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Christopher’s decision
Christopher decides to live with his mother in London. He makes this decision because he does not feel safe with his father. Like, when his father lied to him about who killed Walton. Also, when he lies to him when he tells him that is mother is dead.
Pick one of the following: “There is no such thing as ‘normal’ when it comes to human beings.” OR “Lying is always wrong: White lies and lies of omission are as immoral as outright lies.” Argue your view in two paragraphs on one of these topics. Use examples from the book and personal opinions to support your ideas.
“There is no such thing as ‘normal’ when it comes to human beings.”
I agree with Christopher when he says that nothing's normal about humans because that is how I would describe humans too. We complicate things, or oversimplify them, and then we have complicated emotions and thoughts and the way we behave is just so difficult to decipher. Even psychologists can't definitely state a fact about human behavior because it is that complicated. If you've ever read an article on human behavior then the psychologists who authored it mostly mentions that the results that they have acquired and conclusions that they have to come to are applicable to some and not all people. And most of the time to sound surer of what they're talking about they briefly mention that what they have come to discover may not be applicable to all people and then they later use phrases such as "most people" or "many people" instead of saying just "people" - in general. It is very hard to study human behavior and so in a big way it would be correct to say that humans are not normal. We are very different from each other even though we belong to the same species. Now I'm not trying to compare us to animals but looking at behavior and the way we interact there is a big difference between the two. This difference in behavior and interaction is highly commendable in some ways.
The statement that people are not normal is easily proven by the book because in my opinion one of the book's leading themes is also that people are very different and that their reactions are very different and then to Christopher that's all very abnormal because he’s not great on social interaction.
People who are arguing against this statement that people are not normal may say that people seem very abnormal to Christopher because he is not exactly normal himself and that's not his fault or anything but that's just the way it is. But if we look at it closely, it is actually easy to see that this statement is quite true - it's proven in real life and in the book.
It is shown that people are not normal in the book by how the author uses many situations where even though Christopher is trying to be nice people, people seem to completely look over that and think only from their point of view and react to the given situation in a way that is somehow very selfish of them. Especially people that closely deal with Christopher daily such as his father, his mother, some of his teachers, and his neighbors sometimes react in a way that is somehow inconsiderate of Christopher's condition. In this case it is safe to assume that they already know that Christopher suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome because they so closely deal with him in life, and even if it's not very daily Christopher is a part of their neighborhood or community and so it would kind of be obvious even if not completely known a fact that Christopher suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome.
All in all this statement that people are not normal is true and this is proven by the fact that we behave in very different ways in different situations and all of our reactions are different from other humans - the way we talk, the way we interact, etc. - everything is so different from another human and so we are not normal but even so this makes our symbiotic existence very commendable. And not being normal is a good thing because that makes us unique.
In chapter 179 (pages 126-140), what decision does Christopher make? Why does he make this decision? Give evidence from these pages to support your answer and give detail.
At this point in the book Christopher decides to go and live with his mother because he can no longer trust his father. This is proven when he says “And then I had to decide what to do because I couldn't live in the house with Father anymore because it was dangerous.” He cannot trust father anymore because his father lied to him about his mother, telling him that she had died when she had actually left home and went to live with Mr. Shears – Roger – in London.
Another reason Christopher is going to live with his mother is because his father told him that he was the one who killed Wellington and Christopher loves dogs so this was a little bit too much for him. Also he was looking into the death of the dog quite closely which further proves that he loves dogs and even one that was a bit of a stranger to him. Because Christopher discovers these two things about his father at the same time he gets a little bit too much of a shock and freaks out and is now frightened of his father because he cannot trust his father anymore. The fact that these two things have a huge impact on Christopher is proven when Christopher actually feels sick just thinking about what his father did, “But then I thought about going home again, or staying where I was, or hiding in the garden every night and Father finding me, and that made me feel even more frightened. And when I thought about that I felt like I was going to be sick again like I did the night before.”
We need to keep in mind that Christopher thinks differently from most because he has Asperger’s Syndrome. This is why instead of processing the event in favor of his father because his father has gone through so much in such little time and has been going through it all alone - well almost all alone - he starts seeing his father as a dangerous person and is frightened of him because he thinks that his father is going to kill him because his father killed Wellington, the dog, and still feels that he needs to get away from his father. This is again proven when Christopher says “But I was frightened in two different ways. And one way was being frightened of being far away from a place I was used to, and the other was being frightened of being near where Father lived”.
Lying is always wrong:
I absolutely agree with this statement. I believe that a lie is a lie, no matter how big or small it is. I think that no one should lie regardless of the situation they are in. Lying will make everything worse because eventually somehow, the truth will be revealed. People frequently lie because they think it will prevent them from getting into trouble, when really, it will make things worse at the end. Saying the truth from the beginning will just make things easier. Even if someone gets in trouble for saying the truth, it wont last long and sooner or later they will have to accept the truth and deal with it.
