Christopher Boone Quotes

There are a lot of passages in this book that suggest that Christopher has no understanding of love, and is unable to have affection for another person. But this passage express the essence of having love for another human being better than any number of hugs and kisses could possibly be.

Okay, let's see… marriage. Want to live together? Check. Want to have children? Check. Stay together? Check. Monogamy? Check. Hmm, that's strange, aren't we missing something? Marriage… there's got to be something else. Oh, wait, that's right: LOVE! Right, <em>that's</em> at the heart of why people get married, yet Christopher makes no mention of it.

Imagine equating a maid with a wife! Christopher doesn't make any distinction between the two. Either he doesn't understand romantic love, or he's a big Neil Young fan.

Okay, we admit – love is pretty complicated. If Christopher has heard these things from the two people in the world who love him most, it has to be difficult to get a handle on just what it means to love someone.

Wow, is it just us, or this incredibly unconvincing? What exactly do they have in common: being lonely? That's it? Well, that's not a good sign. And it's that realization that makes them realize they're in love with each other? Does that sound right to you? Should we give them the benefit of the doubt here?

Notice anything strange about this? Like how half-hearted this escape plan is? First, we really doubt that he could make his clothing catch fire. And even if he did, and was removed from his cell, that seems to be the most difficult part of the effort, yet he offers no plan for what he'll do once he's taken out. So, what's this all about? Well, you notice how this quote starts off? He likes it in there! He has no reason to want to leave. He assumes that if he were "in a story," then that character would probably want to escape. But you could argue that Christopher actually feels most free when locked inside a jail cell by himself.

Here's an interesting juxtaposition: Christopher feels confined (we might even say imprisoned) by being unable to understand directions. This allows him to justify not following said directions, leaving him free to do whatever the heck he wants.

Christopher fantasizes about getting a job, and the freedom that comes from having money of his own. He would use the money to hire someone to help him live on his own, without needing his father to take care of him. Freedom begets freedom.

This is the first time we hear about Christopher's behavior having generally improved over time. A few other times, he mentions specific lessons he's learned (about not hitting people, for one thing), but this comment is interesting because it represents his having gained freedom by restraining himself from actions he's learned are unacceptable.

Look, we don't want to beat this thing into the ground, but do you see the connection between freedom and confinement here? Like, being an astronaut in space – that's freedom. Being trapped inside a little spacecraft, though? Now, that's confinement. It's Christopher's ability to deal with confinement that would allow him to experience such freedom.

Christopher runs away from home, but he only gets to the backyard before feeling a little overwhelmed by his newfound freedom. What does he do, then? Well, he crams himself into a nice tight squeeze behind the garden shed, and, safely confined, feels much more secure.

Look how naturally Christopher makes sure to limit his options, because he finds freedom so overwhelming and requires structure. This is a nice example, with the image of the diagram of options neatly laid out, and crossed off one-by-one. Also notice how, out of nowhere, he insists that changing your mind is out of the question. No – once you pick one, you aren't free to switch.

This is a pretty crushing realization. Remember above, where we discussed how Christopher's love of small spaces would allow him to float freely in outer space with no problem? Well, here he admits that there's another kind of confinement important to him – namely, staying confined to his neighborhood. And if he can't overcome that self-confinement, he'll never reach that greater freedom.

Christopher climbs onto the luggage rack on the train. The irony here is that by confining himself into this small space, he escapes from the policeman who's been searching for him. Result? Freedom!

Once again, Christopher confines himself into a small space, and that makes him then feel safe. At the same time, though, it affords him the freedom to peek out through the curtain, and to watch how other people use the subway ticket machine. So, it sounds as though he benefits from finding freedom within confinement.

This is how Christopher introduces himself. The way he says this, it's almost as if the things he knows are as important as his name, like they're part of his identity. Imagine if he wrote himself some business cards – they would have his name, his phone number, and all his most impressive factoids.

Well, Christopher might think that prime numbers are like life, but <em>we</em> think they're like Christopher: unique, indivisible, a little unpredictable, and very mysterious.

This is an interesting passage. We might expect it to express Christopher's desire for uniqueness and individuality, but he doesn't actually seem too concerned with that at all. So, what else is going on here? One thing we can point out is how completely he disregards the story as being "kind and helpful," as if he can't connect with that sort of thing at all. But his real problem seems to be the notion that the name Christopher can stand for multiple things: that story, being kind and helpful, and he himself. He wants words to mean one thing and only thing only.

For most of us, a person's face makes up a big part of his or her identity. (Note: not that person's personality, but his or her identity – for example, when we imagine a person in our minds, we might picture the face first.) If Christopher is uninterested in faces, then what are the important factors in identifying a person?

This is a powerful image, evoking just how earth-shattering the discovery of his mother's letters must be. It has even dislodged his sense of self, so that he sees his own identity as being wrapped up in his mother's idea of him in her letters.