The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Chapter 23 Quotes
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Chapter 23 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Quote 1
It was nice in the police cell. (23.8)
This might be the first time in human history these words have been written. But what's behind Christopher's warm and fuzzy feelings about the place? Well, it's a combination of a few things Christopher values, including being alone, being in an enclosed space, and being in a familiar situation (at least, familiar from TV).
Quote 2
I was also wearing my watch and they wanted me to leave this at the desk as well but I said that I needed to keep my watch on because I needed to know exactly what time it was. And when they tried to take it off me I screamed, so they let me keep it on. (23.4)
The police are about to put Christopher into a jail cell. This doesn't bother him at all – in fact, he's quite happy there. His insistence on keeping his watch is similar – just as he's quite happy being restricted in space, he needs some sort of boundaries in time as well. He needs things to have order, and for time to be divided into neatly segmented minutes.
Quote 3
I wondered whether Mrs. Shears had told the police that I had killed Wellington and whether, when the police found out that she had lied, she would go to prison. Because telling lies about people is called Slander. (23.11)
Christopher takes lying very seriously. Is this because he never lies himself? Or is he particularly wary of lies because he has a hard time detecting when someone isn't telling the truth? Or is it from something he saw on TV – the same place he learned the word "slander"?