The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Christopher Francis Boone

Detective

Christpher is a 15 year old boy living in Swindon, England wirh his father.It is heavily implied throughout the book that he has Autism (ASD). He is smart and extremely good at math Christopher knows all the prime numbers up to 7057; all the counties in the world and their capital. He attends a special ed. school He is attempting to complete his A-levels to attend university

Ed Boone

Christpher's father.He has been Chrisopher's sole caregiver for the past two years. He knows all of Christopher's habits. He become unusually angry and impatient throughout Christopher's investigation. We learn that he killed Wellington the dog and that he lied about Christopher's mother being dead. He works in the boiler business

Siobhan

Christopher’s teacher at school. An even-handed mentor, she works to expand Christopher’s horizons socially as well as academically. She tries to teach him about human emotions and accepting others. Encourages Christopher to write his book and be creative As a result, she is one of the few people whom Christopher trusts.

Ms. Boone

Christopher’s mother. Christopher believes she died of a heart attack prior to the time when the novel begins. Remembered as a loving but impatient and volatile woman. She was at times overwhelmed by the difficulty of caring for her troubled son. She had an affair with Mr. Shears and moved to London.

Roger Shears

Eileen Shears

A neighbor of the Boones’s. Eileen Shears is the ex-wife of Roger Shears. Christopher remembers that she would often visit to cook meals and play scrabble in the wake of his mother’s death. The murder of her dog, Wellington, provides the major dramatic impetus for the novel. She was in a relationship with Ed Boone.

Ex-husband of Eileen Shears. Mr. Shears had an affair with Christopher's mother. His mysterious nature leads Christopher to investigate him as a possible suspect in Wellington’s murder.

SETTING

Time period: 1998

Train station

Swindon, England

London

Christopher travels through England on a train in search of his mother

The beginning and ending of the novel is set in Swindon. This is where the conflict begins.

He finds himself living with his mother for a short period of time in London

His Father's Untrustworthy Behaviour

Ed Boone told Christopher that his mother had died of a heart attack when he was 13. He also lied to his son about Wellington, having killed him in anger. It is these lies that set off Christopher's ambition to run away from home in search of his mother.

CONFLICTS

Psychological & Social Restrictions

Death of Wellington

The murder of Wellington the dog is what sparks the entire book. It is a major conflict that leads to Christopher finding out the truth and growing more independent.

Throughout the novel, Christopher must overcome many uncomfortable situations. He is assumed to have autism and this means Chrisropher lives with many restrictions. The reactions that he has towards strangers, open, crowded places and changing of schedule is a signifcant conflict he must face.

Timeline

Summary of plot

• Christopher Francis Boone discovers the dead body of his neighbour's poodle Wellington.
• Christopher hits a policeman in a misunderstanding at the scene of the crime. He is taken into custody.
• The police release Christopher with a stern warning and his father tells him not to investigate.
• Christopher chronicles his investigation in a journal as part of a school assignment. His teacher Siobhan helps him witth his grammar and how to better navigate his surroundings.
• His investigation is often aided or hindered by his autism.
• Christopher investigates the crime scene and conducts interviews with his neighbours

• He discovers that his father was in a romantic rrelationship with Wellignton's owner, Mrs. Shears.
• He later learns that relationship was a reaction to an affair between Mr. Shears. and his mother before she left.
• At school, Christopher prepares for an. A-level maths exam that will let him go to university.
• When Christopher returns home one afternoon, he accidently leaves his notebook on the kitchen table. His father reads it and become very angry.
• They get into a physical fight and his father confiscated his book.
• Later, Christtopher searches the house for his book and uncovers a box of letter sent to him by his 'dead'' mother.

• His arrival at his mother's flat comes as a total surprise to her. She had no idea his father had brrn hiding her letters
• Christopher settles in for a stime in London but friction caused by his prescence results in his mother's decision to leave Mr Shears and return to Swindon
• Christopher moves into a new apartment with his mother and begins regular visits with his father.
• When Christopher's pet rat Toby dies, his father gives him a puppy.
• At. school, Christopher sits for his. A-level math exam and receives an A-grade.
• The novel ends with Christopher planning to take more A-level exams so. he can attend. univerity in another town
• he knows he can do all this because he solved Wellington's murder, was brave enough to find. his mother and wrote a book

• The letters show that his mother is alive and living in London with Mr. Shears.
• In shock, Christopher vomits and passes out.
• His father comes home and apologises for his lies. He explains that he acted out of a desire to protect Christopher from the knowledge of his mother's abandonment.
• Christopher's father also admits to killing Wellington after an argument with Mrs. Shears.
• Christopher is now terrified of his father and feels like he can. no longer trust him. So, he sneaks out of the house and travels to. London to live with his mother.
• During the long journey, Christopher copes with and overcomes the social fears and limitations of his condition - dodging the police, dealing with crowds, and almost getting hit by a train.

