Essay Two: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Quote & Technique
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Explanation
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B1:
Theme: Truth and Lies
- How this relates to ideas surrounding identity and building and maintaining relationships
- Haddon often uses similes instead of metaphors to further emphasis the importance of truth
→ Christopher: “metaphors are lies”.
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Quote:
“It is because I can’t tell lies. | … And this why everything I have written here is true.”
Technique:
Quote:
“I used to think that Mother and Father might get divorced.”
Technique:
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- It draws the conclusion of the importance of truth to Christopher, and the impact that it has
- It also foreshadows the future situation in which he is lied to by his father
- Reminder of Christopher’s inability to understand jokes, metaphors, expressions, emotions, etc.
- The conclusion is drawn that Christopher’s whole childhood had been filled with confusion and a sense of tension within his family
- It is uncovered that his parents had both had a lot of problems in adjusting to Christopher’s needs
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B2:
Theme: Control and Stability
- e.g. power struggles → family dynamics
- The difficulty in controlling one’s environment and the ability to control others → how this either results in a stable or unstable situation
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Quote:
“...we do this because … I do not like hugging people…”
Technique:
Quote:
“... people’s faces move very quickly”
Technique:
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- Christopher feels the need to have control over situations in order for him to understand the people around him
- May assist the reader in understanding the way Christopher’s mind works as well as his mental stability and capabilities
- Provides a further allusion to the lack of bond that Christopher and his father share, even unknowingly, due to his inability to process human emotion
- The lack of understanding on the perception of emotions creates an unstable environment
- Christopher is unsure of how to react and isn’t in control of the situation at any time
- There is a sense of instability as he normally walks away from the person due to his lack of understanding about what they are feeling
- Shows his inability to perceive and understand human emotions, including his own
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B3:
Theme: Acceptance and Understanding
- The idea of accepting others for who they are and coming to terms with their differences
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Quote:
“I'm not a spazzer which means spastic…”
Technique:
Quote:
“I was not a very good mother Christopher. Maybe if things had been different, maybe if you had been different, I might have been better at it.”
Technique:
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- This specifically shows the ways in which Christopher isn’t accepted by the children at his school who call him a “spazzer” due to his disability
- A lack of acceptance by many who simply don’t understand Christopher is a key element to this story
- Through the use of the letters, part of the story is told
- We as the reader learns more about Christopher’s past through the mother’s perspective
- We are able to gain a minor understanding as to why she was unable to accept Christopher during the early stages of his life
- However, we are made to further question this, and the reasons as to why his father lied about his mother’s death
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B4:
Theme: Communication
- In relationships to family and how an individual deals with the outside world
- Shows how Christopher has trouble with understanding the world
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Quote:
“I had been hugging the dog for 4 minutes when I heard screaming.”
Technique:
Quote:
“But I do like murder mystery novels. So I am writing a murder mystery novel.”
Technique:
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- This shows Christopher’s sense of control, as well as the feelings that he has towards the dog
- Shows the different ways in which he responds to humans vs animals
- Shows that Christopher doesn’t understand that hugging a dead dog is strange
- The repetition of “murder mystery novels” places emphasis on the idea that although Christopher struggles with verbal communication, he does however enjoy communication through writing
→ this is one of the attributes which he inherits
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c. Madison F, 2017
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