Friday, February 27, 2009

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, cycle 18 pages 15-30

Christopher finds himself stuck in a jail cell for his violent reaction towards the police officer. Other than that action, they now are pinning the murder of the poodle on Chris. The officers interrogate him for information assuming that he knows what happened on Mrs. Shears’ lawn. There is another characteristic of Christopher, he can’t tell a lie. This is because lies confuse him when he thinks about different scenarios. He also believes that if lies are told something terrible might happen like death.
They let him off with a warning giving him no room to get into another mess like this again otherwise the consequences will be worse. Christopher is still upset about the murder of the poor dog. He thinks that the perpetrator should be caught and punished. His plan is to investigate and clear his name once and for all. This would go against his father’s wishes for him to stay out of trouble.
One day Christopher returns home from school to find that his mother isn’t there as usual to open the door. He searches the house to find no one. His father calls everyone to find his wife. They are soon to find that she is in the hospital with a heart condition. She dies within two weeks. Christopher’s curious attitude made him ponder the different types of heart attacks that could have killed her and how she could have died at such a young age.
Apocryphal is an adjective, which means of doubtful authorship or authenticity. Embolism is a noun, which means the occlusion of a blood vessel by an embolus.
Why is Christopher so observant of his surroundings? I believe he is like this because he can't help be notice every little detail. He thinks that if he doesn’t express his feelings about his surroundings it would be bottled up in his mind and further mix his thoughts making his life more confusing. I also think that he likes doing this because it helps him understand what he is dealing with and how it is going to affect him. Why does Christopher’s dad not allow him to see his mom in the hospital? I would think that the dad would let him see his mom because Christopher likes the feeling of hospitals and it would take his mind off of finding the murderer of the dog. I think that he didn't let him go because he didn't want Christopher’s image of his mother to be tainted by death since he knew that she was going to die. Why does Christopher think that a number of red cars in order mean a good day? This is another thing that he is very observant about and that many people wouldn’t care or notice. He thinks red cars mean good luck because he likes things to be in order and that things happen by chance.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, cycle 17 pages 1-15

Christopher John Francis Boone is a unique boy. He knows all the countries of the world and all of their capitals. He also knows all the prime numbers up to 7,057, but in all of his knowledge he doesn't understand human emotion well. Christopher has stumbled upon a strange sight. In the garden of his neighbor, Mrs. Shears he finds a lifeless poodle with a pitchfork stabbed through its body. Christopher is overwhelmed with curiosity and decides to check out the dog. He removes the fork and holds the oversized poodle in his hands. He ponders his thoughts and thinks who could have done this. Mrs. Shears finds the dog in his hands and is enraged. The cops arrive and try to squeeze evidence out of him. He is immediately put on the spot for murder. Christopher plants his face in the grass, while the officers grab him to take him to the station. He doesn't like to be touched so he lifts his arm, striking the cop. The passage ends with Christopher observing his new surroundings, which is a cramp jail cell.
The meaning of Cardinal is of prime importance; chief; principal. The meaning of stimulus is something that incites to action or exertion or quickens action, feeling, thought, etc.
Christopher as I said is unique in his thoughts, emotions, and actions. This passage had revealed many traits about Christopher. It set the tone of what he is now in the book and what he will become. He dislikes and likes many things. These things include the disliking of being touched. He is also very observant of his surroundings. He notices the cold and wet grass or the small jail cell. The underlying factors are that he is a curious boy that has many questions left unanswered. His patterns follow that there is lots of grey areas about his life and it just keeps piling on with the case of the dead dog.