Homework for Lesson #10, The Curious Incident...

Jesse's Homework:

Why do you think Christopher's father did what he did?  In Christopher's eyes, lying is one of the worst things you can do to someone you love.  Do you think his father should've lied to him or told him all of the hard truths from the beginning?  How would the story have played out if he hadn't lied?  What would you have done if you were Christopher or his father?

In life, we have “lies” and “good lies”. Lies are things that you don’t want to tell others. When we say the word lie, we always try to express it in a negative way, but in fact, as the word “good lie” appears, lies can be with a positive motive. And I think in the book the curious incident of a dog at the night time, Christopher’s dad is trying to make a “good lie”, although it didn’t end up very happily.

In chapter N, Christopher discovered that his father is lying to him about his mother, he said his mother was dead. And after that, he headed towards London to look for his mother. I would considered that as a unhappy ending since Christopher is a “special need”, and it would be actually very dangerous and horrifying for a “special need” to travel to London alone with a swiss army knife. If I was Christopher, I would be very disappointing, too! Living for a few years without his mother’s accompany and with a truly broken heart, and suddenly on a ordinary day to found out that his mother is still alive. I think I would have a heart attack if that happened on me. So we’ll have to blame all these on Christopher’s father, though he is trying to make a “good lie”, and help Christopher with a positive motive.

As the story developed, the plot has became more and more complex. Even though I think lying to Christopher is a really bad idea, the story would have end up even sadder if father told Christopher the truth at first. Imagine when Christopher is still a little kid, and he didn’t know what’s happening between his father and his mother. Then one day, he was told that his mother has left his father and went away to London with another man. I don’t think a little child’s heart would be able to stand this. He would have gone CRAZY if he know the truth from the beginning, and we probably won’t be reading this book written by Christopher Boone, because he might in a mental hospital now. So I think it’s definitely not a good idea to tell Christopher the truth from the very beginning.

If I was Christopher’s father, I would be nice and considerate to my wife and I wouldn’t made her go away, because It’s cruel to my kid, a special need kid. And I wouldn’t be lying to my kid, except when extremely necessary. So I think Christopher’s dad is not that kind of people who know how to deal with emotions in life and it’s not his fault, he was betrayed by a woman who he used to love. I felt sympathetic for both Christopher and his dad.

Sally's Homework:

1. Why do you think Christopher's father did what he did? In Christopher's eyes, lying is one of the worst things you can do to someone you love. Do you think his father should've lied to him or told him all of the hard truths from the beginning? How would the story have played out if he hadn't lied? What would you have done if you were Christopher or his father?

Christopher found 43 letters from his mother and was kept in the shirt box. I think finding them is much more exciting and mysterious than his father just told him. The whole story now was getting more interesting. If his father just tell him the whole thing, it just feel like someone telling the story with no climax, because you already know what is the problem here. But if you kept on trying to find what’s wrong, you can actually feel the story. The mysterious letters, Christopher’s “dead mom”, the dead little dog attract me. I won’t give up reading if I don’t find the answer and I will always keep thinking if there will be a new problem or not.

About why Christopher’s father did what he did, it’s quite understandable to me. His mother explain why she left the home, and I don’t think his father would want his son to know this. I will do the same if I were his father. We know that Christopher was different, but I feel that he needs protection. From what his mother described, especially from what happened in the market, I can not imagine what will Christopher be like if he knows the truth of his mother. His father was just trying to keep his son safe, and maybe Christopher will forget about his mother. I also noticed that Christopher’s mother wrote some memories about Christopher’s childhood. She wrote “I liked remembering that a lot.” And his mother was telling him a lot of things. Such as what’s her life like now. If I were him, I would not want my son to know this, because now his mother and I were separated and we both started our knew life. I want my son to forget about this and live without missing his mother. Because I thought she doesn’t understand you or even doesn’t love you anymore. And now she gone away so I want my son to stay away from her, of course.

James' Homework:

Christopher is extremely detail oriented.  He says can never just "glance" at something.  Explain the pros and cons of being so focused.  Use examples to support your claims.

We know that Christopher blames “glance” a lot and he never forgets what he sees, and by being so focused on the things he ever see and remember, he can always remember them like playing a film in brain. It cannot be simply judged that whether being so “Chritopherly focused” is good for a person or not, but actually there are some pros and cons showed to everyone.

If a person were to remember all the things he see, he would be so excited, I believe. People always forget things, and it can be easily understood when a brain is compared with a computer disk. There are different storages of disks, such as 16GB one and 64 GB one, though our human’s brain can store more than this, we also have a capacity, so remember all the things often seems impossible for human. Besides, famous psychologist, Ebbinghaus made a chart of forgetting.

Which appears like this:

That reveals why being so focused and can remember all the scenes is a quite exciting thing. Being like this can provide a person with a strong memory, and he never needs notebooks and diaries. He will feel extremely relaxing when reciting the text from a history or a politics book, if he is a student. While working, he always act better than other colleagues since he can remember what to do and how to do perfectly, and maybe remember the boss’ habits, so he can get promoted quickly. Receiving the success on work is just a problem on time, for him. When other people get annoyed for forgetting some important things, he can just stand by without worrying for himself.

As the time passes by, and if the person remembers too much, I believe he will feel quite stressful. Being extremely focused can bring so many disadvantages, even more than the advantages it brings. A person who is very focused cannot help remembering things anytime, and because there are things a person don't want to remember, such as some sad stories. When he wants to start a new life, impossible may be found. I am not the person who always focuses like that, but even I can imagine how will I feel if I cannot forget anything I see. People will never feel good when they are bombarded by all the stuff in their head, staying alone and getting some rest will become goals, which is to difficult to reach.

At least, to my opinion, I never want to become a person who never “glance” at things and always remember all the stuff. That’s too tough for me, even if it can bring so many advantages.