Similarities of Raymond and Christopher:

What similarities can you find in the portrayal of Raymond Babbit in the ‘Rain Man’ and that of Christopher Boone in ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’?
(compare Raymond’s behaviour and mannerisms in selected scenes with Christopher’s in relevant chapters of the novel)

From how far I’ve watched in the show called ‘Rain Man’, and from what I’ve read in the book called ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’, I’ve noticed the similarities in both the portrayal of Raymond Babbit’s and Christopher Boone’s behaviour and mannerism.

For Raymond, he is an autistic person. He avoids having a close contact with people as he dislikes it. For example, when Susana took one of his books from the shelf, he dislikes it yet stood away from her and made a lot of noise. Furthermore, after Susana borrowed his deck of cards, as he took it back from her, he avoids touching her. Another example is when Charlie, his younger brother, squeezed and pulled his neck, he said that it was SERIOUS when it was just a minor act. In addition, when Charlie pulled Raymond, forcing him to take the airplane, Raymond made a lot of noise until Charlie let him go. Furthermore, when Charlie and Raymond were in the same small telephone booth, Raymond can’t wait to get out as he doesn’t want to touch Charlie. These shows that Raymond dislikes close contact with anyone at all.

For Christopher, he has the same problem as Raymond. When the policeman took hold of him to lift him to his feet, Christopher ‘didn’t like him touching’ him, therefore he ‘hit’ the policeman. Christopher also claimed that he ‘punched’ Sarah, his friend, until she had concussion because she ‘pulled’ his hair. Once, his father grabbed hold of his arm really hard and he said he ‘don’t like it when people grab’ him so he ‘hit’ his father liked he hit the policeman, even when his father did not let go, he hit again. Another example was when his mother took him to shopping and she tried to pick him up, he shouted and knocked things over. She tried to take him out but he ‘wouldn’t let’ her touch him. All these contributes to his behaviour of that of Raymond’s, not liking to have any close contact with anyone or letting anyone touch them in anyway.

Raymond is a very detailed and observant person. He can remember the exact time or year of every event he encounters as he pins them down. He can even recite his brother’s address after so many years and also repeat the words of the radio DJ. Apart from that, he knew the waitress’s name by observing them on her uniform’s name tag. He is also a genius in mathematics. He can calculate equations in his mind really fast.

In a way, Christopher is also a genius, detailed and observant guy. He was allowed to take A level before 18 years of age. He has the capacity to understand the way a universe works which is bigger than the average person could, as he finds that it is something we can ‘work out’ in our own minds. This was one of the reason he was a genius. Christopher managed to tell us the little things that we seldom remember after observing people, like a little hole in the policewoman’s tights on her left ankle, a red scratch in the middle of the hole, a big orange leaf stuck to the bottom of the policeman’s shoe which was poking out from the side. Even in the police cell, he was calculating the size of it and observed every corner of the police cell. These show his ability of being able to have a detailed observation which is similar to Raymond’s.

Raymond has a specific eating habit like Christopher does. Raymond only eats with toothpicks. Without it, he won’t even touch his food. For Christopher, he doesn’t eat food which are brown or yellow. If the food on his plate touches each other, he won’t eat it. But he said that it is ok if the food touches each other before it is placed on his plate.

Raymond tells the truth which is similar to Christopher as well. When Charlie asked him whether he is kidnapping him, Raymond said yes. As for Christopher, he claimed that ‘everything’ he wrote in this book is true because lies make him feel shaky and scared.

Both Raymond and Christopher don’t have any feelings towards death. When Charlie asked Raymond about his father’s death, he did not know a thing about it and said ‘I don’t know’. For Christopher, he didn’t feel sad about his mother’s death, instead he was curious of how his mother died and placed logical thinking into it.

Both Raymond and Christopher also sort of listened to instructions. When Raymond was in the middle of the road as he crossed, the red light came on asking him to stop and he stopped. This shows his behaviour of listening to the signs. For Christopher, he was told to promise, by his father, not to do any detective work on the issue of Mrs Shears’ dog or to trespass in other people’s garden and he promised, which also meant that he have to stop doing it. These are ways in which their behaviour is alike.

Also, both of them don’t like to be in small places with other people. An example in the case of Raymond is that, he tried to get out of the phone booth as he was in that small area squeezing with Charlie. An example in the case of Christopher is that, he claimed that when he travels in a spacecraft, there won’t be anyone else near him for thousands and thousands of miles and he enjoys solitude, feeling the need to be alone in chapter 83 of the book.

In conclusion, Raymond Babbit and Christopher Boone are similar in many ways being an autistic person. They are similar in terms of their personal behaviours which are weird to normal human beings and also the way they react towards different situations.