Conflict discussions

     In our group discussion on characters, we had mixed opinions on thoughts of their actions and personality. this is probably because of the stressful and questionable decisions the characters make. The discussion with the most heat was the character one because we didn't agree on rather the father lieng and the mother leaving were the right decisions. Setting was a very boring discussion other then deciding on if the setting played a role in the story. If Chris was ina  city perhaps the decisions made would of been less responsible than if he lived in a rural part.

Climax

I've reached the point in the book where the directions changes from the focus of finding dog murderer to Chris in search of a somewhat normal life after he finds his father, Ed Boone, is guilty of the crime and turns violent. Chris ends up hiding out in shed before he takes himself on a mentally excruciating journey to london by train. he has to fight his fears of talking to strangers, changing his daily schedule and his fear of crowded places. He decides to go to London as he found out his father lied to him about his mothers death. After his father found him reading the ltters his mom wrote to him but never received, he exposes everything about what he kept from  Chris. He explains the tension between the Mrs. Shears is the result of Chris' mom cheating with Mr. Shear's. Astonishingly she left Chris and Ed and everything else except for Mr. Shear's, randomly for London. Further explained n the last chapter's, she does so as she noticed Chris was always happier with Ed and not her. She blames her short temper and demanding personality as one of the reasons why the family relationship never worked out.

Letter written from Judy Boone to her son Chris.

On his way to London he gets lost near the school so he is forced to fight his fear of asking strangers for directions to the train station. He becomes very distraught and confused once he reaches the city because of all the commotion and noise. he ends up finding his mothers apartment address (from letters) and waits in garden for her to come out. I was expecting a larger expression but it resembled more a greeting after a week long trip to a camp. Mr. Shears is annoyed with Chris' prescense and suggests he leaves. The couple and Chris end up going back to their home in Swindown where Ed is forced to stay elsewhere. The book ends by the mother and Mr. Shear's buying a red brick house down the street and buying a dog at ed's house for Chris' and his father's relationship to strenthen.

I believe this was a good book because as previously stated in my psots i suspected something with the death of the mother being false and ed being the murderer, and as Chris boone said,

       "In a murder mystery novel someone has to work out who the murderer is and then catch them.        It is a puzzle. If it is a good puzzle you can sometimes work out the answer before the end of the book. (5):"

... it was a good puzzle.

Suspicion

Father figure

The lack of concern of the father interests me, and makes me question if he commited the crime. He tells Christopher not to play "detective" perhaps scared that Chris is so smart he may find out who the criminal is. I can also see some tension between the owner of the dog (Ms. Shears) involving the dad. Christopher seems to have social anxiety perhaps from his parents not teaching him the difference between meeting people and stranger danger. He talks to his teacher about his novel/diary and all his family problems which I can see a problem arising in these actions. When Ed verablly assaulted Chris I think Chris developed a strong sense of fear but worsened when his own father badly abused him. Chris told some few white lies (not really lieng to Chris) about the bruises to Siobahn so no action was taken (again, conflict of truth. vs lie). He developed such a fear of his father he did not want to talk to him let alone go home so resorted to camping outside in a  garden shed. His father seems to have a really bad temper and actually abuses him quite often. He must get upset with the constant attention Chris requires which must be the reason he cusses out Chris pretty bad and hits him. At one point Chris even leaves his strict day-to-day routine to go sit out in the garden shed for a lengthy period of time. Perhaps his anger problem could of started after the incident of his wife.

 The excess really detailed information which has nothing to do with the story makes me wonder why the author bothered to put this in, perhaps to build character to a better understanding but this seems a little bit too excessive from beginning to end.

I feel this book is a diary novel recounting the tale of the author writing this book which really confuses your thinking because of the complicated theories and thoughts shared.

Story line

Why? 

After the cops were called to investigate the situation of the dog stabbed by the garden fork, Christopher accidently assaulted an officer which then led to his arrest. After his arrest, the police paid no attention to the matter of the dog and realised how in society dogs are still disregarded through the law and in importance. The father showed little to no emotion when Chris recounted to him the story of events. He also prohibited Chris from investigating or "playing detective" of the situation for a reason that's not completely understood. Chris talks to a neighbor of his, whom he asks her, Mrs. Alexander, if she knows anything about the murder of Wellington. She says she has no idea but asks Chris to sit down and talk. He is a man of very few words and is where we understand his lack of social understanding. He can't comprehend people's emotions and needs a diagram that Siobahn dew for him to understand the right emotion. She goes inside to get cookies leaving Chris outside, making Chris feel nervous she is ringing the police so he runs away. This is where I better understood Chris' social problems.

Turns out this secondary character will play a large role in the events of the story. Further on in the novel, Mrs. Alexander is who we learn from why Mrs. Shear's has hatred towards the Boone family. She exposes how Judy Boone cheated with Mr. Boone and made Chris promise not to tell anyone she told him that. Chris does in fact keep this promise.

Story line of the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

The climax moment comes up when Chris finds out his mother is in fact alive, which switches the focus of Wellington's death to resolving a family issue.

