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.

What impression do you have of Christopher’s mother from the letters that she writes to him?

From the letters that Christopher’s mother wrote to him, my impression of his mother is that she is caring and thoughtful, keeps her promises, but unreasonable and selfish at times.

I say that she is caring and thoughtful because she ‘wanted to explain’ to Christopher when she had ‘the time to do it properly’ about the reason she went away. This shows that she takes the initiative ‘to try and explain’ even when she knew that he ‘might not understand any of this’. She also bothered to ask about his ambition, whether ‘has it changed’ or about whether he is ‘still doing math’. Furthermore, she is concerned about Christopher as she constantly ask him ‘how you are’ and ‘what your doing at school’.
Having thought that Christopher ‘always liked puzzles’, she remembered to buy a puzzle for him. This shows that Christopher’s mother still does care and thinks for Christopher. Hence, it is both her heart and mind that shows her caring and thoughtful character.

She is a person who keeps her promises because she said that she’ll write to Christopher ‘every week’ and she sis. Having been told by Christopher’s father that she cannot ‘come back’ nor can she talk to Christopher, she did not, but still continue to write letters to him instead. Hence, it was her simple actions that make her reliable.

She is unreasonable because at the Bentalls, she knew that Christopher would behave the way he always did in crowded places yet she ‘got cross’. Even if she ‘felt really lonely’ because of the arguments with Christopher’s father, and that she felt that Christopher and his father ‘were probably better off’ if she ‘wasn’t living in the house’, these were not good reasons for her to leave. Furthermore, she ‘got cross’ and ‘threw the food across the room’ because Christopher ‘hadn’t eaten for days and days’ and ‘looking so thin’, yet he did not want to eat the food she cooked. Therefore, it is her character that determines her unreasonable act.

She is selfish at times because she knew she wasn’t very patient, yet she felt that ‘there’s nothing I can do to change that’. This shows that she only thinks of her own comfort and that others have to change because of her. When Christopher crouched down at Bantall and was in the way of everyone, I feel that even if she thought of the comfort of the others, she did not think of the feelings of Christopher and ‘tried to pick’ him up. As she had to pay for the two broken mixers, she only feels that she was ‘at the end of my tether’ and again did not remember the feelings of Christopher. She ‘decided it would be better for all’ if she went, but she went without discussing with Christopher’s father. She feels that if she leaves, he ‘would only have one person to look after instead of two’, but she did not think of whether Christopher’s father could cope working and taking care of Christopher altogether. Therefore, it is her behavior and character that shows the side of her selfishness.

Understanding Asperger's Syndrome

4 main features of Asperger's Syndrome:

After having read about Asperger's Syndrome, I have identified four main features of the mental condition. Firstly, Asperger's Syndrome is a developmental disorder in which people have severe difficulties understanding how to interact socially. They have a great deal of difficulty expressing their own feelings and perceiving others' feelings or reading nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with Asperaer's Syndrome has difficulty determining proper body space. Secondly, children with Asperger's Syndrome often have limited and very focused interests. They are often most comfortable with fixed routines and dislike change. In addition, those with Asperger's Syndrome have a normal IQ and many individuals (although not all), exhibit exceptional skill or talent in a specific area. Another feature is that they are often overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with Asperger's Syndrome may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see.

How Christopher displays these features of Asperger's Syndrome?

From the book, "I rolled back onto the lawn and pressed my forehead to the ground again and made the noise that Father calls groaning" and, his father and him spread their fingers out in a fan making their fingers and thumbs touch each other to show their love for one another, shows that Christopher has difficulty expressing his feelings. When his father speaks to him without looking at him, he finds it nice because he doesn't want to figure out his father's feelings as he cannot read body language.

Christopher likes facts & numbers, he finds that prime numbers are like life. (chapters in the book) He wants to become an astronaut even though he knows it was very difficult, because he had to become an officer in the air force and had to take lots of orders and be prepared to kill other human beings, and he himself couldn't take orders. BUT he still wants to have that ambition. He likes really little spaces, so long as there is no one elsee in them with him which makes him feel calm, therefore he enjoys solitude. Once, his food touched each other so he did not eat them anymore. These shows that he has very focused interests and dislike change.

3) He tries to apply scientific logic to a concept - Heaven. For example, he finds that if heaven is at the other side of the black hole, dead people would have to be fired into space on rockets to get there. Christopher's capacity to understand the way the universe works is bigger than the average person too because he finds that fact is something you can work out in your own mind. In the book "The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time", his father also claims that "this is the one thing he is really good at", therefore, he's able to take A levels when he's fifteen years old.

