said he was stupid but he kept focusing on the word that the kid called him a "spaz" Christopher obviously does not consider himself a spaz, and in the traditional sense he doesn't care at all about what people think of him, but he does wonder why this kid, who is considered normal, considers him weird, this is evident of Christophers intent to learn about the rest of societies expectational characteristics.
Amina:
ReplyDeleteHow is the protagonist different from those around him?
Christopher is different from those around him. He looks at things differently, he has a different way of thinking, and he acts differently towards certain situations.
One way Christopher differs from those around him, is by the way he thinks. Christopher has a certain way of looking at things, that other people don’t usually follow. In chapter 47 in “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time” by Mark Haddon, the school psychologist, Mr. Jeavons, is asking Christopher about his process of determining how he feels. Christopher states, “Mr. Jeavons, the psychologist at the school, once asked me why 4 red cars in a row made it a Good Day, and 3 red cars in a row made it a Quite Good Day, and 5 red cars in a row made it a Super Good Day, and why 4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don’t speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks. He said that I was clearly a very logical person, so he was surprised that I should think like this because it wasn't very logical.” Usually, people don’t think like this. For example, Mr. Jeavons. Christopher needs a logical explanation to explain why he feels the way that he does, unlike others. He does not just go with the flow, and feels however he feels. He needs numbers, arguments, reasons for feeling the way he does. The cars help him determine how he feels, they make him feel comfortable.
Another way Christopher differs from those around him, is because he acts differently in certain situations. In the beginning of the book, Christopher sees a dead dog, and he reacts differently than someone usually would. In chapter five, Christopher states “I pulled the dog and lifted him into my arms and hugged him. He was leaking blood from the fork holes.” This dog isn’t even Christopher's dog, but he still felt some sort of connection. Usually, when someone sees a dead dog on the street, they wouldn't go up to it and hug it, especially when it isn't there. But clearly, Christopher isn’t like others. He feels more peaceful with the dogs, so when he sees a dead dog, he wants to comfort it,
Lastly, the other way Christopher differs from people, is by the way he looks at things. Also in chapter 5, Christopher explains his relationship with dogs. “I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross, and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.” This quote heavily implies that Christopher's relationship with dogs is far more different than with humans. Christopher feels more comfortable with dogs. Dogs cannot confuse him, and they'll stay faithful to him. Humans, however, are different. Humans are far more complex, and that confuses Christopher. Their emotions vary and Christopher does not know how to handle that. Dogs are straightforward and he’s very comfortable with that.
Applebaby:
ReplyDeleteChristopher shows maturity throughout the text a lot. He does not know how to control some of the things that he does. Such as when he hit the police office, he didn’t know another way of trying to say that the police office was in his personal space. He is a very determined and curious about everything that he does. I think that with him being determined and sticking with the task shows maturity. He really wants to try and find out what happened to wellington and who killed him. When he was in the room with his dad and the police officer and he was asking did he kill the dog he felt offended in a way because he knew that he wasn't the one who did it but it seems that he wasn't being believed. Also, it seems that since Christopher isn’t really good with giving people hugs and stuff, him and his dad have this certain type of code that they use that show each other they love they have for each other instead of giving him a hig. Christopher is a very intelligent person but sometimes he seems to get frustrated with the types of things that go on.
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ReplyDelete