curious+incident

= __** The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time **__ = By: Mark Haddon



Week 1: December 4 (P. 1-43) Parts: A- Alisha B- Jess C- Victoria D- Shellie

Topic Question (Part B): Christopher John Francis Boone is a main character and the narrator of the book. He is 15 years old. He is an autistic boy, but he is also a genius. He is all about logic, absolutes, and truth. His favorite subjects are mathematics and physics, and he loves connecting those two subjects to real life situations. He is an interesting character to have as a narrator, because he does not have the same outlook on life as the other characters. It is also interesting because he is incapable of lying, so he only tells the truth. Lastly, he is interesting because he does not understand certain things very well, so he tries to interpret things on his own. Father is another main character. He is Christopher’s father. Christopher’s mother died, so his father is the only parent he has left. Father cares very much about Christopher, and is obviously the one who always helps bail Christopher out of trouble. He also tries to lead Christopher down the right path by telling him what not to do. Mrs. Shears lives near Christopher. She owns a poodle named Wellington. Christopher found her dog dead, but she jumped to conclusions when she saw him near her dead dog. Her dog was murdered, and Christopher wanted to figure out by whom. Mrs. Shears was obviously skeptical of Christopher and did not like him very much. Wellington, though dead at the beginning of the book, is a main focus of the book. Wellington is Mrs. Shears’ dog that was murdered. Christopher tries to figure out who murdered Wellington throughout the book. Siobhan is Christopher’s teacher. She seems to know Christopher very well, and she also understands how Christopher thinks. She knows exactly how to explain things to him, and she also helps him try to understand others better than he already does. Christopher’s mother, though also dead, is a very talked about character. She was obviously a big part of Christopher’s and his father’s lives. She is talked about in flashbacks of Christopher’s. My favorite character in this book is Christopher, because I love his outlook on life and the way he narrates the book. I believe that he is the best possible main character/narrator for this book. On the other hand, I do not like Mrs. Shears, because, though she was sad, she made conclusions about Christopher too quickly, and she did not take Christopher's autism into account. I am excited to read on to reveal more interesting characters, who hopefully make the book more interesting. - Jessica Badia

Meeting Summary: In the meeting, we discussed the questions, firstly. But after we had talked about those, we went to other topics, like the mother figure in //The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,// and the mystery surrounding her. She seemed to just disappear in the story- she got sick, but Christopher didn't get to see her in the hospital ever, and then she died. But Christopher never saw her sick- she just left, and never came back. This lends itself to suspicion; why she just dropped off the face of planet? Did she really just leave Christopher's father? Why wouldn't Christopher's father just tell him the truth then? There are a lot of questions. We also discussed how autism manifests itself in different ways in people- how there are different degrees in severity, and how it affects different parts of the brain. Autism also can change the interpersonal relationships in families, and how other people act and react.

__Discussion Questions- Week 1__ Michelle Rotolo > Jess: It’s confusing because it constantly switches between the past and the present. Alisha: It adds to the book because it gives insight. It’s important because then the reader can understand what he’s thinking. It’s about him and what he discovers and his autism makes it important. He has such a different point of view because he’s autistic and the book wouldn’t make as much sense 4. Is Christopher an enjoyable character to narrate the book?Yes, his outlook is very interesting. It’s different from the last book, and the outlook is different from other books. It’s interesting how he compares everything to math and science and makes it make sense. 5. Why does Christopher fantasize about being in solitude?People probably confuse him, and he mentions that facial expressions change so often that their emotions are hard to read. He thinks people are impatient and wants them to explain things more thoroughly. He gets scared when people touch him and he gets confused easily when people give him instruction, he wants specific instruction.
 * 1) Why do you think Christopher is so interested in math, other than the fact that he enjoys it?Because it’s logical and kids with autism like routine, and math is like a constant for him. Math always remains the same and never changes for him. He’s able to focus on just math, so since he’s able to focus on that one thing, he took an interest and he’s good at it.
 * 2) Is Christopher’s way of telling the story confusing or interesting?
 * 1) Why is it so important that the book is narrated through Christopher’s autistic mind?

Week 2: December 11 (P.43-90) Parts: A- Victoria B- Shellie C- Jess D- Alisha

Discussion questions (Alisha) 1. Why does Christopher seem to want to be all alone, and want to be the only person in the world? Christopher does not understand people really well and when someone gets mad at him he wants to be alone. He wants to be an astronaut because he wants to be alone and there are not many people up in space. In space he feels as if he is the only person in the world. 2. Why did Christopher’s dad get so mad when Christopher found out about his mother and Mr. Shears? He was ashamed about what happened between him and his wife. And he got so mad because Christopher looks up to him and he wants Christopher to see him as a strong figure. Hitting Christopher showed his weak side. 3. Do you think that Christopher’s mother really died or did she leave? We think that she left Christopher and his father because they probably had a fight about her and Mr. Shears having an affair. Because it would be too difficult for Christopher to cope with the truth his father said that she had died. 4. Do you think that Christopher feels comfortable with Mrs. Alexander? No, he doesn’t feel comfortable with people in general. And is afraid of people that he doesn’t know and people that don’t know him. 5. Does Christopher seem okay with the situation of his mother? He hasn’t processed it yet and thought she was dead for most of his life. He doesn’t want to be mad at his mom because he thinks she is dead and that would be disrespectful.

