Chapter 2 - 41

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo t
• Leerjaar 3

Wednesday

September 29, 2021

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This lesson:

• About Chapters 2-41
• Reading
• Individual work

The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime

Chapter 1 - 40

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Chapter 2

The book opens seven minutes after midnight, when the narrator, Christopher John Francis Boone, finds Wellington, the poodle belonging to Mrs. Shears, his neighbor, dead on Mrs. Shears's lawn with a garden fork through its side. Christopher touches the dog’s muzzle and feels that it is still warm. He wonders who killed Wellington, and why.

narrator

person who tells the story

Chapter 3

Moving from his story (Christopher does this often in the book), he explains that he has difficulty seeing people’s emotions from their facial expressions. But he can name each country in the world, their capitals, and every prime number up to 7,057. He recalls the first time he met Siobhan, eight years earlier. She drew faces on a piece of paper and asked him what emotions the faces expressed. Christopher could only identify the sad face, which represents how he felt when he found Wellington dead, and the happy face, which shows how he feels when he walks around the neighborhood at three or four in the morning. He could not name the other emotions.

Chapter 5

The story returns to Mrs. Shears’s lawn, where Christopher removes the garden fork and picks up Wellington. Mrs. Shears appears on her patio and yells at Christopher to get away from her dog. Mrs. Shears does not stop, even when he puts the dog down. So Christopher puts his hands over his ears and curls into a ball on the grass, trying to block out the sound.

Chapter 7

Christopher tells us that we are reading his murder-mystery novel, written after Siobhan advised him to try writing a story he would want to read. Siobhan thought that the opening of the novel should grab people’s attention, which is one of the reasons that Christopher started it with Wellington's death. The other reason is that he could not start it any other way: this story actually happened to him, and he has trouble putting events in any order other than the order in which they happened.

Chapter 11

At the crime scene, two police officers arrive. Christopher first finds their presence comforting, but he becomes irritated when the policeman begins to ask him questions too quickly, almost accusing him of the murder. Christopher curls into a ball again, and he hits the police officer when the officer tries to lift him to his feet.

Chapter 13

Christopher saysthat his book will not be funny. To be funny you have to tell jokes, and jokes often rely on the multiple meanings of words. The fact that one word can have multiple meanings confuses Christopher and makes him uncomfortable, so he will not put jokes in his book.

Chapter 17

The officer arrests Christopher for assault. As the officer drives him away, Christopher considers the Milky Way through the window of the squad car. He feels comforted by the order he sees in the stars, and by the fact that policeman has done his job in a predictable way.

Chapter 19

Christopher describes the rules about prime numbers. He thinks prime numbers act like life: logical, but impossible to fully understand. 

He likes them, so he has ordered the chapters in his book according to prime numbers.

Chapter 23

At the police station, Christopher empties his pockets at the front desk, carefully describing every item. When the police put him in his cell, he loves that the cell is almost a perfect cube. He wonders if Mrs. Shears lied and told the police that he killed Wellington.

Chapter 29

Christopher finds people confusing because they often communicate non-verbally through facial expressions. 

Chapter 31

Father arrives at the station and greets Christopher by holding up his hand with his fingers spread out. Christopher does the same, allowing their fingers to touch. 

Christopher explains that they greet each other this way because he does not like to be hugged. An officer takes Christopher to the investigator, who releases Christopher with a stern warning.

Chapter 37

Christopher explains that, in order to make up a lie, he would have to pick an event that did not happen to replace the one that did. 

But he can’t pick any one thing from among the unlimited number of things that did not happen, so he does not tell lies. 

So, everything that he has written in his book is true.

How does the book begin?

1. Christopher pets his rat, Toby
2. Christopher's dad arrives home drunk.
3. Christopher discovers that his neighbor's dog has been killed.
4. Christopher tries to solve a complicated math problem.

What does Christopher confess after finding Wellington?

1. He wishes he didn't have to interact with people.
2. He hates his father and mother.
3. He found Wellington's dead body strangely exciting.
4. He can't determine emotions by looking at people's facial expressions.

What happens when Christopher is touched or shouted at?

1. He shuts down, rolling himself into a ball and trying to block out the sound.
2. He attacks the person who touched him or shouted at him.
3. He cries, rolling himself into a ball and crying.
4. He runs away, waving his arms and screaming.

How does Christopher characterize his book?

1. As a true crime novel
2. As a parody
3. As a murder mystery novel
4. As a how-to

How are prime numbers like life, in Christopher's opinion?

1. They're ordered, but nothing special.
2. They're the same, day after day, year after year.
3. They're messy and unable to be manipulated.
4. They're logical but impossible to fully understand.

Read your book

Your work

Starting from page 38

B: 10 - 11abcd - 12ab - 13

C: 15 - 16abd - 18 - 19

D: 20c - 21a

F: 37

G: 40abcd - 41 - 42 - 43

Check your work and show me!