Curious Incident...intro by Deborah Livingston

Curious Incident...intro, pd 1 Near the end of the novel, after Christopher sits for his A Level Maths, he thinks, “And it’s best if you know a good thing is going to happen, like an eclipse or getting a microscope for Christmas. And it’s bad if you know a bad thing is going to happen, like having a filling or going to France. But I think it is worst if you don’t know whether it is a good or a bad thing which is going to happen,” (215).Consider Chris’s statement and write an essay in which you discuss how this statement not only fits Chris, but the human condition. The desire to know whether something will be “a good or a bad thing” and to determine how then to proceed is part of the human condition. Choose a theme from the novel that explains your thinking about this idea and support your thesis with a character and a symbol or motif. Use text evidence, properly cited. Your essay is over a complete novel; it should have some length to it.ncident...intro

deborah_livingston — 2016-12-06 13:01:46 UTC

Cameron Seilhan

cameron_seilhan — 2016-12-06 15:03:24 UTC

The theme of knowing the future affects everyone. Not knowing what will come in the future can be very stressful if you aren't prepared. Chris is able to overcome this problem with his many symbols that he uses to give himself an edge in life.

Tyler Boston

tylerboston92 — 2016-12-06 15:03:42 UTC

Everyone has a different way of dealing with things. In some people's cases, like Christopher Boone, he attempts to control his hectic life and the things around him. This makes him feel safe in a crazy world. He uses order and logic to help things make sense to him. The theme of order and logic is used in the book to describe how Christopher deals with the certain challenges he may come across. He uses math, graphs, and his superstition to attempt to control his hectic life.

2016-12-06 15:03:56 UTC

David Noble

2016-12-06 15:04:04 UTC

In "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon, christopher, a boy with autism, has trouble understanding how certain things work. He views the world around him differently than everyone else, but that doesn't mean he isn't human. Just like Christopher, we all want to be in control, and have the desire to determine the outcome of every situation, its part of the human condition. But, because Christopher's brain works differently than ours, he has different ways of accomplishing that, such as: various graphs, maps , and patterns. Christopher establishes a sense of control when using this system to attempt to bring order to his life.

Gabrielle Castillo

gabrielle_castillo100 — 2016-12-06 15:04:06 UTC

Every human being wants to have the ability to control the uncontrollable. No one has full control over what will happen to them during their lifetime but Christopher tries in any way to have at least a little bit of control of his life. Christopher as an individual has his own way of attempting to have some form of control by using his superstitions that he believes in to determine how his day will go and by the different graphs and charts he uses.

Emily Sorvillo

emily_sorvillo — 2016-12-06 15:04:12 UTC

In "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon, Chris's struggle with the disorder of life is shown through the entirety of the novel. He attempts to protect himself by the many examples of graphs, maps, and his love for subjects that make sense to him like science or math. These things, amid the chaos, make him feel safe even if it's just temporary. This is something that everyone does from time to time. We live in a world that is out of our control, which we are just along for the ride, and at times are only bystanders watching as things collid or resolve with no way to influence the result.

Jordan Halks

jordan_halks — 2016-12-06 15:04:25 UTC

As humans we feel the need to control the uncontrollable. Christopher is no different, he has a burning desire to know what will be, as he says "a good or bad thing". In the book, 'The Curious Incident of the dog in the Night-time', Chris bases his day off of how many colored cars he sees in a row. He uses superstition throughout his life in order to feel that he has some sort of control of what will happen in his life.

Preeti Talathoti

2016-12-06 15:04:32 UTC

Christopher has been through many situations in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime". His way of coping for a loss is being able to know when a good thing was going to happen. This is human nature in general, we would like to be able to know if there are good things that are going to happen while we like to put the bad things out of our mind. Throughout the story, there are many symbols that shows how Christopher copes with a loss. Through his condition, Christopher has a different way of dealing with the negativity in his life.

Shane Davila

shalem_davila — 2016-12-06 15:04:38 UTC

Human nature has a way of always wanting to know what exactly the future holds, Christopher has proven in this statement alone that despite his disability he thinks the exact same way anyone else would. The way we choose to cope depends on the individual but the foundation of our mechanism is always the same.

Lorena Falcao

lorena_falcao — 2016-12-06 15:04:50 UTC

"Feelings are just having a picture on the screen in your head of what is going to happen tomorrow". Christopher is a person that has difficulty in understanding people's moods, but his emotional force is so strong that he tries to deal with his mother's death convincing himself that she is in a better place. Yet at the same time when his father reveals the truth about his mother and the murder of Wellington, the young boy can't control his emotions, leading to a suddenly fear which makes him so shocked that he leave the house without even talk to his father about it, Christopher also go to London to live with his mother, finding in the trip a way to escape from his problems, and even if he doesn't notice it gives to him the opportunity to deal with his sentiments and become more independent.

