The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon refers to an autistic boy named Christopher Boone, and was accused of murdering a dog whom he's never killed. Because of his curiosity, he sets out to find the culprit and afterwards escapes his father.
I find it very saddening for one, because what Christopher does not realize is the human emotion. I cannot understand why he does not comprehend emotions, either - although, it may have been because a moment in life scarred him, which is possible, since he was told that his mother died from a heart attack. I, myself, would be in a trauma as well.
Autism is a disorder that affects the brain's growth in social and communication skills. Many of the symptoms include memorization of passages, stress during change of regime, painful noises, harsh times to make friends, so on and so forth. In my opinion, Christopher can also have a related ADHD symptom as well (intensive screaming).
What I find disappointing is the way he's being treated towards his parents, especially his mother. Christopher's mother left her own son because of her uncontrollable temper towards him. Knowing that, anyone can spot that she's irresponsible, no matter what. Besides, Christopher received autism from his mother, who was a carrier. It's not Christopher's fault. If you were to sum it up in an equation, the answer will end up as his mother and father.
I accuse Christopher's father as well for the troublesome part of the plot. One, being that he killed a dog because he was envious towards it and Mr.&Mrs.Shears is completely bogus. It also scarred Christopher's life. Two, he never told Christopher that his mother was still alive. I can understand why he wanted to keep it a secret; however, it's still somewhat bogus (especially since he's a man now).
Despite the fact that the plot is very twisted, it's intriguing.
Hmmm... this seems sort of like a kind of... kiddish book? I don't know, but it's hard to think of a book like this to be on or grade level. Have you finished the book? (DON'T TELL ME WHO KILLED THE POOR DOG...) Also, perhaps this is accusation against people with diseases like ADHD and autism? It sort of reminds me of Eli's picture book (about autism) even though these don't really seem to have the same concept. I wonder, just as a guess, if maybe the father is really, reeaaalllyyy evil, and he killed the dog AND Christopher's mother, but no one can do anything about it because he's in the Mafia or something? I don't know, a very... IMAGINATIVE guess! Haha! Oh... But what if that's right? Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a little boy in my apartment building (They moved, then MY family moved) and he had a terrible case of autism. I never really realized so until my parents explained it, and I was really young so I suppose I didn't really understand until later. Recently, we were talking about that family (we brought it up by talking about how his brother and I used to fight all the time) and my mother said that a person with such a severe case like Vaughn (that's his name) would never be able to survive on his own. This made me really sad :\ I don't really know why I brought this up... But that's my only (I believe only...) experience with autism.
Alsooo can you make the font a bit larger by any chance? I have to squint to see it! Haha! Bad for eyesight...
ReplyDeleteAnd agghhh, I just realized his mother didn't die... well, maybe the father killed the dog out of rage since she left him...??? I like my ideas about... the Italian Mafia...
ReplyDeleteCorinna, give a spoiler alert here!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the many posts.; I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen an autistic person in person, but I feel very bad for them - many of them probably don't want this disease.
As for the book, Christopher doesn't talk much about autism, but rather what human emoticons are.
NOTE: Edited spoilers. Sorry.