Mark Haddons website

http://markhaddon.com/curious.htm

Theme questions

 

1. Is there more than one theme in the book?

Answer: Yes, there are several themes to the book such as honesty, however they are pretty hard to find.

2. Are any of the themes in the book linked?

Answer: Some of the themes in this book are linked such as Honesty and the struggle to become independent. Christopher's father lies to him many times throughout the story such as when he tells Christopher that his mother was dead. Honesty links to the struggle to become independent because if his father had not lied to him Christopher would not have felt the need to leave his home.

3. Out of the following themes which one in your opinion is more important? The struggle to become independent, subjectivity, honesty and relationships. Why?

Answer: I think honesty is the most important theme in the book because, because of Christopher’s fathers dishonesty Christopher runs away which. Without the Dishonesty of Ed there would not be a story

Is the theme directly stated or implied?

Answer: The themes of this book are implied

4. What message do you think Mark Haddon is trying to get across to the reader *

Answer: One message that Mark Haddon is trying to get across is you cannot judge someone before considering things from their perspective.

       5. Did this book lead you to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

Answer: This book made me reassess how I deal with problems because, when there is a problem people generally only consider things from their perspective. People like Mrs. Shears do not understand how people like Christopher, someone who has autism, function.

6. What kind of conflict does Christopher face? (Ex. Person vs. Person) *

Answer: The conflicts Christopher faces in the book The Curious incident of the dog in the night time are:

Character vs. Self, Character vs. Environment and Character vs. Character. In the book Christopher pushes himself to leave his home in Swindon after he finds out about all the lies his father told him even though he is scared of other people and loud sounds. Therefore there is a Character vs. Self-conflict. Many things in the environment Christopher lives in oppose him as not a lot of people understand him. Therefore there is a character vs. Environment conflict. Finally there is a character vs. Character conflict because Christopher cannot trust his father because he told Christopher that his mother was dead.

7.       What kind of relationship does Christopher have with his family?

Answer: Christopher has an untrustworthy relationship with his family. Christopher’s Father lies to him several times throughout the book.

8.       What does Christopher fail and succeed to accomplish?

Throughout the book curious incident of the dog in the night time Christopher Succeeds at becoming more independent, facing his fears (loud noises, people) and completing his A- maths. However he fails to forgive his father.

9.       Do you think that if the novel would had been written in any other point of view (other than Christopher's) that one would have understood Christopher's thought process and been able to truly get insight to his character? Why?

 

Answer: Not at all. Since Christopher is narrating the book we hear a lot of his thoughts that and feelings that we would have not heard otherwise. We learn so much about Christopher’s character because it is written in 1^st person.

 

10.   Mark Haddon uses different language and grammar through-out the book to help us understand Christopher’s character. Do you think it was distracting? Would the story have had the same impact if the language had been different? I liked how the book was written it made Christopher’s character more real; I thought it added to the book. If the language had been different the story would have been boring.

 

Journal 4

What. Did I. Just. Read. 

Nothing happened! -- So, he goes to London. Yeah, k. He finds his Mother, returns to Swindon, aces a math test. And gets a dog. 

Where is the storyline?  Where is the ending?! The curious incident of the dog completely left the story line halfway through the book. What is the connection between a dead dog and reuniting with a family member? The story ended with just stuff that happened. It didn’t end with an ending… It feels like the author just got impatient and just finished the book in 5 seconds. What happened? An autistic boy did something by himself and all is just dandy? -- Notice all the unanswered questions-- 

^What is meant above is; Nothing in the last quarter of the book happens to end the novel satisfyingly. I feel like I read the first quarter and the last quarter of the book. 

Once again, I think I just don’t take joy in reading the mind of an autistic boy trying to accomplish something independently.  The theme and story line are not well portrayed, and it leaves me as a unsatisfied reader. 

I would not recommend the book to anyone, especially if you will be asked to explain it, make any sense out of it, or find structure in it. Because that would be impossible. It was temporary entertainment. 

