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__ THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

THE PLOT: __ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a story about a teenage boy named Christopher. He is what most psychologists and professionals would consider an Autistic Savant. An Autistic Savant is somebody who has an IQ between 70 – 55, yet can give you exact information about any given specific event. Christopher is unique in the sense that he does not lie about anything, even if he wants to. Some see him as a social reject and refuse to talk to him, but many will offer him aid in whatever he needs. Under pressure he does not respond well and either screams or hits people, this will get him in a lot of trouble multiple times.

This story is also about Christopher’s journey to find out who killed the dog in the night-time. At school, one of his teachers tells him to write a story, so he chooses to write a mystery book about who committed the crime. One night, Christopher’s father reads some of the notebook and isn’t happy about him talking to one of their neighbors who he’d been told specifically not to talk to. As a result he hides the notebook. While Christopher’s father was out one night, Christopher went searching the house for the notebook and when he found it, he found letters from his mother. This came as a surprise to him because his father had told him she had died from a heart attack. Upsetting Christopher, his father returns home to see that Christopher has thrown up everywhere. Finally his father told him that he had killed the dog. Not feeling safe, Christopher decides to leave the house for good and go to London to find his mother. He is successful, but soon the Police and his father came on a hunt after him. fights broke out between Christopher’s mother and father, but they were able to resolve things and life went on fairly pleasant for him. 

MAIN CHARACTERS:
=== Christopher – Christopher is a teenage boy (15 years old) who suffers from being an Autistic Savant. He lives with his father who is very supportive and understanding of him, except when he gets involved in other people’s business. A unique characteristic of Christopher is that he doesn’t lie, regardless of if he wants to in certain situations. === === Father - Christopher’s father is a very interesting character, who is the sole reason why Christopher runs away from home. He kills one of neighbor’s dog, thus creating an environment that Christopher doesn’t feel safe in. Throughout the story, Christopher’s father has an extreme issue with using profanity. This also is another thing that bothers Christopher. Although he is very impatient and demanding of Christopher, he has more patience with him then Christopher’s mother does. === === Mother- Christopher’s mother doesn’t show up until around two-thirds of the way through the novel. She chose to leave the family and move in with another person when Christopher was fairly young. Christopher is constantly being told that she is dead until he finds a huge shoe-box full of letters that are sent from her. His father keeps them hidden so that Christopher will believe she died of heart-attack. Although she doesn’t have much patience with him, she is glad to see him when he visits her. ===

 QUOTATIONS:
=== “It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears’ house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running…But the dog was not running of asleep. The dog was dead and there was a garden fork sticking out of its body.” === === * This quote is the opening few sentences of the story. I feel like this is a very important section of the story because it summarizes the point of the story. The boy wants to know who kill the dog due to these interesting observations he’s presented with. ===

 “My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,057.”
=== *This quote is at the beginning of chapter three. This is, in Christopher’s own words, the person he is. By reading this information a person can either take it two ways. The first way is to start laughing and say he is lying, and the second way to think of it is to think he is extremely intelligent and continue to read and find out more information about him to see if it makes logical sense. ===

===“My memory is like a film. That is why I am really good at remembering things, like conversations I have written down in this book, and what people were wearing, and what they smelled like, because my memory has a smelltrack which is like a soundtrack.” === ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> *Okay, so there are so many other important quotations in this book, but this last one can really show you how the Autistic Savant-ness comes into play. He is extremely intelligent, but has extreme difficulty is situations where he needs to be social. ===

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. Who Killed Wellington (the dog)? Explain with details why.
===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The answer is that Christopher’s father killed the dog. He killed the dog because he wasn’t getting along with Mrs.Shears, the owner of Wellington. They had gotten in a major argument and determined that she cared more for the dog then for Christopher and his father, therefore, the anger that had been building up was taken out on an innocent dog. ===

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> 3. Why was Christopher writing a book?
===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> One of his teachers/helpers at school gave him it as an assignment. Her name is Siobhan. The story he wrote could be about anything and of any genre. Christopher chose to write a mystery story about who killed Wellington because it was of interest to him and one of the few genres he enjoyed writing about. ===

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Essay Topics: I am not going to write out an entire essay for each, but instead summarize what should be included in each.
===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> 1. Of all the information learned of about Christopher, what are positive and negative effects of being an Autistic Savant? And can any be both positive and negative? Give examples for everything to back up what you say. === ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> For the <span style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Positives: Always telling the truth === ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> For the <span style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: lime none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Negatives: Random outbursts of screaming when under pressure. === ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Ones that can go <span style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: fuchsia none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">both ways: Being extremely smart can be good and bad because it helps with academics, but it can give off a “know-it-all” that people don’t want to have around. Telling the truth all the time can go both ways, but mostly leans towards the positive side. ===

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> 2. Overall, do you like Christopher? Why or why not? Have details and examples to support.
===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Because this is an opinion based question, some will answer yes, others no, and some yes and no. Personally I like Christopher because I feel like if I was in certain situations he was put into I would either act the same way he did or worse and I think the author did a great job of making Christopher relatable yet unique. The outbursts and hitting policemen can all be forgiven because of the autism, and an autistic person cannot always behave properly, although Christopher seems to do a good job of it. ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> 3. If you were in Mrs. Shears position, how do you think you would handle what had gone on? Compare your reactions to how she reacted or things she said. === ===<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> This is another opinion based question, and it really depends on how you handle stress and issues that are thrown at you. In my case, it would have been similar to Mrs. Shears. I would have been extremely upset and accused Christopher of killing Whellington. ===

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