Alec Mansky
805
YA blog post
“The
curious incident of the dog in the nighttime” by Mark Haddon is a moving novel
about a boy who gets caught in a tough situation with his parents. The
narrator, who is the boy, appears to be on the autistic spectrum. In this story
the boy, named Chris, lives with his dad and believes his mom is dead. Chris is
also trying to solve the murder of his neighbor’s dog wellington. In the middle
of the book Chris finds out that his mom is not dead and his dad killed the
dog. These secrets confuse and hurt Chris ultimately putting his relationship
with his father in jeopardy. This story taught readers the importance of
honesty and how it can affect different relationships.
Honesty affected Chris; it made him
uneasy and scared. Towards the middle of the book, before Chris suspects
anything, Chris finds a large amount of letters in his dad’s closet. After he
reads the letters he says, “There was sick all over the bed and on my hands and
arms and face.” (p. 113) Chris also says “I don’t know what happened then
because there was a gap in my memory,” (p. 113) both of these parts of text
shows how he doesn’t feel good and doesn’t feel normal. In addition, later on
in the book Chris becomes scared of his dad and leaves to meet his mom in
London.
Honesty
affected his dad; it made his strongest relationship weak and made him sad and
alone. For example, when Chris goes to London his dad searches for him and sobs
when Chris rejects him. Another example is after Chris reads the letters and his
dad says, “ I’m sorry Christopher. I’m so, so sorry.” (p.114) and, “ We have to
get you cleaned up, Ok?. . . Then I’m going to come back and take you to the
bath room, Ok?” (p. 115) all of the help and assurance shows that the dad is
panicking about his relationship with his son.
In
conclusion, this story teaches us about the importance of honesty in your
everyday relationships. Whether it’s a close friend, your best friend, or even
your parents. This story tests Chris’s relationship but ultimately his
relationship with his dad survives
This is a very good analysis.I read this book and I loved it.I understand your claim and how honesty affected the father-son relationship but don't you think that Chris' disability had anything to do with it? What about the father's struggle with Chris? I feel like that had a major effect on why the dad lacked the honesty with his son. But it was a really interesting thought-out book post.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the dad may have lacked in honesty, but the mom couldn't hold her family, then expects to get everything back to normal.
ReplyDeleteBut personally i feel as if Chris's dad is just as bad as the mom because the dad doesn't handle his condition well. At least the mum admitted to it even if she wasn't a very mature about it.
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