Blog Entry #3, due July 22—Page 130 to the end of the novel.
Select one prompt to respond to, and follow the guidelines for writing and posting. Be sure to refer to specific details and ideas from the novel for the first entry, and reference specific bloggers and their ideas for the second entry, per Jordan's model-- Be precise! Though it seems some of you have still not looked at the models, please keep in mind that your work will be assessed and graded based on both the rubric and student benchmarks ( For example, the directions on the benchmark indicate that at least 300 words are required for each blog entry.)
A) From Christopher’s perspective, his own behavior makes perfect sense, but how do other people, from police officers to his parents, respond to his actions? What does this tell us about ‘different’ thoughts and behavior?
A) From Christopher’s perspective, his own behavior makes perfect sense, but how do other people, from police officers to his parents, respond to his actions? What does this tell us about ‘different’ thoughts and behavior?
B) Does Christopher grow throughout the novel? Compare his emotional, mental and physical capabilities at the beginning and then at the end of the novel. What do you think the future holds for him? Consider both his strengths and weaknesses.
C) Is Christopher a heroic character? Explain why or why not.
Note: Post a follow-up entry by July 26.
Josselyn
ReplyDeleteThough we never saw Christopher rescuing a town from invading monsters, we did witness Christopher help many as he sought to seek the truth. Not what I would define as a super-hero, to me Christopher was the everyday hero that one might see helping others, and inspiring those who he helped. What he did for those in and outside of the novel were the heroic acts of a super-hero. Upon discovering that he was being lied to about his mother’s death, like a hero Christopher springs into action in order to find justice.
Uncovering the lies that roam between him and his neighbors on Randolph Street, inside the book Christopher puts a once happy street back in order. With a strong hate for lying, once Wellington is found dead, he doesn’t stop his investigation until his death is brought to justice. Though he proves in chapter 67 that he is not the best detective, Christopher solves the case in an unlikely way. One might say that it is Christopher’s value for the truth forces his father to begin to have the same values.
“Okay, maybe I don’t tell the truth all the time. God knows, I try, Christopher, God knows I do… You have to know that I am going to tell you the truth from now on… Because…if you don’t tell the truth now, then later on… later on it hurts….I killed Wellington, Christopher (Haddon.120).” But it isn’t just Wellington that Christopher helps; he also saves his mom from a poor decision. Upon being reunited with Christopher, his mom realizes that her current lifestyle with Mr. Shears wasn’t the best choice and is holding her back. Upon realizing how happy Christopher makes her, when she decides to come home, Christopher succeeds by using his “powers” to bring his parents back to terms and restore his mother’s role in his life.
Christopher’s good doesn’t just stop inside the novel; outside the novel Christopher’s character proved that even those who have a disability are as capable as the next person in succeeding a challenge. With every step through the train station Christopher showed that while some many live with a disability, such as Asperger’s, when in a tough situation it is possible to push it aside and not let it hold you back.
“So I stood against the wall… to make sure that I didn’t fall over or go into a crouch on the ground. And I wanted to go home but I was frightened of going home and I tried to make a plan of what I should do in my head… I had to stay in the train station to get on a train… So I said to myself… “I will walk down the tunnel….(Haddon.145).” It was bravery such as this, which made Christopher’s entire journey so immersing. As I read I felt proud for Christopher as he broke out of the shell that Asperger’s had always hidden him away in, and continued to conquer the strange world that he had always been secluded from. He is truly an inspirational character:
“And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? And I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything (Haddon. 221).”
Christopher Boone is a highly unusual boy. He can perform quadratic equations in his head, count almost all the known prime numbers, can't stand to be touched, and won't eat foods that are the color brown or yellow. Highly unusual people often lead highly unusual lives. Lots of people who lead highly unusual lives often accomplish great heroic tasks. At first glance, it doesn't seem like Christopher will be one of those people who will do heroic things in his highly unusual life. In the beginning of the novel a typical day for Christopher consists of eating his meals, playing computer games, going to school, playing with his rat Toby and watching a movie or reading a book. However, after a significant event in the book, Christopher's life changes drastically, causing Christopher to step up and become a true hero.
ReplyDeleteWhen Christopher finds out that his father lied about his mother being dead and about killing Wellington, he's frightened and extremely confused. “I don’t know what happened then because there is a gap in my memory, like a bit of the tape had been earased. But I know that a lot of time must have passed because later on, when I opened my eyes again, I could see that it was dark outside the window. And I had been sick because there was sick all over and on my bed and on my hands and arms and face.”
The fear he feels causes him to act as a hero, he makes the difficult decision to travel to London by himself and live with his mother. I think it would be really easy to say that running away from his house is a sign of weakness, and that Christopher is acting cowardly. However, if one thinks about it, what actually causes someone to become a hero? It’s the presence of fear. Hero's generally act to protect people, and even if its not acknowledged, to protect themselves. Christopher heroically decides that the sacrafice of traveling to London alone is worth what he gets in the end; safety.
Besides successfully making it to safety Christopher also holds finding the truth in a very high light. If there is one goal in Christopher’s life, it’s to find the truth, besides making it to a University. It’s easy to underestimate the quality of honesty. Usually, the most important thing in most heroes’ repertoire are strength, speed and weapons. Christopher’s true heroicness lies in his search for the truth. To put it simply, hero’s often embody traits that “regular” people don’t have. These traits could be super speed or super strength. However, if one thinks about it, telling the truth and acting with integrity is not something many “regular” people do. Therefore, searching for the truth is clearly a hero’s trait. The best part of Christopher’s unexpected heroism is that he doesn’t know it, he’s not doing it to please a crowd of people or win a medal, he’s doing it because its what he truly believes in.