Themes

Language & Communication

Independence

Security & Truth

• One of the key motivators for Christopher in his life is his sense of security.
• Christopher has an urgent need to see the world as orderly, having a very low tolerance for disorder. He obsesses over schedules as they provide a routine to follow.
• His need for the truth and heavy reliance on logic are things that help him feel safe in a world doesn't fully understand
• It is his need to feel safe that causes him to investigate Wellington's murder and run away from home when his father breaks. his trust

• Christopher’s condition affects the way he connects and communicates with others.
• Christopher has a difficulty connecting to people on an emotional level, so he relies heavily on order and logic to understand and navigate the world.
• He has trouble imagining the thoughts and feelings of people, so he has issues reading social cues, sarcasm and expression.
• He doesn't understand metaphors and doesn't like talking if it doesn't serve a purpose.
• He is also very honest and direct which oftten leads to some misunderstandiing.

• Christopher shows a growing desire for independence throughout the novel. We watch as Christopher gains the confidence to assert himself.
• As Christopher overcomes the various trials he faces, he gains confidence in his abilities and gradually becomes more self-sufficient. This process builds up to in a difficult journey to London (a significant triumph since he has never traveled by himself).
• In the end, Christopher feels he has overcome his challenges and is ready to be on his own.

He shows his yearning for independence in a few ways: 1. rebelling against his father by disobeying his orders, 2. fantasizing about doing whatever he likes and taking care of himself in his recurring dream of being one of the few people left on Earth. 3.He begins planning to go to college, and to live on his own there. 4. going to the toilet on the train

"Prime numbers is what is left when you have taken all the patterns away"

“I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.”

QUOTES

"And when I was asleep, Ihad one of my favourite dreams... And in the dream nearly everyone on earth was dead"

“Sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don't know why we are sad, so we say we aren't sad but we really are.”

“Metaphors are lies.”

"This is another reason why I don't like proper novels, because they are lies about things which didn't happen and they make me feel shaky and scared".

The second main reason is that people often talk using metaphors. These are examples of metaphors I laughed my socks off. He was the apple of her eye. They had a skeleton in the cupboard. We had a real pig of a day. The dog was stone dead.

I cooked his meals. I cleaned his clothes. I looked after him every weekend. I look after him when he was ill. I took him to the doctor. I worried myself sick everytime he wandered off somewhere at night. I went to school every time he got into a fight

Analysis Questions

Quiz

What does Christopher dislike and why?

Why does Christopher hate lying? What is Christopher's relationship with his father like? How does it change?

Christopher sees things in absolutes. He does not see the point of lying or being deceitful. Things are simply the way they are.

• Hugs or physical touch - oversenitivity
• Yellow and brown - poo, dirty, Melissa Brown/bananas, custard

What dictates if Christopher will have good day or a bad day?

4 yellow cars = Black Day3. yellow cars = Bad day3. red cars = Good Day 5 red cars = Super Good Day

What are some of Christopher's 'Behavioural Problems'?

• Groaning
• Not eating food if they touch
• Not talking to people for a long time

• Screaming and smashing things when angry
• Hitting people

Why Does Christopher like dogs?

Christopher likes dogs because they are smart, trustworthy, and easier to interact with than people. It is easy to tell how dogs are feeling, "they are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk." These qualities are important to Christopher because he struggles to read social cues and values honesty, because he believes lies are illogical.

He doesn’t like eating food from places he doesn’t know, he doesn’t like crowds of people, not having a schedule (france), people laughing at him, people he doesnt know (difficult to understand), proper novels (feels like lying), lying, people shouting at him (it makes him scared and thinks they will to hit him), hugging, smell of cigerettes, swimming (doesn’t like taking off his clothes) Likes dogs, sherlock homes, the rain (its like white noise) , prime numbers (doubling it helps him calm down), toby his pet rat, Blue Planet videos, the colour red (food dye), computers, space (apollo/milky way), maths problems, indian food, walk down the street at ¾ a.m (pretend like he is the only person in the world), the police, murder mystery novel, his swiss army knife, hospitals, Being in very small places alone (makes him feel very calm), writing his book

Discussion Questions

Do you think Christopher is a reliable narraror? Did the story help you understand people with autism any better?

Did you like the book? Why or why not? Do you sympathize with his father's actions or do you think they were unforgivable?

QUESTIONS