The curious incident of the dog in the

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time By Sebastian Nadeau Melanie Zhu Annie Verrette

Summary � The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time is a novel about an autistic boy, Christopher, who lives in Swindon. Christopher have a different way of seeing the world, he is logical and not like being touched even if is family. The story begins when he finds the neighbour's dog dead. � He wanted to do some detective job, and he finds out that the murderer was his father, but also he finds out that his Mother (that it was said that she had a Heart Attack) was living in London. Because he no longer trusted his dad, he wants to find his mother and live with her in London. � After a challenging travel, he reaches to her, but he forgot that he have to take his A-level Math, and he returns to Swindon to take the exam. � After that, he lives with his Mother and sometimes visit his Father. Christopher showed that he is capable of doing things that he did not think he could.

Character Sketch: Christopher � Narration: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time is written in firstperson point of view. Christopher is both the narrator and main character in the novel. The way Christopher narrates is a view of his thoughts and memories. He explains in detail every thought or feeling and describes the setting very specific. His narrative voice is serious and has no jokes, even though it has a certain humour. The reader can thrust in the narrator because it can understand how the main character thinks and reacts. � Character Traits: He is Logical because he understands the facts of things. His feelings do not interfere with his thinking. He feels happy when he is alone because he is Autistic. He does not like being close with other people neither being touched. He is Honest because he cannot tell lies. When he does, his imagination goes crazy and looses sense of what reality is, and his head hurts. � Behaviour: He has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder because when things are in order, or there is a plan for anything, he feels safe. He behaves aggressive with strangers and takes his Swiss Army Knife out to protect himself. When he is in an annoying place he starts groaning and laying down, also he put his hands over his ears to block out the noise and close his eyes so he can get calm.

Secondary Characters: � Mrs. Boone: She is impatient and Hot-tempered because she gets angry easily and she is often upset. Even for his son, an autistic child, she has no patience with him. In a letter sent to Chris, she says: “And your father is really pacient but I’m not, I get cross, even though I don’t mean too” (107). She is an important character in the plot because after Christopher found that his father told him a lie and killed Wellington, She is the only person which Chris can go to live with. Therefore, She is the primary character at the falling action plot. � Siobhan: She is caring and helpful because she is always helping Christopher with his problems, and giving him advices, she cares about Chris’s feelings. When Siobhan read the book after the Mrs. Alexander’s declaration, Siobhan says: “If you do start to feel sad about this, I want you to know that you can come and talk to me about it” (75). Siobhan is the only person that understand Chris’s thoughts, so she is important in the plot because it helps Chris to succeed in the problems like being in new places or getting upset, Siobhan gave him advices to get calmed. � Mr. Boone: He is patient and rude, he is patient because he normally do not get upset with Chris desires, but he is rude when he talks, like when he founds Chris with his cupboard: “What the fuck are you. . . ? That’s my cupboard, Christopher. Those are. . . Oh shit. . . Shit, shit, shit” (144). He is the cause of the problem. Because of him, Christopher wanted to leave home and go to London, even so Mr. Boone tried to solve everything.

Setting: � Swindon: Swindon is a small town in England, where Christopher lives with his father. There is a school, a hospital, a garden center, a boating lake and a train station, but no university there. The story takes place in 1988. This is a place that Christopher knows very well and he can make a clear map in his mind. This is also a place that makes him feel safe and comfortable. � Train Station: The story takes place at the train station about noon. There is a ticket office, a waiting room, a café and a shop. There are some stairs and a tunnel in the station too. There are lots of people walking into and out of the tunnel and there it smells like toilets and cigarettes. It is crowed and noisy. It also makes Christopher feel scared and giddy. � London: London is a big city near Swindon where Christopher’s mother lives with her love Mr. Shears. It is a modern and a crowed city, there are many people there. There are not any stars in the sky at night because of all the clouds and the light pollution. Christopher does not like London because his mother and Mr. Shears always argue, he frightens Mr. Shears and there also many yellow and red cars so he does not have and order.

Topic and Theme: � Family: Even when you lost a family member, you still keep memories about him, and unconsciously try to see it again. Because of Christopher’s Mother leave, Mr. Boone is blessed, but Chris is not as much affected as his Father. Even though, he remembers his Mother continuously, so he miss her but do not say it. When Chris finds out that Mrs. Boone still alive, he shocked by his Father’s lie. � Autism: Autistic children have special talent, and their mind works different so they see the world in another way that we cannot. Christopher is smart, logical, loves Maths, has great memory, but loves to be alone, does not like contact, became aggressive consciously. Chris is autistic, and has conflicts with other people because they cannot understand him. � Special Needs: In the treat that receive “Special Children” exists Discrimination. Even though everyone has Special Needs, like Mr. Boone, Siobhan. Chris says that the name “Special Needs” is used for not to say “Stupid”, because that what Chris thinks about the children in his School, also Chris says that everyone has Special Needs, so who discriminates the others with also Special Needs is being hypocrite.

Symbol: � Swiss Army Knife: It means Christopher security. When he feels unsafe, he takes his Swiss Army Knife to be protected. It shows how Chris feels scared, and this helps him to cope fear. � Toby, the pet rat: It means Christopher responsibility. It shows that Chris is able to look after someone else, which means that he is responsible. He can take care of himself, and is independent. � Puzzles: The puzzles and Math problems, it shows Christopher’s intelligence, and his ability to solve difficult problems and situations. Also this shows Christopher’s logic, and explains why he observes everything. Puzzles represents Christopher’s mind.

Genre: � Bildungsroman: It is a Coming-of-age story, or Formation Novel, that shows psychological, moral and physical growth. In The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time, this genre represents Christopher’s psychologically development, and moral growing. At first he says that he cannot imagine things or cannot tell lies, but at the end he say he can do anything and doing things that he say is not capable to do. � Detective Fiction/Murder Mystery: It is a sub-genre in which an investigator investigates a crime, or in this case, a murder. In The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time, the murder victim is a dog, called Wellington, which Christopher try to find out his murderer, which is weird because the murder victim often is a person. Because Christopher likes dogs, he thinks that they are important, but almost nobody shares his thinking. At the end, he finds out who is the murderer, but also achieves other things, which shows why it has various genres. � Quest Narrative: Is a story in which the hero is in search of something and undergoes tests and trials to achieve his goal. In The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time, Christopher is the hero, which means that he has to confront. Christopher is in search of several things, as well as found his mother, take his A-Level Maths, find the murderer, and to reach London.