The curious incident of the dog in the night-time - Mark Haddon

1. Describe the protagonist and other characters in the book. You need to use adjectives that describe character (e.g., stubborn, arrogant etc) and evidence from the text that suggests this characterization.
The protagonist is Christopher Boone, he is a fifteen year old autistic boy who lives with his father and his mother is supposed to be death. He doesn’t have any social skills and has fears that normal people would consider weird. For instance, he is afraid of the colors yellow and brown and his food isn’t supposed to touch each other on the plate. This causes him to hit a policemen because he touches him, he is totally uncomfortable with that. He is really stubborn and he only wants things to happen the way he planned it. However, this gives some good things too. E.g. he’s a wonderful mathematician and he is about to take his a level exam in math. He also has a photographic memory and is able to ‘draw’ a map in his head. He is a difficult person because not many people know how to behave to him. He needs special attention and therefore he is in a special school.

His father is a caring man who tries as hard as he can to raise Christopher and give him a life without troubles. This is very hard as Christopher doesn’t understand nor does he appreciate love. Instead of giving hugs they let their fingertips touch as to show he loves him. He is also a bit overprotective which causes troubles later in the book when Christopher finds out his mother isn’t dead after all, his father told him she was dead because he couldn’t explain she left them for Mr. shears, on of their neighbours. Because of this Christopher doesn’t trust him anymore.

2. What problems or conflicts do the main characters have and how are they resolved?
Christopher loves dogs, they do not have any difficult feelings and will not want anything from him he doesn’t understand. Therefore he likes the dog from one of their neighbors, Mrs. Shears. He likes to be out at night to because it’s all calm and quiet. One night, as he is going to have a look at the dog he finds it dead in Mrs. Shears’ garden. It is killed with a large fork. Mrs. Shears suspects him from doing it because she thinks he’s a weird boy.

Christopher is a logical thinker and this is why he likes to read detectives a lot. He has decided to write his own book and it will be a book about he killed dog, Wellington, he is going to investigate the case and write a book with the help of his teacher Siobhan.

His father doesn’t want him to go around asking and bothering other people and warns him a few times. After the last row about it, he takes his book and hides it somewhere. when his father goes to his work he starts looking for it. He finds it in a drawers in his fathers cupboard, together with some interesting envelopes addressed to Christopher Boone. He opens one and it seems to be written by his mom, which is impossible because she is dead. He is really confused and starts to feel sick. When his father comes home he finds Christopher on bed with the letter and he is totally confused and upset. When he tries to explain his mother is still alive he also admits he killed the dog. Christopher is so afraid of his father because he lied and killed the dog, he is scared his father might kill him too. He looks for an address in the letters and decides to go to London although he has never been further than the end of the street on his own.

On his journey he faces a lot of problems like not knowing were to go, policemen trying to bring him back and total confusion because of all the people and the noises. When he finally arrives in London he manages to find the house of his mother and she intensely surprised by his visit, she thought he never wanted to see her again because he didn’t answer to her letters.

She takes care of him a little while but finds herself unable to in the end. She takes him back to his father although Christopher doesn’t want to see him. They agree that he has to go to school and he is not able to is he lives in London. Therefore he has to stay with his father and so he will slowly learn to trust his father again. This is helped by the fact his father bought him a puppy. To see this dog he has to go to his father because it can not live at his mother’s apartment. His mother left Mr. shears and has a house of her own now. But here are no dogs allowed. This is the solution to the problem and the ending of the book.

3. Where does the story take place? Describe the setting (places, time period) and say if it makes the story more interesting.
the story takes place mostly in a town in England. The town is called Swindon and I suppose it’s not very big. Part of the story takes place in the underground and in London. The time period is not really clear. I think it is not very long ago as you look at the things they have (Christopher has a computer on which he plays games). I think the time period is somewhere in the 90’s. the setting doesn’t really contribute to the story. Only the part in London because you can imagine why he gets so upset and scared because it is a big city after all and there are lots of people, cars and other distracting things.

4. What was the author's purpose or purposes in writing this book? Who do you think the author intended to read this book and why? What message or ‘themes’ does this book explore.
I think that it was in the first place meant to entertain the reader of the book and in the second place to give some information too and make people understand. Maybe he knows someone like Christopher because it is so detailed it is hard to believe he made this all up. I think it is just intended to read for everyone who is able to read such a book. So I would think everyone older than about 13/14.

5. Is the title a good one or a poor one and why? How is it related to the story? Give an alternative title and say why you chose it.
the title is a good one which is understood the best when you have finished the book. It shows how Christopher things. Not really in catchy sentences but in clear language. It only describes exactly what it was: a curious incident with a dog in the night-time. It is related to the story in the way that almost the whole book is about this dog and the thing that happened to him.

As an alternative title I would choose: ‘the amazing quest of Christopher Boone’. Because the story is not only about the dog being dead but as well how the boy handles it and how he finds out more about his own life and relatives.

6. If you were in a problem situation like one in the book, how would you have acted? Be sure to tell what the situation is.
First of all, the problem in the book wouldn’t have seemed a really big problem to me. I would certainly think how awful it was that this dog was killed and would have liked to know who did this, but I don’t think I would have gone into an investigation to find it out all by myself and write a book about it. I think I just would have waited to find the outcome of the problem. But on the other hand, if I was to find that it was my dad who had killed the dog, and he had lied to me about my mother, it would have been extremely angry and upset. Especially about my mom. I’m not sure what I would do. I might go to my mom too, but mostly to visit her and not because I was afraid of my father.

7. Write a different ending to the book. Tell why you changed it.
When Christopher and his mother got back to Swindon he father is really happy to see him and he hopes they will stay with him, but he doesn’t buy him a dog. Christopher is still really suspicious to his father and doesn’t want to be with him. Therefore it takes much, much longer for him to trust his father again and it may take years for him to be able to live with him again. In the meantime he lives with his mother in her small apartment. This makes It difficult for both his father and him and his mother.

I changed it this way because I think the puppy was a crucial part in the reunion of Christopher and his father. This was why he was willing to visit his father while his mother was working so he could play and walk with the dog. He trusted the animal and therefore I think it would have been much more difficult to achieve this without the dog.

8. Compare this book with the last book you read.
the last book I read was: the secret diary if Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾ years. Those book are actually quite similar. Adrian is a boy who strongly believes that he is an intellectual and that he is supposed to write amazing poems and stories. He has a weird life. First of all because he is quite a nut himself (just like Christopher). Second because his mother leaves him to live the man from next door (also similar to the first book). His father is not very caring and they have a dog who is always in trouble.

The differences are that Adrian is not autistic, he just has some weird habits. He is able to experience love and think more reasonable than Christopher. Furthermore, the secret diary of Adrian Mole is in the first place written to entertain and it is a really funny book. The curious incident of the dog has some funny moments too, but it was not the intention for it to be a funny book. It is more seriously written.

9. Compare two of the characters in this book.
Although it is never officially diagnosed, I feel like Adrian has some sort of brain thing that makes him to odd stuff too. They both think that they are supposed to do something, Adrian is writing poems and Christopher is trying to be a detective and solve the case of the dog. When I read the one book after the other I just got a sort of feeling that they were really alike.

10. Pretend you are a librarian recommending (or not) this book to someone. Write a paragraph telling what you would say.
This is a really good book, it reads really easy and it makes you want to finish it soon. It is a good written book and it is funny to see the world through another view. It is not only entertaining to read but it is also a learning experience to how people with autism live and think. E.g. the unexplainable fears or being confused and not being able to read some ones facial expressions. All in all it really worth reading it.