Casper's Reading Log Question 11 - Longer Project

Book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Author: Mark Haddon

II. Longer project: a) Painting inspired by the book

b) Poem/descriptive writing piece about the picture:

Christopher is like a lonely lamppost

He is special in his own way

He is protected by his mother’s ghost

Each day is like a gray day

His heart is a never-ending road,

he follows and never gives up

He follows it like it is a code

On his quest for the golden cup

c) Explanation of the poem:

Christopher Boone is doing detective work because the dog on the other side of the road has been stabbed with a garden fork and killed. He wants to find out who the murderer is.

He is “special in his own way” refers to the fact that Christopher has Asperger syndrome and is very intelligent. In my poem I wrote that he is “like a lonely lamppost” because he doesn’t have friends. He is “protected by his mother’s ghost” points to the fact that his mother is dead (p. 17).

“Every day is a gray day” is about how I feel sorry for Christopher because of his lack of friends.

The phrases “His heart is a never-ending road” and “He follows it and never gives up” are there because although his dad tells him to “stay out of other people’s business” (p. 38) and his special teacher agrees with the father, Christopher believes in  figuring out who the murderer is, so he follows his heart and doesn’t give up.

“He follows it like it is a code” is a metaphor because he talks a lot about the Morse code, and prime numbers. 

“On his quest for the golden cup” is about his goal being golden (important to him).

Christopher wouldn’t understand or like this poem, because he doesn’t understand metaphors. In the book, on page 20, he says “Metaphors should be called lies”.