Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (that's a mouthful)Author: Mark Haddon
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Description: A dog is murdered on a dark night. Who did this? Why? What are all these strange secrets Christopher keeps uncovering about his family? Christopher is not your ordinary boy, but he must find out.
The voice in this book is really good. The story is in the point of view of an autistic child, so we get an insight on what his life is like, and with an interesting plot. For school, we were asked to read this and find out what we had in common with Christopher, then write a response. At first I was like, how am I ever going to find something in common between an autistic kid and an avid book reader? We live in different worlds, pretty much. So what did I make of it? Here is my response:
Probably like many others, I found very little in common with Christopher when reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for the first time. After finishing the last page, I looked back, but I still couldn’t find much that we shared. Then I thought about not focusing on specifics, but the big picture. For example: we both have a color we don’t like. Mine is orange instead of yellow and brown, but it is a likeness. With this new idea in mind, I read the book once more, and found many more similarities than before.
First I found little things we had almost exactly in common. We both have a favorite color, and we both like Indian food. We both like puzzles because they are calming. I do a Sudoku when I want to relax, and Christopher does the puzzle Conway’s Soldiers when he is overwhelmed on the crowded train. We both don’t like being shouted at because we are scared of further consequences. These similarities were easy to find because we both liked (or disliked) the same thing for the same reason.
I looked deeper into the story and found things we both have done or liked or wanted, but for different reasons. Christopher likes math because it is stable. I like math because there is always a specific and straightforward formula to find the answer. Christopher doesn’t like lies like the ones they tell in proper novels. I don’t like lies like the ones they tell in scary alien movies. Christopher wants things in a nice order because it makes him feel safe. When he sees 4 red cars in a row, they are in a nice order, so that makes it a Good Day. I want things in a nice order because it is easier to find things. Sometimes I spend an afternoon picking up my room so that it is orderly, which makes me feel better. We have both snooped around like detectives. Christopher snooped around to find out why his father hated Mr. Shears. I snooped around to find cool new things, like my favorite dress from Kindergarten, which was stuffed into a rag box. Christopher writes a story about his experiences. I just write stories.
I can relate to Christopher in a few big points of his life as well. He learns his mother has supposedly had a heart attack. He isn’t very sad, just accepting. When I was much younger, my grandmother had a heart attack. I didn’t understand so I didn’t worry much, just accepted the fact. Then, Christopher finds some hidden letters in a box, addressed to him! I once found a box of letters too, but addressed to my great-grandmother from my great-grandfather. In both cases, the letters piqued our curiosity. Finally, Christopher decides to go live with his mother and travels to London and has an adventure on the London Underground. The tube sign is only too familiar to me. Just this summer, my aunt took me to London, and I know exactly what the Underground is like. We share a big experience.
From reading this book and writing this paper, I found out how I can share a great deal with someone I would have thought to be a complete stranger. From small dislikes to big events we will always remember, Christopher and I have a lot in common.
1 comment:
Go Kaia! This is an excellent exploration of the similarities you found between yourself and Christopher. I know you had to work at it, so I'm impressed you read the book a second time and could see beyond the huge accumulation of dissimilarities because his strangeness is so easy to focus on. In fact, the mystery really gets kind of lost, don't you think? And then, I want to take a step back and ask: what kind of mother lets a man so dictate her life that she leaves her child? And what kind of father hides the communication from the mother. Those parents have a lot to answer for. I guess I'm relieved--and glad--you don't find any similarities there with your parents!
GMJ
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