Interesting: Theatre Adaptation

Looks like they've adapted The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for theatre in New York. Interesting.

http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time/

journal 4

Let me start off this post by saying the ending of this book was terrible! It ended so abruptly, I was so surprised when I found out it was the end because I had so many unsolved questions! It reminded me of mocking jay by Suzanne Collins. In both books the authors kind of solve the problem and then the book ends and with an unclear conclusion and I feel like the characters story were kind of dropped if that makes sense.  The ending of the book was also predictable. Christopher and his mother travel back to Swindon and Christopher preforms his A- level maths and, surprise, he passes them even though he is physically and mentally exhausted.  His Father tries to gain Christopher’s trust again by buying him a puppy which I thought was a cute twist to the story. And Christopher finishes his book by telling us what his plans for the future are (completing his A- level physics, getting a first class honour degree and becoming a scientist)

 Now that everything is said and done I have to say that I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I would not recommend this book to someone who is looking for a happy story because it isn’t. In fact it was kind of depressing.

 Question à Did anyone else notice how many sentences started with and?

Look at the last two pages. 13 sentences started with and.

I thought it was interesting.

The FINAL Journal Entry: "Debatable" Conclusion to a Awesome Novel

Well, we have finally reached the end of our four-week long emotional roller coaster.  We have entered the mind of an autistic individual and walked in his shoes for a while to understand his perspective on life and adult social problems.  Overall, I have nothing to complain about regarding the book.  However, I do have a problem with one thing.

The conclusion was extremely rushed and didn't give much closure.  At one moment, we're in London, and Chris is living with his mother and Roger Shears.  The next moment, Chris and his mother have returned to Swindon (via stealing Roger's car) and are talking to Ed about living back at the house again.  By the end of the book, Roger taxied out to Swindon just to dump all of Judy's stuff on the lawn and flip her off, followed by Chris taking his A level maths, Ed apologizing (to very little success with reconnecting with Chris), the family buying a golden retriever and naming it Sandy, Toby dying, and Judy living in a small apartment.

I found there was too many details left out, sort of like the ending to the Hunger Games books or Mass Effect 3.  I was still asking a lot of questions that weren't answered at all in the book and felt as if Mark Haddon betrayed Chris' character in a way.  Chris is focused on detail (ex. him describing standing in a field and noticing the details. "There are 19 cows in the field.  15 are white with black spots and 4 have brown.  There is a town in the distance with 300 noticeable buildings and a church with a square steeple.  The southeast corner of the field is more elevated than the northwest corner.  etc. etc. etc.") and his obsession with detail is what drives the story forward.

Like the Hunger Games (where so many details were left out after the fight at the Capitol that those extra details could have made a whole other book) and Mass Effect 3 (where Bioware [the video game's developer] received extreme backlash from an extremely loyal fanbase for leaving hundreds of questions unanswered with the ending), there was lots of missing pieces to the puzzle of "Who Killed Wellington," even though we did find out who the murderer was and what really happened with his Chris' mother.  I just wished it had more closure and wasn't as rushed.

Despite this tweak in the storyline, it was an extremely good book.

Journal 3

In this section of the book, Christopher's father reveals the truth about Chris's mother, after Christopher finds letters written to him by his mother. Another shocking piece of information is revealed as well. Ed Boone killed Wellington the dog. When Christopher hears about this, he feels unsafe at home. So he runs away. Well, first hides in the garden. He then runs away to the address on his mother's letters to him. The story quickly comes to a point where Christopher is trying to overcome his fear of London, where there are a lot of people and loud noises. 

This part of the book is no longer about the book he is writing to find the murderer of Wellington. (it was revealed it was Ed)  The book now has taken a turn to searching out his mother. This doesn't have much to do with the main story of the book. (if there WAS one behind all of the crazy side tracks) It's a sad depressing story now. Though, with Christopher's lack of emotion, I as a reader did not feel any emotion. I think this plot turn really helps the book. Until now, it was quite uneventful and boring. This really picked up the story. It is still not one of my favorite reads though. It's still slightly distracted by Christopher's thoughts.  All in all, it's a good book, but not for anyone who doesn't like listening to the mind of an autistic boy. 

Judging by what has just happened in the book, and just knowing how the book generally flows, I feel the ending will be abrupt and unpleasing.  UNTIL NEXTIMEEEEEE. K bye.