Resumen \"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time\" PDF

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Resumen del libro, temas que trata, descripción de personajes, lista de vocabulario y opinión personal en inglés....

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READING PROJECT The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.

Made by: Patricio Sánchez Cánovas Teacher: Josefa Vivancos Hernández First Course of Translation and Interpreting Degree Course 2014/2015 University of Murcia, Arts Faculty.

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INDEX 1. Summary of the novel. 2. Two themes the book deals with. 3. Description of two characters. 4. Vocabulary list. 5. Personal review of the book. 1. SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL. The novel is based on a fifteen year old boy called Christopher Boone who lives in Swindon with his father. One night, he discovers the dead body of Wellington, the Mrs Shears’ dog, who was his neighbor. When she calls the police, Christopher comes under suspicion and get arrested for hitting a policeman when he touches him. However, he was released with a police caution, and he decides to investigate the dog’s death by recording his experiences in a book called “murder mystery novel”. Ed, his father, discovers the book and confiscates it from Christopher, who searches for it with no results. Nevertheless, Christopher finds out a trove of letters which his mother wrote to him, dated after her supposed death, as his father said she died two years ago by a heart disease, so his father lied him. When his father returns home, realizes that Christopher has read the letters and he confesses that he had lied about Judy’s death and also that it was he who killed Wellington due to a heated argument with Mrs Shears. Christopher, having lost all trust in his father, runs away to embark a trip to London, where his mother lives with Mr Shears. When he gets there, her mother is delighted that her son has come to her, but Mr Shears does not want him living with them. So, as Christopher wants to return to Swindon in order to take his mathematics A-level, his mother leaves Mr Shears and moves into a rented room in Swindon, where she can meet Christopher for daily brief visits after an argument with Ed.

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At the end, Ed gets Christopher a Golden Retriever puppy and promises his son that he will rebuild trust slowly. Christopher completes his mathematics A-level with top grades and declares he wants to attend university in order to become a scientist. 2. TWO THEMES THE BOOK DEALS WITH. I think one of the themes the book deals with is the desire of independence. Because of Christopher’s condition, he can not be as independent as he would like. Since he has trouble understanding other people, dealing with new environments, and making decisions. One example of this, is the difficulty he has going places by himself, and when he does not say anything to people he does not know. Other theme the book deals with is Mathematics. We see throughout the story how Logic puzzles, math problems, and maps symbolize to Christopher the part of the world that is ordered and logical. As we have seen with examples like all the images of mathematical formulas, maps that appear in the book or the transformation of the Wellington’s murder into a logic puzzle for Christopher to resolve. 3. DESCRIPTION OF TWO CHARACTERS The main character of the novel is Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who lives in Swindon. He describes himself as “a mathematician with some behavioral difficulties”. Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers to Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, or savant syndrome. He is the narrator of the novel, and views the world largely in absolutes, dividing his life experience into a series of extreme likes and dislikes. This condition has made him extraordinarily gifted in math and science but pretty under-equipped socially, leading Christopher to frequently misunderstand other people, especially his father. As a result, he shows a growing desire for independence throughout the novel. As we can see in the page number 179, in which he manifests his yearning for independence in a

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few ways, rebelling against his father by disobeying his orders, for instance, and fantasizing about doing whatever he likes and taking care of himself in his dream of being one of the few people left on Earth, as we can see in the page number 229. At the end of the novel, Christopher feels he has overcome his challenges, and he feels ready to be on his own as he has solved the mystery of the murdered dog, gone to London on his own, found his mother, written a book about his adventures, and achieved an A* in his A-level maths exam. The second character I have decided to describe is Christopher's father, Ed Boone. He often goes to extremes when demonstrating his emotions, occasionally blowing up in anger. But he is extremely protective of Christopher, this impulse to protect him and the desire to punish Christopher’s mother for the way she left them, leads him to lie to Christopher about his mother. When Christopher discovers more and more of the truth about his mother, his father can see his relationship with Christopher deteriorating. So he has to work to regain Christopher’s trust, and the novel’s final chapters focus on his efforts to reestablish a relationship with Christopher. 4. VOCABULARY LIST - Bruise: Moretón, Contusión. - Hanger: Percha - Nonstick (adj) : Antiadherente - Pond: estanque - Saccade: Rápido y continuo parpadeo - Stitch: Puntada (coser) - Pins: Alfileres - Boiler: Caldera, Calentador. - To rustle: Susurrar - Bloody (adv) : sumamente

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- Chin: Barbilla - To suck in: Absorber, Aspirar - To pop over: Asomarse. - Blowout: Pinchazo. - To chuck: Encajar - To grip: Agarrar - Shed: Cobertizo - To Stroke: Acariciar - Pointy: Puntiagudo - Underneath (prep.) : Debajo de - Bark: Ladrido - Protractor: Transportador - Jiggle: Mover, Sacudir - Strap: Correa - Lifesize: Tamaño natural - Go for a wee: Orinar, hacer pipí - Truncheon: Porra (de policía) - Rucksack: Mochila - To sober up: Estar sobrio - Staircase: Escalera - To Trip: Tropezarse - To Groan: Gemir, Quejarse - Brooch: Broche - Paw: Pata, garra, zarpa. - Bundle: Manojo, lío (de cosas)

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- To bang: Golpear - To wobble: Tambalearse - To chop up: Picar, Cortar, moler. 5. PERSONAL REVIEW OF THE BOOK Personally, I really like this book for how it is written, from the perspective of a fifteen-year-old boy, Christopher, with an autistic spectrum condition. Christopher Boone speaks in the first person as he is telling us his investigations about the Wellington’s murder. Structurally talking, the novel alternates between a chapter advancing the narrative story, and a chapter in which Christopher discusses ideas or concepts, something that I do not like as it is worth noting and make the book a bit boring to read. Another thing is quite curious is that pages are not counted as cardinal numbers, they are counted as prime numbers since Christopher loves Mathematics. Mark Haddon, author of this novel, want us to see how difficult is the life for Christopher as struggles for social acceptance and understanding as a result of his apparent autism. He also want us to realize how he has overcome his limits by solving the mystery of the murdered dog, going to London on his own, finding his mother, writing a book about his adventures, and by achieving an A* in his A-level maths exam. But, I think, the most important thing the book transmits is that we can achieve anything we set in our minds as Christopher has already done.

So, in conclusion, I like the book a lot and I recommend it to everyone who likes mystery novels. It also has helped me develop more empathy and understanding for people who deal with autism, and consider them as people much better than “normal” people in logics, mathematics etc. We just have to know how to deal with them in a better way in order

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to let them live a better life when they become adults and find a place in their future where they feel themselves useful.

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