Book Club Summary: This week's meeting was short due to the half day schedule for Winter Wonderland, though we still managed to address all of the questions and parts of the book that needed to be cleared up or were very interesting. We discussed why Christopher wants to be alone in the world again. We addressed this last week also, and we chose to readdress this, because Christopher seems to say that he wants to be the only one in the world many times. We decided that his inability to understand other people makes him desire being alone. He does not seem to know how to interact with others, which makes him feel awkward. His autism contributes greatly to his inabilities. We then went on to address Christopher's dads rage toward Christopher when Christopher continued to investigate and found out about his mother cheating on his father. Christopher's father was obviously upset about the situation, because he had kept it a secret from Christopher for a very long time, and now Christopher had found out about it. His father needed to be strong to take care of Christopher on his own after what had happened to him, and he believed that if Christopher had found out about the situation, then he would no longer think of his father as a strong figure. We also discussed our thoughts on Christopher's mother. We all came to the agreement that we believe that Christopher's mother is not really dead, and that his father said she was dead to cover up her leaving them. Also, Christopher cannot really process the fact that his mother cheated on his father. He thinks that his mother is dead, and does not want to be disrespectful by thinking badly of her. The scene with Mrs. Alexander gave all of us the feeling that Christopher does not feel comfortable with her. This is partly because Christopher does not feel good with anyone in general. Lastly, we discussed our feelings that the book is very well-written, and that Christopher was an amazing narrator. We discussed all of this over the hot chocolate and snacks Victoria brought in for us. It was a very successful and informative meeting. - Jess Badia

Part B- Michelle Response to the Discussion Question

The language in __The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time__ is fairly simple. The book is narrated by a 15-year-old autistic boy, so he is very straightforward with his language. He does not use literary devices such as metaphors or hyperboles, he states his exact thoughts. It is easy language to read, with a few complex words and phrases, but it is still understandable. The book is written with mature words, yet written in a simple way that a young author would write. The book is most likely written for young adults at a high school level. While the writing and language is fairly simple, the concepts Christopher talks about are very mature and intelligent.

Week 3: December 18 (P.90-140) Parts: A- Shellie B- Victoria C- Alisha D- Jess

Topic Question: The tone of this piece is very simplistic with underlying strains of emotion. It's like a room with white walls and sparse furniture (like you went shopping at Ikea and overdid it)- but if you turn the couch cushions over, there are coins and crumbs and small pieces of toys that fell between the cracks. Because Christopher is autistic, the emotion in __The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time__ is at times, hard to discern. Christopher tends to intellectualize his feelings and detach himself from situations which removes a lot of emotion from the events in the book. But looking closely, you can see the simplistic emotion in the book, mirroring the simplistic emotion that Christopher feels.

