Written test \"The curious incident of the dog in the night-time\" PDF

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Written test about the book "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time". ...

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English test

Written test Task 3 The curious incident of the dog in the night-time: Brief: This novel is about a young boy named Christopher John Francis Boone, who is 15 years old. He lives with his father, Ed Boone in Swindon. Christopher has the disease Asperser’s syndrome, which is a type of autism. Because of this disease, Christopher face many problems during his life. The history takes place in different parts of England. It all started when Christopher found his neighbor's dog, Wellington dead in front of the house in the garden, with a garden fork inside it. He decided to start an investigation to find out who killed the dog, during the journey he finds out many other secrets. After finding out the sad news about the dog Wellington, Christopher founds out that his mother died of a heart attack. He was always told by his father to not put his nose in other people`s business when he tried to solve the mystery, Christopher promised that he will stop asking people. However, Christopher did not give up he continued his mystery. He makes a book where he solves the mystery. One day his father gets angry, takes the book from him, and hides it. While searching for the book Christopher finds a bunch of letters from his mother hidden in a box. Christopher gets curious and finds out that his father are standing behind the death of Christopher, and that his mother is still alive. His is afraid of his father and wants to move away from him. He takes a big risk and moves to London where his mother lives, by himself. His father fights to get him back. His mother Jody and Christopher moves back to Swindon in the end of the book, Christopher and his father’s relationship gets better. Themes: I think the themes in this novel is “the difficulty to become independent” and “love”. Many people with autism are connected to someone and they struggle to become independent, like Christopher in this book. There are different reasons of why Christopher can`t be independent. Christopher have different difficulties that make it difficult for him to face the sociality he lives in. As he cannot talk to people he don’t know, like he tells us on page 45: “Talking to strangers is not something I usually do. I do not like talking to strangers.” You cannot live by you own when you are afraid of talking to strangers, you always need someone to talk with in different situations. If Christopher moves to live by himself, he will have to talk to other people if he need help or he have to get new teachers etc. Christopher have a problem 1

English test handling to many people, when there are many people a place he gets a sort of a panic attack. “Do you remember once when we were shopping in town together? And we went into Bentalls and it was really crowded and we had get a Christmas present for grandma? And you were frightened because all of the people in the shop. […] And you crouched down on the floor and put your hands over your ears and you were in the way of everyone?” This is also one of the reasons he can`t be independent. When like he have to go to the trains, bus, store etc. he will have to go by his own, but in this situation he cannot go by his own because of his panic attacks. Another important thing in this novel is that Christopher has not walked any longer then the end of the road on his own. This is something you have to do when you are independent. "Normally I would have got more and more frightened if I was walking to school, because I had never done it before […]” If he starts at university he will get problems. If he cant walk longer then the end of the road, how will Christopher live in an unknown city and walk there by himself? I also think love is one of the themes in this book. Because the reason Christopher’s father lied to him, are understanding. He lied to him because he loved him and did not wanted him to feel unloved by his mother. His mother, Jody left Christopher because she kind of felt embarrassed over him. She meant that Christopher had a better relationship to his father the he had to her. Therefore, his father lied to him about the heart attack to not make him feel unloved, because most of the reason that his mother left is because of him. His dad and mom could still be married, but they split because of him. Therefore, I think that is the reason that his father kept the truth away from him so he did not felt guilty over them too. My assessment of the situation presented in the novel: I think it was right of Ed Boone to not tell the truth about Christopher’s mother to Christopher, but the way he said it on could be changed. I think that because Christopher would feel guilty of something he have nothing to do with if he got to know the truth before. I also think that maybe if Christopher got to know the truth he maybe wanted to live with his mother. His mother is not able to take care of him. Christopher’s mother can`t handle his autism, and she reacts in bad way when he Christopher do something `wrong`. If something upsets her she shows it, but when Christopher’s father gets upset with something he doesn’t show it. Ed is a patience person and he can handle Christopher compared with his mother Jody. 2

English test

My views on the topic in general: I think the topic is very interesting because I like reading about children who have different disabilities. The way this book is written describes how people with autism thinks, it is described very nicely. Different challenges Christopher meets in the book are challenges many children may experience every day. Mark Haddon describes the situations so people can understand how a person with autism thinks.

Conclusion: The novel is about the 15 years old boy Christopher Boone who lives with autism. I think his father, Ed took the right decision to keep the truth away from Christopher. He have many problems. One of the biggest problem he have is being independent. However, in the book, Christopher challenges his fears by traveling to his mother who lives in London. He face his problems by walking longer then the end of the road by himself and he talks to strangers to get help to find the way to London. In the end of the book, he prove that he can go to university and he can be independent, he show the reader that he can live by his own. So in the end of the book he challenges his fears and he success. Sources: 

The book – “The curious incident of the dog in the night time” by Mark Haddon

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http://www.scholieren.com/boekverslag/68228

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http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-nighttime/themes.html

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