Quote 81
But the mind is just a complicated machine. (163.10)
Is this is all what the mind is – a complicated machine? Or does he really mean the brain? Either way, do you agree?
Quote 82
Then he said, "What's your name?"
And I said, "Christopher Boone."
And he said, "Where do you live?"
And I said, "36 Randolph Street" and I started feeling better because I like policemen and it was an easy question [...] (191.20)
Why does Christopher start feeling better? Is it the policeman? Is it because he likes answering questions and taking tests in general? Or is it that these questions have a grounding effect on an otherwise turbulent moment, reminding him who he is and where he's from?
Quote 83
And eventually there is no one left in the world except people who don't look at other people's faces and who don't know what these pictures mean [...] (229.5)
This is probably our first indication that Christopher feels some sense of kinship with other people who have social disorders, and some resentment about being different. In the world he describes, no one would have identities at all, outside of what they think of themselves.
Quote 84
And I called the dog Sandy. (233.164)
Hey, remember when Christopher wrote that he didn't want to have a name that was uniquely his own? Then shouldn't he name his dog something like "Kamchestonian" or "Traklintobia" or some other nonsense word?
Quote 85
People say that you always have to tell the truth. But they do not mean this because you are not allowed to tell old people that they are old and you are not allowed to tell people if they smell funny or if a grown-up has made a fart. And you are not allowed to say, "I don't like you," unless that person has been horrible to you. (73.2)
Christopher has a point: we're all taught to tell the truth. But then we're also taught to not say things that hurt people's feelings. This is the aspect that escapes Christopher – that sometimes telling the truth just isn't very nice. And seriously, what would be the point of telling an old person that they're old? Surely they know this themselves, and don't need to have it pointed out by someone else. Why does Christopher sound so personally affronted by this contradiction?
Quote 86
And I am going to finish this chapter with two interesting facts about Sherlock Holmes. (107.22)
Christopher innocently calls this "two interesting facts," but he might also have written "two things people believe about Sherlock Holmes that really aren't true." What's his motivation behind debunking these myths?
Quote 87
And this shows that sometimes people want to be stupid and they do not want to know the truth. (139.8)
Christopher aligns believing in something with not wanting to know the truth, and both of those things with being stupid. It's pretty harsh, right? He probably wouldn't appreciate it if someone told him <em>he</em> was stupid for dreaming of becoming an astronaut. Then why is okay for him to be so intolerant of other people's beliefs and dreams?
Quote 88
And anyway, Orion is not a hunter or a coffee maker or a dinosaur. It is just Betelgeuse and Bellatrix and Alnilam and Rigel and 17 other stars I don't know the names of. And they are nuclear explosions billions of miles away.
And that is the truth. (173.5-6)
What does this mean, "And that is the truth"? Just what is he calling a lie here? It's true that the stars in the constellation Orion aren't really connected out there in the cosmos – of course not. If he's talking about the thing <em>we</em> call Orion, well that's a story we've created that connects those stars in a meaningful way – it's a hunter, not a coffee maker. It's a little unfair for Christopher to demean that story by saying it isn't "the truth."
Quote 89
And then I didn't know what to say because I had Father's cashpoint card in my pocket and it was illegal to steal things, but he was a policeman so I had to tell the truth, so I said, "I have a cashpoint card," and I took it out of my pocket and I showed it to him. And this was a white lie. (191.47)
What does he mean that he has to tell the truth because he's a policeman? We thought he always told the truth! Since when is he prepared to lie otherwise? And, wait, why does he have to tell the truth to policemen – because he got a caution for hitting a policeman and is worried about getting in trouble? Or is there something else about the policeman that prevents him from lying? It certainly can't be that, because he ends up lying to him anyway. Sure, he passes it off as "a white lie," but, hey, that still has "lie" in the title, doesn't it?