Khatereh

khatereh_askarisabi — 2016-12-06 15:05:21 UTC

Christopher, just like any other person has a fear of the unknown. It is human nature to want to know what the future has in store for us, whether it's good or bad. The disorder of life makes it impossible to know what is to come. In order to have some sort of control over his life, Christopher has a few superstitions that keep him going. For instance, he counts cars, does math equations in his mind, and runs away from the things that he fears.

Aaron Brannan

aaron_brannan — 2016-12-06 15:05:29 UTC

Chris just like us with our human nature has to feel control in things in which he has no control over in life. When something happens to him he has ways like us in which he copes with not being in control of the world around him. He counts the colors of the cars he passes to tell what kind of day it will be and this is to make him feel like he what's going to happen, another one is when he is angry or frightened he starts squaring numbers in his head to keep from getting sick or angry, and lastly he also has his swiss army knife which he hold when he is scared to make him feel safe in when he is out alone in the city or when he is in fear of his father

Alfred Gomez

alfred_gomez — 2016-12-06 15:07:27 UTC

Christopher is just like me and you. He wants to control or handle what he doesn't know. Christopher just goes about handling it a different way then everyone else would. In the novel chris states how knowing a good thing is going to come is good to know and a bad thing is bad to know. "And it's best if you know a good thing is going to happen...and it's bad if you know a bad thing is going to happen" (215). When Christopher sees the disorder in his life he attacks it with patterns and puzzles so he can somehow find a solution to his problems. Or using the cars he sees to determine a good or bad day. This statement not only fits chris but summarizes what his main motive of thinking is. The human condition that we all deal with is not knowing what's going to happen next, and us not being able to control it. In the curious incident, that's exactly what chris wants to do, not just control the happenings of life but control what's going on around him so he can feel safe and secure. Which we all do when we don't know what's going on.

Kayla Rick

kayla_rick — 2016-12-06 15:08:42 UTC

Christopher is just a normal human being like the rest of us. But he goes through the world or sees the world a little differently than us. He sometimes goes through the struggles of being able to communicate among his peers. Whether he is talking to a neighbor , a police officer, or even his own father! "I looked up and saw Mrs Shears running towards me from the patio. She was shouting, Whay in gods name have you done to my dog? I do not like people shouting at me. Let go of the dog, she shouted." (4) But that doesn't stop him from going on with his life. He goes on to do great things, well almost great things. Like I said Chris is just like any normal teen. Chris is like a puppet on strings. He is being controlled by the people in his life. Telling him not to talk to certain people or better yet stay out of people's business. "Father replied, "How many times do I have to tell you, Christopher?" I eat very slowly so my food is nearly always cold. Father said, I told you to keep your nose out of other peoples business." (49)But suddenly Chris does the unthinkable he breaks free of the strings and runs away from home. Away from all the people in his life to find his own mother. And it has a deeply impact on the people he is very close too.

Victoria Rosales

victoria_rosales — 2016-12-06 15:17:08 UTC

It's in the human nature to want know what exactly is going to happen. Whether that be good or bad. The theme logic and order is a big part of it. As humans we try to wiggle through the cracks of life that we simply weren't meant to find out yet or at all. Chris prooves in his statement that although he's "different" he's (in reality) no different than you and I. We humans could know 99% of the world around us, and yet that one percent we dont know will be desired and craved although we know so much. Humans will always crave to know more.

Joseph Smith

joseph_smith4 — 2016-12-06 15:27:15 UTC

The desire for independence and desire to know the future are intimately intertwined. Humanity in general is a very curios species, It is our ultimate edge in the game of life and we, as a species, strive to know everything we can. however, in a grand irony, we could never know the future no matter how hard we try. it doesn't matter how deep we delve into ancient fossil records or how many red cars we count, the future is always uncertain, there is great fear in this, but also great beauty.

Santiago Sevilla

santiago_sevilla — 2016-12-06 15:29:35 UTC

The human way of thinking in most cases have to deal with the idea of not being able to escape from reality. In this case, Christopher, Struggles with the idea of being independent.
Like most of us today, we can conclude how Christopher shows signs of struggling with his independence by having to deal with a different environment. In addition, Christopher still has the desire to be on his own one day and states, "