Discussion Questions: 1. Do you think that Siobhan had the right to ask Christopher so many questions about his bruise? Should she have done more? She did have the right to ask the questions that she did, because Christopher does not get into many fights, so she should be curious about how he got his bruise. She wanted to know if he was being abused, which was not wrong of her to want to know or to ask about. She should have done more, because Christopher did not remember everything about the fight he had with his father and how he got the bruise, which is a sign that it was a really bad fight. His dad is looking after him, and if there are problems at home, she should be the next one to look after him. 2. Why did Christopher’s father take the book out of the garbage and hide it in his room? He did not want Christopher to look for it, and subsequently get it from the garbage. Christopher was not allowed in his father's room, so his father believed that Christopher would not sneak into his room to look for the book. 3. Why did Christopher’s father keep the letters his mother had written to Christoper away from Christopher? Do you think that she really missed Christopher? She did miss him, because she consistently sent letters with a positive attitude to Christopher. His father should not have hid the letters, because not only is it illegal, but it was also wrong for him to deny Christopher communication with his mother though, his father could not give the letters to Christopher after he said that his mother was dead. because that would cause too much confusion for Christopher. 4. Why did Christopher’s father tell Christopher’s mother not to come back ever again? Why did she send so many letters afterward? His father is insane, and she still loves Christopher. Christopher's father can not trust Christopher's mother anymore, so he does not trust her with their son. Christopher gets close to certain people, and his father did not want his mother to let him down and to make him depressed. 5. Did Christopher’s mother seem to blame Christopher, his father, or herself for her departure? Christopher’s father seemed to be the main blame, because he was mean to her and they always fought. She had realized that Christopher and his father got along better then Christopher and herself. She knew that she was a bad mother. She thought that they would be better off without her. She got mad easily and his father didn’t. They showed her that they did not need her in many instances. Though, she did seem to mention things that Christopher had done to make her upset throughout the letter, so she might have blamed him a little bit also. 6. What lead to Christopher’s father telling Christopher that his mother had died? He did not want to make things complicated, and he believed that the affair was too hard to understand for Christopher. He did not expect Christopher's mother to contact them. Her death was easier to understand then her cheating and leaving them. Christopher was really young and autistic, so it was better than trying to feel the emotional aspect for Christopher. 7. Why did Christopher’s father kill Wellington, and why did he tell Christopher about it? Mrs. Shears was also leaving him, like his wife did, and she loved the dog more than Christopher and his father. The dog was also crazy. It seemed like a repeat of what happened with his wife, and he could not deal with that, so he killed dog so that Mrs. Shears would care more about them. He fought with Mrs. Shears like he fought with his wife. 8. Was Christopher’s decision to live with his mother the right one? Do you think that he can make it there on his own? Would he be safer and happier with his mother or with his father? He made the right decision, because his father was crazy because his mother had left him. He will be able to make it there on his own, but he might have some trouble with meeting new people and taking direction. He is used to having people there for him and doing stuff for him, so it will be a big change for him. His mother is the best person for him to live with at the moment, because he is more mature than before, so she will be able to deal with him better than she used to. Also, he can manage his autism better than before. His father needs time to think, because the emotions that he had shoved down were now coming out. - Jess

Meeting Summary-Alisha This week we had a lot to discuss, this section of the book had a lot of suspense and the events were very shocking to us as the readers. We talked about Christopher's father lying to him about his mother being dead. Christopher's father did not mean for his lie to become so big, he felt that saying that his mother died would be a lot easier for Christopher to understand than the concept of his mother leaving him and his father. In this section we learned a lot about the relationship that Christopher's mother tried to have after she left. She would send him letters at least once a week. Even though Christopher did not respond she tried to keep in touch with him, in hopes that he was reading them even if he could not bring himself to write back. At first Christopher was very confused about the letters because he thought that his mother was dead, but as he read more and more letters he began to put the pieces of the puzzle together. When Christopher's father found out that Christopher knew the truth about his mother he wanted to have an open and honest relationship with Christopher. He felt that the best place to start was to begin to tell him the truth about Wellington's death. Christopher was afraid that if his father could kill a dog because of jealousy and anger how was he safe? Out of fear Christopher has decided to runaway to London to find his mother and hopefully formulate a relationship after all those years.

Week 4: January 7 (P.140-179) Parts: A- Jess B- Alisha C- Shellie D- Victoria

__Questions:__

1. Now that Christopher has been removed from his home environment, do you think that his autistic reactions are getting worse? Jess thinks that not really, because he's dealing with it- being with the people and being okay. Alisha thinks that the change of routine is shaking him up, that he is groaning a lot and having issues with hiding from everyone. He's had to use coping skills (like doing large math problems in his head) much more often than normal. Christopher is also having trouble with the people around him not understanding he has autism and not being able to help as much as the people he's normally with. 2. Do you think Christopher will safely make it to his mom's house? He will, and he'll be okay, he will just have a hard time dealing with all the obstacles along the way, with people being unfriendly and not understanding. He also might not be able to stay with his mother if the police were called. 3. Do you think that Christopher's journey to his mom's house is a learning experience for him? It could be, but Christopher isn't utilizing it. He's not trying to be better, he's just resorting to his old habits. He pulls his pocket knife on anyone who approaches him, hides in luggage compartments on trains, and curls up and groans on train platforms. If Christopher uses this to his advantage, then maybe it would help him move on to be able to deal more with situations at home. 4. If Christopher makes it to his mom's house, do you think she'll let him live with her? Probably not, since he was the reason she left their family in the first place. She might be happy to see him, but she has said herself that she doesn't have the patience to deal with him. It's been a long time since she left, and they haven't had any correspondence- she may have made a life along on her own. She may be happy without him. 5. Christopher has been becoming more aggressively defensive lately. Do you think this has anything to do with the situation with his father? Yes. Christopher's mind is very black and white, and now that his father has betrayed his trust, he doesn't know who to trust. He sees everyone as violent, and he doesn't know how to distinguish between subtle differences in shades of violent and aggressive behaviors.