Observations

      As I start reading this book I notice some unusual habits of Christopher (the main character). I presume he has some sort of mental disbility. After further research online, I concluded that it must be asspergers in which his thought process is unusual which then leads to frustrating his parents. 

      This book excites me as I'm interested in larning the effects asspergers has on an individuals day to day life. Christopher (narrator) goes off track and goes on random rants of his opinions on life. As I read further into this blog I expect him to share his opnion on life and his outlook towards society's problems. I have to admit I've skipped a few pages as although some of his opinions on math and colors are interesting, they're irrelevant to the story but does add a weird effect that further develops his character.

   It's said in the first few chapters (chapters are named by prime numbers only) that his mother has passed away but his father showed little emotion. After returning from school Christopher notices that his mom is not around as usual. His father comes home and asks if he has seen her, but to no avail he decides to go on a search for her. After a couple of hours, he returns with the news to Christopher that his mom is fatally ill in the hospital with a heart condition. His father portrays little emotion and concern towards the issure. Perhaps it was the author's mistake but I predicted from that point that the father was lieing about the mother and her illness. I hope to find out in the next few chapters if my predictions are correct.

Point summary

the curious incident of the dog in the night time.

 Mark Haddon
 226 pages

Murder by stabbing of neighbor's dog leads to a family disaster

This is a different type of novel as it is an original genre where the author is recounting his story of writing another book. The author/main character appears to have a mental disability (asperger's)  with many odd likings and dislikes. It's a curious journey of going into someone with a very busy brain and what the problems they experience with our normal society.

Setting: 

• Recent/modern times
• London suburb (Swindon). Middle class
• Protagonist is narrator, narrating on his story of writing a novel

Setting plays an important role in Chris' likes and dislikes. He decides if he is going to have a good day by the number of cars of the same color that passes by. The more the colors the more awesome it's going to be. For this reason if cars didn't exist his personality would differ. Chris also has difficulty in stressful and busy environments that a city would present, meaning the decisions he makes under the environment become less responsible the more he has to think about (which we will soon find out further on in the novel).

Theme:

• Truth vs. Lies
• Self forwarding (Mother vs. family)
• Love 

• Grudges

It's no doubt that telling the truth is harder than lieing in some cases, which Ed experiences in a very serious matter. Ed lies to his own son about his mother dieing and not letting him see her, when in reality he's hiding all the letters she is sending Chris to let him know she loves him and is doing well off in London with Mr. Shears.

Judy Boone goes through a dillema between persuing her future with Mr. Shears and leaving her son and husband (soon to be ex). She ends up taking that decision, leaving Ed & Chris without notice while they're at work and school. They come to find her missing. In the letters she recounts how it was the most difficult decision she's ever had to take and misses him but Ed won't even let her ring him let alone enter the house.

She recounts how she never fit in with the family and never feeled loved as much as Ed.

Mrs. Shears holds  a grudge on the Boone family because of Judy cheating with her husband. Ed still holds a grudge with Mr. Shears and his wife Judy for cheating and leaving him. I doubt forgiveness will be gave, especially with the murder of the family dog proving this.

Character:

• Secondary characters impact:  -Little. Mrs Shears impact on Ed and events that followed
• -Chris' pet mouse (Toby) put him in life threatening situation
• -Mrs. Alexander large impact. Exposes family secret of cheating scandal. Guides Chris in right path 
• -Sandy (puppy) Recreates father & son bond

https://docs.google.com/document/d/188HEJvqNYMFRZCPoZjKruoJA2SBvubDmUAhf1wHarPw/edit

Conflict: 

• Chris vs. Parents (Interactions with family, before and after discovering the truth)
• Chris vs.Society (Interactions with strangers and his neighbourhood)
• Boones vs. Shears (Interactions with the two families)
• Chris vs. Nature (Interactions with dogs)
• Chris vs. Siobhan (Interactions with friend/teacher)

Chris difficult schedule and likings put much stress on their caretakers to fill them. The stress leads to violence and breakups. Chris does not obey his fathers request not to play detective on the case of Wellington (Ed is guilty). 

Chris' disorder makes him very defensive, especially with physical contact which we learnt when the police touched Chris to move him from dog, he striked the officer resulting in his arrest (released later charge-free). Another example of this is even after not seeing his mother and believing she has passed (turned into a tree, as Chris believes) he freaks out when she hugs him but more prefers a hand holding gesture.

Chris has a soft spot with dogs. He has always wanted one, and finally does at the end but stays in his father's house so Chris visits Ed more often to try and rebuild their relationship.

"I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk. " -Chris Boone pg.3-4"

You may of noticed the rainy background. I chose this as it reflects the sadness and depression the characters experience. I got a feeling of a blurry vision through this journey Chris has, almost like reading through a rainy window, difficult to comprehend with the random details (goblets) and events (raindrops) of what the outcome will be. Also for the reason that Chris likes rain because it occupies his brain but not really as said here.."“On the fifth day, which was a Sunday, it rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.”"