David's Overview

2/22-2/28

Essential Meaning: Christopher is resentful toward others being able to understand emotions. Creating more distance between himself and others.

Quote: “And in the dream nearly everyone on the earth is dead, because they have caught a virus. But it's not like a normal virus. It's like a computer virus. And people catch it because of the meaning of something an infected person says and the meaning of what they do with their faces when they say it, which means that people can also get it from watching an infected person on television, which means that it spreads around the world really quickly”(Haddon 139).

Explanation: Christopher’s inability to understand emotion causes him to harbor resentment that appears in his subconscious. His resentment can be seen in “And people catch it because of the meaning of something an infected person says and the meaning of what they do with their faces when they say it” because he kills off everyone who can understand emotion. Showing his resentment because if he can not understand emotion, then no one should understand emotion. In his mind, killing everyone that understands emotion would level the playing field for him. He may not be able to understand emotion, but he does have his own. The unbalanced mental abilities between him and others creates separation because he sees it as unfair and blames them for it. He can not form a relationship with others if he resents them for understanding emotions better. His disability has caused him to separate himself with others so much that it is nearly impossible for him to form a solid bond.

2/15-2/19

Essential Meaning: Christopher is held back because he can not deal with high stress situations.

Quote: “And it was exactly like having flu that time because I wanted it to stop, like you can just pull the plug of a computer out of the wall if it crashes, because I wanted to go to sleep so that I wouldn't have to think because the only thing I could think was how much it hurt because there was no room for anything else in my head, but I couldn't go to sleep and I just had to sit there and there was nothing to do except to wait and to hurt”(Haddon 124).

Explanation: Christopher’s stress levels shot through the roof when he found out his dad killed the dog and his mother was still alive, causing his decisions to become irrational. He can not handle the stress of the situation which changes his view on the situation. His irrational decisions are causing him to get more stressed out, because he does not think about all the possibilities. As he makes more irrational decisions, his stress levels rise, which in turn causes him to make more irrational decisions. This vicious cycle will continue to pound on Christopher, until he breaks it. This can be seen in “I wanted to go to sleep so that I wouldn't have to think because the only thing I could think was how much it hurt because there was no room for anything else in my head, but I couldn't go to sleep and I just had to sit there and there was nothing to do except to wait and to hurt” because his pain, caused by high stress levels, is shaping his decision. His stress is overwhelming him, and if he can not handle the stress of this situation he will not be able to complete his dream of being an astronaut.He holds himself back by not being able to deal with stress in a healthy way.

2/8-2/12

Essential Meaning: Christopher’s autism can be used to his advantage.

Quote: “And this means that time is a mystery, and not even a thing, and no one has ever solved the puzzle of what time is, exactly. And so, if you get lost in time it is like being lost in a desert, except that you can't see the desert because it is not a thing”(Haddon 111).

Explanation: Because of Christopher’s autism, he can not see events or ideas from other people’s point of view. Christopher is stuck in his own point of view, but it allows him to gain solidarity in his beliefs. He does not understand other people's beliefs, so in his eyes there are not beliefs that contradict his own. The only way he changes his mind is if there is solid, concrete evidence supporting the other idea. Then he gets stuck in that view of ideology or aspect, and does not see the other views. This can be seen in “And so, if you get lost in time it is like being lost in a desert, except that you can't see the desert because it is not a thing” because other people would be able to visualize the more abstract version. Yet Christopher can not see the abstract aspect of it. So he does not have his beliefs put into question, in his mind, because he sees a lack of foundation in the other beliefs. He will have a more stable life, because he does not see a threat to his beliefs.

1/25-1/29

Essential Meaning: It is hard for Christopher to appreciate non real events or questions because it is difficult for him to imagine them.

Quote: “And sometimes, when someone has died, like Mother died, people say, ‘What would you want to say to your mother if she was here now?’ or ‘What would your mother think about that?’ which is stupid because Mother is dead and you can't say anything to people who are dead and dead people can't think”(Haddon 61).

Explanation: This can be seen in “which is stupid because Mother is dead and you can't say anything to people who are dead and dead people can't think” because this reveals to the audience the degree that Christopher is separated emotionally from others. The emotional separation can make it harder for him to form bonds with others. Christopher inability to form bonds causes socializing to be harder for him. Christopher becomes separated from others because he can not form more than the basic bond with others. Life is harder for Christopher because he can not create bonds with people to confide or share problems. Since he has no one to confide and he is not being confided in, he does not know why someone would say anything to dead people. Revealing to the audience that Christopher does not have many friends. Causing him to not to appreciate fictional events because he does not know why someone would want to.

1/19-1/22

Essential Meaning: Christopher’s lack of the ability to see from different points of views enhances the story.

Quote: “‘Why is he going to find it upsetting?’”(Haddon 45).

Explanation: Christopher’s lack of the ability to see different perspectives puts him at a disadvantage in solving the mystery. The audience catches on to the possible suspects before he does. His lack of seeing it from multiple sides allows the audience to get different hunches and compare them to Christopher’s. This can be seen in “Why is he going to find it upsetting” because of the suspense it builds by hinting about what might happen later in the story. The increased suspense changes the audience’s view of the events that transpire afterwards. The new view enhances the developing underlying plot. With the plot developing the audience is starting to develop a better idea of who the suspect is, and that the plot is more twisted than previously realized. Which draws the audience into the book more because the plot had more layers than expected.

1/11-1/15

Essential Meaning: Christopher’s ability to understand dog’s emotions better than human emotions helps Christopher write about the dog.

Quote: “I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn't understand what someone was saying”(Haddon 4).

Explanation: To Christopher a human’s emotions change too fast for him to comprehend before it changes. Christopher’s limited knowledge of human emotions makes writing about the dog much easier. For Christopher writing about people or animals he understands is far easier than writing about the ones he does not. This can be seen in “I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn't understand what someone was saying” because dog emotions do not change as fast, allowing him to understand them. Christopher not only has more time to decipher dog emotions, dog emotions are simpler. His ability to understand dog emotions better creates a deeper bond with the dog. The deeper bond is from being able to fully understand the emotions dogs convey. Writing about what you have a bond with is easier than writing about what you have no connection with.