Writer’s Notebook Entry:
The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time
Emily Marie
3/25/12
Ms. Jojo
Mod 7
1. I did not completely connect with any of the characters in “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time”. A large part of what created the problems in this book was that the protagonist, Christopher, had trouble connecting to other people. He did not like people touching him and he had trouble determining emotions, facial expressions, and the tones of voices (page 3). I can relate to a few things, like liking certain colors and shapes more than others, but I can’t say that I have any idea what he goes through on a daily basis.
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3. I believe that what the author is really trying to say about life and living in this book is that people with disabilities, such as autism, are quite often misunderstood. Society tends to decide that if they don’t understand something, then it’s not right. When an autistic child starts screaming when you touch them or they like to be alone, the common person wouldn’t think “Well he must have a reason for it” or “He’s just taking in more details of the world than I am.” Their mind automatically blames it on the fact that they must be crazy or deranged, but in reality, they actually could be considered much more clever than most. For example, when you see a pasture with cows, you comprehend that there is grass and some cows and that the sky is mostly clear, but the protagonist would see that there are exactly 19 cows, most of which are facing uphill, a village in the distance with 31 visible houses, an old plastic bag in the distance, the different types of grass, and the altitudes of the field (pages 141-142). The author is trying to help people understand that in life, we should be more understanding and not jump to conclusions because everyone is different.