4) He is very observant as he knows every small detail of whatever or whoever he comes across
taste: doesn't like brown or yellow food, doesn't eat the food when it touches one another

Unseen passage

(i) What is your impression of the woman in black? Support your answer with evidence from the text. [200-300 words]

After reading the passage, I felt something suspicious about the woman in black who wasn’t holding a prayer book. People attending a funeral should have a prayer booklet with them to pray for the decease but the woman in black doesn’t have one. Another reason was because she stood several rows behind quietly instead of coming closer to the decease. Therefore, I felt something suspicious about her.

My impression of the woman in black’s appearance is that she has a very old, ill and scary look which is horrible and unsightly. I say this because the description in the passage said that she was “extremely pale” and “the thinnest layer of flesh was tautly stretched and strained across the bones, so that it gleamed with a curious blue-white sheen.” These reflect that she looks very old and ill. The passage also said that her eyes seemed sunken back into her head which can cause terrible wasting that she has, and such ravages of the flesh which were generally considered to be incurable. These also reflect that the woman in black has a scary and ill look and she may die anytime. According to the passage, the author could scarcely bare to look at her shows that her look is quite horrible and unsightly.

I felt that the woman in black is very old fashion and out of date because she is in a style of full mourning that had rather gone out of fashion with a bonnet-type hat covering her head and shaded her face. These clothes would only be wearing in court circles on the most formal of occasions. Therefore I think she may exist very long ago which let me come to my next conclusion. I think the woman in black may be a ghost or a spirit because Mr. Jerome did not see her at all while only the author saw her.

However, the woman is very pitiful because even though she looks like she was perhaps only a short time away from her own death, but she still could drag herself to the funeral of another. The author even thought of escorting her back.

In conclusion, my impression of the woman in black is that there’s something suspicious about her; she has a very old, ill and scary look which is horrible and unsightly with very old fashion and out of date clothes; and she may be a ghost or a spirit but is very pitiful.

[41o words]

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time [Chapter 2 - 53]

What have you learnt about Christopher

Boone in The Curious Incident

of the Dog in the Night-Time so far?

Christopher John Francis Boone is his full name and he is at the age of 15 yeas old. Aperger's Syndrome is an illness that he has which brought to him many difficulties and disadvantages for him. The chapters in this book is by prime numbers because he loves prime numbers which are like life to him. He likes facts because he finds that it is something you can work out in your head. (but he isn't aware that his capacity to understand the way the universe works is bigger than the average person)
Mrs Shears is his neighbour and her poodle-----Wellington-----was murdered.
He likes the police because they are in uniforms and numbers.
He is a very observant boy as well. Everything he decribes in this story is very detailed (accountance with the policeman & policewoman, you can roughly figure out how they look like through Christopher's describtions).
He can be violent at times when he's upset or angry. (E.g. tearing the piece of paper with the different pictures of faces; hitting the policeman who touch him)

Things in his pocket:

1. A Swiss Army Knife with 13 attachments including a wire-stripper and a saw and a toothpick and tweezers.
2. A piece of string.
3. A piece of a wooden puzzle.
4. 3 pellet s of rat food for Toby, my rat.
5. £1.47 (this is made up of a £1coin, a 20p coin, two 10p coins, a 5p coin and a 2p coin).
6. A red paper clip.
7. A keyfor the front door.

Christopher claims that there will be no jokes in this book because he can't understand them.
Two things that makes him confused are that people who talks without using words (non-verbal communication) and people who often talk using metaphors which he thinks are lies.

I've known of two ways he uses to express to different feelings:

1. He made groaning noises when there is too much information going into his head from the outside world;
2. He and his father spread their fingers out in a fan and placed it together such that their fingers and thumb touches each other. This is a way Christopher knows that his father loves him instead of hugging which Christopher dislikes.

He is very curious and wants to find out how Wellington was murdered.
Christopher doesn't respond to what people say unless it's a question (he doesn't understand that there's situations when he can reply to what someone say even though it isn't a question).
He neither tell lies nor like lies because it makes him feel shaky and scared.
Being in a nice order which was to be logical, Christopher also likes that, thus he has Good Days (represented by red cars) and Bad Days (represented by yellow cars).

Upon knowing about his mother's death, he didn't respond emotionally, instead he became curious and made logical conclusions about his mother's death.

to be continued...