Curious Dog

Question 1

Year Produced:

Answer 1

Published in May 2003

Question 2

Purpose:

Answer 2

Educate and inform of autism
every day life
influenced through Haddon’s work with autistic kids

Question 3

Themes: The Struggle to Become Independent

Answer 3

• Relatable to teenagers as each and every one of us wish to become independent
• However Christopher can not become independent due to his condition
• Has trouble understanding people, dealing with new environments and making decisions
• However he still wishes to become independent
• We see him rebel against his father as a result
• Gaining independence = gaining confidence, hence wishing to solve all of these problems.
• Passing the A-Level math is also an obstacle
• And the trip to London = biggest obstacle, as so many things he finds distressing is presented to him.

Question 4

Order

Answer 4

• He obsesses over schedules
• If thing’s do not go in order for Christopher / follows a schedule, he becomes irritated and often angry
• An example of this occurred at the beginning of the book, where Christopher stumbles upon the dead dog across the road in the middle of the night
• He does not know what is going on and begins to go into a state of panic
• When the police arrived, he calmed down because he was familiar with the police
• Then the police arrived. I like the police. They have uniforms and numbers and you know what they are meant to be doing. (11.1)
• Implies he has difficulties with others and that makes him nervous.

Question 5

Quotes:

Answer 5

“This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them.”

Then the police arrived. I like the police. They have uniforms and numbers and you know what they are meant to be doing. (11.1)

“Then he said, ‘I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer.’ This made me feel a lot calmer because it is what policemen say on television.”