There are a few examples of lying in The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time. An example is when Christopher’s father lied to Christopher that his mother died because of a heart attack. Christopher’s father thought that Christopher would never find out about the truth, but he did later in the book. He never thought that his father would do such a thing. The lie broke the trust that Christopher had for his father. Christopher would never trust his father the way he did before his father lied to him. However, if Christopher’s father said the truth from the beginning, non of this would've happened and Christopher would still trust his father the way he did before.
Characters:
1. Freddie Highmore as Christopher
I would choose Freddie Highmore to play the role of Christopher because I think it would suit him really well. He has acted as a young, intelligent boy in many movies like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, August Rush, and The Spiderwick Chronicles. Freddie can easily show his passion towards something specific, like in the movie August Rush, he was passionate about music. Being passionate is necessary to play the role of Christopher because Christopher was passionate about certain things like maths for example. Freddie would somehow always be different from the other kids around him in almost all the movies he has acted in. An example would be his role in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where he was different than the other kids around him by being smarter. Playing the role of Christopher would also require being different than the others.
2. George Clooney as Christopher’s Father
I would choose George Clooney to play the role of Christopher’s father because I think that they have similar characteristics. In the movie The Descendants, George Clooney had to take care of his two daughters, after his wife passed away from a coma. That was very similar to Christopher’s father that had to take care of his son all alone during the absence of his wife. They are both very loving to their children. Both George in The Descendants, and Christopher’s father have a really good relationship with their children.
3. Nicole Kidman as Christopher’s mother
I choose Nicole Kidman to play the role of Christopher’s mother. Nicole always acts as a person who isn't really likable. She also seems careless in her movies and thats how I picture Christopher’s mother. Nicole also gets angry really fast n her movies and this is how they described Christopher’s mother.
Picture 1: Logan Lerman--> “Christopher” I think he would defintely be a suitable candidate to play to the role of Christopher in the movie. Because he has played an actor much like Christopher, he will find it easy to play a interesting, smart boy. Logan Lerman played a shy, mentally different young man in another movie with similar characteristics to Christopher.
Picture 2: Melissa Ponzio--> “Christopher’s mother” She will portray the role of caring ,yet scared at times, mother perfectly. In the hit tv series ‘'Teen Wolf’, she plays a single mother that got scared and almost abandoned her son. Melissa’s character in the show is similar to Christopher’s mother.
Picture 3: Brad Pitt--> “Christopher’s father” Brad Pitt is just purely amazing. He could play any role and nail it. He has years and years of acting and character experience. Since he played so many characters with so many individually challenging stories and personalities, he could easily play a caring father with anger issues. He has played a dad, a psychopath, an angry man, and many more. He could dig into his years of talented acting and act this part.
Normal? 😕👻😳
“There is no such thing as ‘normal’ when it come to human beings.” Christopher says that in the book. I completely agree. At times people might feel like the people around them are normal and they are just observing the normal do normal things wishing that that could be them. Little do they know that the 'normal’ people might feel the same way. I think people mistake the word normal and common often. Just because something is trendy or common doesn’t mean that that is the normal way of doing things. There are common or socially easier ways of doing things, but that doesn’t make it normal. Normal is boring. It is similar is perfect but in a bland way. Certain people think that perfect is some fantastic gift that few posses, but truthfully, perfect is normal. Normal is unoriginal. Every single person is different. Some choose to embrace it and others choose to ignore it. I think those are the 'normal’ people. Being 'normal’ might be easier but being different is more interesting and less boring.
No one is normal in this book. All of them have different problems and different talents. Christopher is highly intelligent but he lacks in basic human skills. Christopher’s father has a good heart and didnt abandon his son when things got tough. Even though he posses that lovely quality, he also he’s angry very quickly. He might not mean to, but he does. Normal is average and I don’t believe anyone is average. There is something special about each person deep down. Not trying to be inspirational or cheesy, but that is very true. No one is average. No one is normal. It doesn’t exist. Personally, that’s what I think and I am happy about it.
Christopher’s Decision
Christopher just found out some distressing news about his mother and Wellington. It turned out that Wellington was murdered by Christophers father and Christopher's mother was still alive out there somewhere. Christopher's father had lied about both of these things. This was a great shock to Christopher so he made a decision. Christopher decided that he had to get out of the house because he didn't feel safe living under the same roof as his father. He decides this on page 128. He came to the conclusion that he should live with Mrs Shears. Unfortunately she didn't answer the door so he decided that he would go live with Siobhan, then he remembered that she works at the school and she couldn't take care of him. After that, he decided to go live with uncle Terry but changed his mind. Next option was Mrs Alexander but then he remembered that couldnt because she was not family nor was she a friend. Finally, after logical reasoning, Christopher decided to go to his mother on page 129. He figured out that this was a logical and safe place for him to be.