Meeting Summary- Shellie (part C)

This week in book club, Jess brought us delicious chocolate donuts and iced tea. We discussed Victoria’s questions and what happened in our book as we ate our yummy breakfast. We all noticed that Christopher is thinking of more math equations now that he is on his own, on his way to London. He is also very defensive, he pulls knives on strangers that try to help him. We think that Christopher must feel very uncomfortable in an environment where no one else realizes he is autistic and how to act around him. Christopher has obvious issues with trust because he can’t trust his own father after finding out he killed Wellington, so he can’t trust strangers.

Topic Question THEMES/IMAGES- Alisha (Part B) Some reoccurring themes include loneliness, miscommunication, and fear. When Christopher has trouble understanding things, or comes to an unfamiliar place the sites and sounds bother him. We noticed that Christopher does math problems or mathematical puzzles in his mind when he is afraid. Christopher also clings to details, he likes his day to be regimented and throughout the book, when describing events he gives every detail down to the last minute. In our lives there are many things that do not go according to plan. We become unhappy and we each have our own way of coping with the pain. Christopher's way of grieving is to do math problems. Christopher likes math because things never change in math the numbers do not lie and to him they are simple. He cannot always trust people because the ones that he is most close to somehow have betrayed him, but he feels that the numbers can never betray him. He shelters himself in a world of math, when the world around him is chaotic.

Week 5: January 15 (P.180-225) Parts: A- Alisha B- Jess C- Victoria D- Shellie

Meeting Summary- Victoria (Part C)

This week in book club, Alisha brought in yummy croissants and orange juice. Then we discussed Shellie's questions. We spent a long time talking about who we would recommend it to- whether it would be more enjoyed by people who have experience and understand autism, or if all people would be able to be sympathetic towards Christopher's situation. We also discussed what Christopher's life would be like after the end of the book and what his relationship would be like with his mother, now that he knows she is alive. We talked about his mother's reaction to Christopher appearing on her doorstep, how she showed she still cared about him, despite the fact that she left.

Discussion Questions- Shellie (Part D)

1. Were you satisfied with the ending? Yes, I’m happy it was a happy ending, but it was kind of boring. I was expecting a big ending. I wanted a more eventful ending, but I wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t because of the way the book was written. I was surprised when he didn’t object to having the dog he got live with his dad, and I thought he would think his dad would kill him. And I was happy that he finally touched his dad again.

2. How would you rate this book and why? I would rate it 4/5 and would recommend it to anyone who is sympathetic or maybe has a personal connection to autistic children.

3. How do you think Christopher's life will continue? I think that his mom might move back in with Christopher and his dad, or maybe Christopher would move back with his dad and his mom will visit him more. Obviously she cares about him, so she might move closer to Christopher. I don’t doubt that she loved him; she just didn’t understand his behavior. She always intended to move back, because she always kept hr key and maybe she thought Christopher didn’t need her because he didn’t respond to her letters.

4. How would the book have been different if Christopher wasn't autistic? It wouldn’t have been as interesting; it would have been just a kid running away. If it were a normal kid, there wouldn’t be as many details involved. Also, normal kids wouldn’t have all the same fears as Christopher and wouldn’t have to overcome going to London. It would have been very boring if it were a normal kid.

5. What were the best and worst aspects of the book? The best part was that an autistic child narrated it because it made things interesting and different. I liked the way Christopher told the story, it was simple yet detailed and he linked so many things to math. Also, the author’s background with autistic children really helped the story. The worst part was that the ending was a little boring. The beginning of the book was so good that the ending was a bit of a letdown.

Topic Question- Jess (Part B):

__The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- time__ has addressed a disorder that has taken over many lives. This disorder is autism, and it is a disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes repetitive behavior. The main character and narrator of this book is autistic, which makes this book much more interesting. Reading through the eyes of an autistic teenager makes the book much more interesting and different than other books. Our group would definitely recommend this book to others, especially to those could relate to autism, whether it is because they are autistic or because they are close to someone who is autistic. I have a cousin who is autistic, which made the book much more interesting for me. The book overall had a good storyline. It started off amazingly, and though it ended off good, I have to admit that the ending was a little bit of a letdown. Even with that in mind, I believe that this is one of the best books that I have read, and I think that many others would agree that it was one of the greatest books that they have read also. I have not read any other books that address autism, though I am positive that there are many other books that do address it. The difference between this book and some other books that address autism is that the author of this book went out of his way to work with people with autism before he wrote this book in order to have a better perspective on autism, which benefited the book in many ways. I believe that this book would be good for the school curriculum, because I think that it would give students a good perspective on autism, and how it effects your mind. Autism usually becomes apparent at a very young age, which means that people with autism live with the disorder for almost all of their lives. I think that it is important for students to get an understanding of how autism affects the mind, because though it is not obvious in everyone, it is important to understand the disorder in order not to judge those with it. This book was a great choice, and I am glad that our group was able to experience such a great read with such great content.