The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, cont'd

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Please answer the following questions in small groups.
1. How would you characterize the relationship that Christopher has with his father? Re-read chapter 41 (pp. 20-21). Try to see the relationship through Christopher’s eyes, through his father’s eyes, and through your own eyes.
2. When Christopher is told that his mother has died, what is his response (pp. 26-28, chapter 53). In this chapter, as in many other chapters, he intersperses short sentences into his narrative. In fact, some of his paragraphs in this chapter are only 1 sentence long. What kind of information is conveyed in these short paragraphs? What is significant about the beginning of chapter 59, the very next chapter? Where has the discussion of his mother gone, and why?3. Everybody processes the ideas of death and dying differently. Christopher, on pp. 33-34, discusses his rabbit’s death, his mother’s death, and the idea of dying. In what ways does Christopher’s scientific, factual interpretation also end up being a kind of consolation for him or for us?
4. Chapter 67 gives us a wonderful glimpse into the world of non-autistic persons, through the eyes of an autistic person. Examine, for example, the tee-shirt slogan that Christopher quotes on p. 36, and his comments on the idea of “chatting,” on the top of p. 40. When you see bits and pieces of your own world isolated and discussed, in the way that Christopher isolates and discusses them, how does your own world appear to you now? Discuss other pieces of our non-autistic world that Christopher points out for us throughout the novel. (See also p. 184 and lots of other pages!)
5. Christopher lists his “behavioral problems” on pp. 46-7. What do we learn about our own behavioral “problems” by reading Christopher’s list? What do we learn about his parents’ difficulties as well?
6. Mrs. Alexander, a neighbor, ends up being quite conversant with Christopher. Describe their relationship (and check out pp. 56-61 as well). What does Christopher learn not merely about the dog’s murder but about his mother and father as well, from this neighbor?
7. Christopher describes the “Monty Hall” math problem on pp. 64-5 and he provides us with a description of clouds on pp. 67-9. To what extent are these digressions unrelated to the story? What do these digressions tell us about Christopher? Find other digressions that are interesting to you and/or that may be relevant to the rest of the story (pp. 86, 88, etc.).
8. “My memory is like film,” says Christopher (p. 76). He continues to say that he never forgets anything, and from this he derives a great deal of confidence. What other tools does Christopher have to deal with problems, conflicts, uncertainty, and ambiguity?