A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Group Assignment

1. A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Group Assignment

2. ‘Although Christopher is incapable of feeling empathy and compassion, he inspires it in his readers.’

3. Where does Christopher Show Empathy ? On page 266 His father gave him a dog and he felt happy because he liked dogs. He does not show empathy very often and when he doe it is a very small amount.

4. Where doesn’t Christopher Show Empathy? • On page one he saw the dead dog and he did not even get a feeling of sadness for the dog. He hugged the dog but he did not have any feelings for him. • On page eight he could not cope with the amount of questions that the policeman was asking him and therefore just put his head on the grass and zoned out.

5. Christopher Inspires Us • Christopher inspires the readers in this book because whatever life throws at him he just keeps on going and never gives up.

6. Christopher is incapable to cope with people. Some examples are when the police officer interrogates him, and he struggles with half the questions that the officer asks him. When someone speaks to fast for Christopher he gets frustrated and hits the police officer. • Christopher is incapable of feeling empathy because of his disability he is unable to feel what another person is feeling. Example he can tell when someone is sad or happy by looking at their facial expression but when people are sad or happy or act rude he cant see the feelings inside their body. • He doesn’t show empathy when he finds the dog lying dead on the ground, he just picks up the dog and thinks on what happen he doesn’t care why is doesn’t happen.

7. Point One: Although he doesn’t show it the same way as others, Christopher can be very compassionate. Eg. Christopher is compassionate toward Wellington because he feels compassion towards him but doesn't show it in the way that others would. Christopher didn’t react the same as other people would, he decided that he would like to find the killer and to start an investigation over who did it.

8. Point Two: Christopher can get very nervous and/or scared; he reacts differently to other people. Eg. When Christopher was in his fathers house after he had just discovered that he had killed Wellington, Christopher curled up in a ball and refused to let his father in.

9. Christopher can be very un-compassionate at times. Eg. Christopher has referred to his classmates as stupid and he feels that he is more superior than they are.

10. Point one: Although Christopher is quiet most times he is actually a very Emotional person. • Eg. Page When father comes home and discovers Christopher reading the letters he realizes that he has to come clean about some things he has done. Christopher then after decides not to talk to his father because that’s a way he can deal with the emotions going through him.

11. Point two: Although Christopher may seem rude to other people Christopher actually likes and needs company. • Eg. Page 48-53. when Christopher and Mrs Alexander Christopher comes across with rudeness by the way he talks to her. When Christopher leaves her house when she is getting some biscuits and leaves that he also very rude but he doesn’t mean to be.

12. Point three: Although Christopher is unconfident in himself at first as the book he goes further on Christopher gets more and more confident with himself and begins to trust others. • Eg. Christopher shows from the start of the book to the end that he has grown more confident. You can tell this by Christopher never used to like talking to people before but when he goes to see his mother in London he is not afraid to talk to others and ask for help.

13. “I stroked Wellington and wondered who had killed him, and why.” • Page reference: page 1 • Is it an example of Christopher’s empathy? • Christopher shows empathy in not a way most people would. He stroked the dog, as he likes dogs and he takes thought into who killed Wellington as he wonders why someone would do such a thing. • Is it an example of him lacking compassion? • This quote is also an example of him lacking compassion as when Christopher finds Wellington lying on the ground he doesn’t seem shocked and he doesn’t go to tell Mrs Shears straight away. • Explain, in detail, HOW the quote relates to the topic. • This quote does relate to the topic as has Christopher his own special way of dealing with things, like the situation with Wellington with which he doesn’t show what most people would consider empathizing and showing compassion.

14. “I pulled the fork out of the dog and lifted him into my arms and hugged him.” • Page reference: page 4 • Is it an example of Christopher’s empathy? • This definitely shows that Christopher does show a bit of empathy as he lifts the dog into his arms and hugs Wellington as he tries to show that he feels sorry for it. • Is it an example of him lacking compassion? • In my opinion Christopher is not lacking in compassion at all through this quote as he hugs the dog as he likes Wellington. • Explain, in detail, HOW the quote relates to the topic. • This quote shows that even though Christopher struggles to show empathy and compassion, while reading the story you do feel sorry for Wellington as Christopher explains what happened in a factual way.

15. “All the other children are stupid. Except I’m not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.” • Page reference: page 56 • Is it an example of Christopher’s empathy? • This quote shows how Christopher struggles with empathy. He thinks the other students are stupid as they don’t understand and learn in a similar way to him and therefore he finds them stupid. • Is it an example of him lacking compassion? • Christopher lacks compassion as he doesn’t quite understand that saying things like this and thinking that others are stupid is wrong and that everyone is unique, like him. • Explain, in detail, HOW the quote relates to the topic. • This quote, ““All the other children are stupid. Except I’m not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.” explains that he thinks straight forward and doesn’t understand that saying things like this could potentially hurt people’s feelings.

16. 6 quotes 1. When he says “It was something I wanted to do. I like dogs. It made me sad to see that the dog was dead.” Page reference – 7 Is it an example of Christopher’s empathy? Yes, this is an example of Christopher’s empathy, even though you may not think that he is not showing it he is in his own way. Is it an example of how we might be inspired by his situation? I think this is an example of how we might be inspired because with someone so literal we finally see that he opens up to what he feels, which is very inspirational since he has a disability. How does the quote relate to the topic? This relates to the topic because it inspires the readers to feel what he feels, or to feel sad like him about the loss of the dog.

17. 2. “And my chest began hurting again and I folded my arms and I rocked backwards and forwards and groaned.” Page reference – 255 Is it an example of Christopher’s empathy? No, I don’t think it is an example of Christopher’s empathy. Is it an example of him lacking compassion? No it’s not because this quote is not a situation he could be compassionate in. Is it an example of how we might be inspired by his situation? Yes, this quote is inspirational because we see that he struggles with tough situations and he deals with it in a way we might find strange but very inspirational. How does the quote relate to the topic? The quote relates to the topic because he is inspiring us, he does this by being different. Even though he cant feel concern we feel concern for him when he is hurt or in pain like this.

18. 3. “When we were getting off the bus they shout ‘Special needs! Special needs!’ But I don’t take any notice because I don’t listen to what other people say and only sticks and stones can break my bones and I have my Swiss Army Knife if they hit me and if I kill them it will be self-defence and I won’t go to prison.” Page reference – 56 Is it an example of Christopher’s empathy? It is the fact that it is not the time to be empathetic because people are insulting him. Is it an example of him lacking compassion? I don’t think it is, even if Christopher showed compassion on a regular basis, that it would be the time to be compassionate. Since the undisabled people are insulting them. Is it an example of how we might be inspired by his situation? This is a great inspirational quote because how Christopher works though people insulting his disability is very motivating. How he says “only sticks and stones can break my bones” is astonishing for a boy like him to say. How does the quote relate to the topic? It relates to our topic because he is inspiring us reader to help the disable and help them, to stop people discriminating them.