The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Chapter 67 Quotes
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Chapter 67 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Quote 1
And sometimes Mrs. Shears stayed overnight at our house and I liked it when she did because she made things tidy and she arranged the jars and pans and tins in order of their height on the shelves in the kitchen and she always made their labels face outwards and she put the knives and forks and spoons in the correct compartments in the cutlery drawer. (67.99)
On the surface, this quote points us back to Christopher's desire for order in the world around him. But, beneath that, it says something about his relationship with the people in that world as well. Here, the role of "mother" in Christopher's household is arguably reduced to cleaning the house and arranging the things in the kitchen. As long as Mrs. Shears does that, this suggests that her installment as surrogate mother is okay with Christopher. Is that a fair judgment to make?
Quote 2
It is like being in France, which is where we went on holiday sometimes when mother was alive, to camp. And I hated it because if you went into a shop or a restaurant or on a beach you couldn't understand what anyone was saying which was frightening. (67.4)
The literal language barrier serves as a powerful illustration of Christopher's difficulty with more subtle kinds of communication, like body language and tone of voice. And, of course, his fearfulness in France at hearing words he doesn't understand is dwarfed by the daily occasions in which people express themselves in ways he's totally unable to interpret.
Quote 3
I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand. It is like being in France, which is where we went on holiday sometimes when mother was alive, to camp. (67.4)
What do you make of this comparison? Christopher writes that he finds strangers hard to understand. This makes sense, since the people around him know he has difficulty with body language and adjust their communication accordingly, while strangers will speak to him in ways he doesn't understand. But do you think it makes sense to compare this to people literally speaking in a foreign tongue? Do you buy it? Does this change the way you think of Christopher's disorder?