Techniques and Motifs in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

-Motif of Maths - Mathematics is a way of understanding and describing the world, a way of nding connections, explaining mysteries and discovering patterns in what seems random. -It is not just a feature of Christophers strengths, it is also a perfect metaphor for his !uest to ma"e order and meaning out of a confusing world. -I thin" prime numbers are li"e life. #hey are very logical but you could never wor" out the rules$. -%ogic and Math problems -%ogic -%ogic and math pu&&les symboli&e to Christopher the part of the world that is ordered and logical - #hese  #hese items appear most often often when Christopher encounters encounters new information that he has not fully processed, or when he experiences a particularly confusing or disturbing event. -'hen his thoughts become jumbled in the train station in (windon, Christopher thin"s of the visual riddle called Conways (oldiers to pass the time. In essence, these di)erent items provide Christopher with a strategy to follow when a problem involves too many variables for him to reach a clear solution. -Motif of *ogs - +I li"e dogs. ou ou always "now what a dog is thin"ing...they do not tell lies.$ -#here is an implied contrast to humans who are not predictable and who do tell lies -#hroughout the boo" Christopher struggles with the need for truth and predictability. -#he motif of dogs reects the need for truth as they are described as understandable -/urthermor -/urthermore e this is reinforced reinforced by the search the nd the truth about 'ellingtons death. -0se of (wearing - Christopher cannot imagine censoring the dialogue that he transcribes. -Christopher drives even the calmest adults to the edges of their linguistic resources. resour ces. 12esus1, 13od1, 1bloody hell1, they exclaim, though Christopher, not registering their feelings, puts in no exclamation mar"s. -It is able to easily tell the reader that the characters of the novel are experiencing emotion is completely alien to Christopher. -Much of the boo"4s comedy lies in the contrast between the factual blan"ness of his narration and the exasperation implicit in the four-letter four-letter words he hears. -Motif of (pace - *escription of his +*ream Come #rue$ to become an astronaut. +Id be surrounded by things I li"e...and no one else near me.$ -0ses uni!ue phrasing and a vivid description of solitude, contrasting to the confusing world of people. -(pace represents escape. #he motif of space represents Christophers isolation - he feels very di)erent to other people and dreams of being alone. -It can also be a metaphor for Christophers daily experience, being 5cut o) from people in some way. /avorite *ream -6nd - 6nd when I was asleep I had one of my favorite dreams7 dreams7 6nd in the dream nearly everyone on the earth is dead7$

-#he fact that Christopher identies this dream as a favorite implies that it fullls some of his deepest wishes. -/irst, without anyone else around, Christopher would not have to have any social interactions, which he nds confusing and uncomfortable. 8e would also not have to deal with crowds, which frighten him, and no one would touch him, which he also greatly disli"es. -If only people with the same condition remained alive, Christopher would be a typical person, rather than an atypical person as he currently is, revealing Christophers strong desire to no longer feel li"e an outsider.