Autistic people have their patterns. Christopher has a timetable that plans out almost every minute of the day and he hates it when his timetable is altered. He hated having to go to France and he made his parents tell him exactly what they were going to do all day long so he would feel better. So it took a lot of courage and determination for him to leave his home. He broke away from his patterns. To me, it seems that his sense of morals overrode his need for patterns. If Christopher’s brain is like a computer then his fathers lying was a virus that went into the computer and altered the hard drive so that he had to leave. The computer kept trying to expel the virus and go back to its old patterns but could not do so. The virus brought on such a stream of information that it filled up the computer and forced him to go to his mothers.
ReplyDeleteI want to go back to what I said about Christopher’s sense of morality and how it overrode his need for patterns. He knew that what his father did was wrong, but it seemed to me that it was the lying that scared him most. The fact that his father lied to him when Christopher thought he had always told him the truth scared Christopher. I think it scared Christopher because then he had to question everything his father told him. It is similar to when a detective gets into trouble; all his/her cases are questioned and people do not know if the convicted criminals are actually criminals at all. So, Christopher was scared because he no longer knew what was true and what was a lie. Christopher quantified his fear and figured out what scared him most: going to London or staying with his father. His father scared him more so he broke away from his patterns. I think this shows growth: he was able to change because he needed to. Another thing that shows growth is that when he went back to Swindon, though it was a slow process, he began to forgive his father; maybe not forgive but not be as scared of his father as he was before.
There is one thing that I think showed the most growth. “And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything” (221). It takes a lot of growth to be able to do anything.
Is Christopher a hero? Frankly, I think a better question would be: how is he not? To help prove my point, I've consulted merriam-webster.com for the definition of "hero":
ReplyDelete"d : one who shows great courage"
I think that pretty much settles it right there. Throughout the story, Christopher demonstrates his tremendous faculty for courageous acts. What is important to remember is that the journey that Christopher underwent was quite mundane by normal standards. However, as he describes on page 140, he sees everything around him. He has no control over it either; each moment on his voyage to London was a constant stream of stimuli. Imagine being at a concert—sitting directly next to the band while they’re playing—and you’ll imagine what hypersensitivity is like. However, Christopher was able to overcome this challenge and continue on his journey. His other major challenge was illustrated well on page 158: “There were lots of people on the train, and I didn’t like that, because I don’t like lots of people I don’t know and I hate it even more if I am stuck in a room with lots of people I don’t know, and a train is like a room and you can’t get out of it when it’s moving” (Haddon 158). This event struck at both of his major weak points: sensory overload and too many people around him. However, during this same scene, he describes how he blocks out the people around him to focus on getting to the bathroom. This is exactly the kind of thing that defines the hero in a story. Christopher found an inner strength he didn’t know he had before, and used it to make it to his mother’s house in London. Filtering out excess stimuli is one of the greatest challenges autistics face, and the fact that Christopher did it by himself is a mark of true courage.
--SP
The first thing that came to mind when I first thought about what makes a character heroic was selflessness; all of Christopher’s actions are ultimately selfishly motivated, so he did not strike me as heroic at first. His search for the truth about Wellington and his mother’s not-death is a honorable mission, but it is primarily driven by his own desire to solve the mystery for himself. He has other reasons for investigating–his genuine sentiment for Wellington and wish for justice to be served on the dog’s behalf, among other things– but these come across as secondary; he primarily sees the situation as a puzzle to be solved, much like any of the other logic puzzles he mentions throughout the book, and he is emulating his own heros, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, by writing a book about what he discovers through his investigation.
ReplyDeleteHowever, upon further reflection, I think the connection I drew between heroism and selflessness is unfair. Although comic book or movie superheroes are often portrayed as selfless doers-of-good, real people almost never are, and many people and characters have been or are able to be simultaneously selfish and heroic. I generally approve of being selfish anyway; I’ve always though the negative connotations of the word “selfish” and the positive connotations of the word “selfless” are not merited by the actual definitions of the words, so I think it is perfectly possible for a character to be entirely selfish–like Christopher is–and still be heroic because of the other qualities he or she possesses, e.g., superpowers and/or extreme bravery.
Although Christopher has to struggle to understand many parts of society–facial expressions, metaphors, etc.–because of his autism, it has also given him some distinct advantages. To start with, he can do complex mathematic equations in his head, which most people cannot do. Secondly, as Christopher puts it himself, “I see everything” (140). In chapter 181, Christopher describes his ability to notice everything about a field he saw on Wednesday, 15 June 1994. He remembers it all, right down to the patterns of every one of the 19 cows he saw. His ability to notice nearly every detail about every place he has ever been and his perfect recall combine to become an awesome superpower. I guess superpowers don’t exactly make someone a hero, I think they help.
The primary reason I consider Christopher a heroic character is his bravery. Because of his autism, Christopher is afraid of a lot of things which don’t faze most people; he hates being touched, he hates new places, and he hates crowds, among other things. He is forced to face all of these fears and more to make the journey from Swindon to London on his own, but by using techniques like these, “And I pictured a big red line across the floor which started at my feet and went through the tunnel and I started walking along the red line, saying, ‘Left, right, left, right, left, right,’ because sometimes when I am frightened or angry it helps if I do something that has a rhythm to it, like music or drumming, which is something Siobhan taught me to do,” (140) he is able to overcome his fear and make the trip successfully. The whole trip is all made more challenging by his “superpower” because he takes in and remembers so much new information in such a short time on his journey, which must have been exhausting on top of his existing fears. I’m sure others will give many other similar examples of Christopher’s bravery throughout the book and, in my opinion, it is this bravery that makes him a heroic character.
When I picture a hero, I think of those who save hundreds of lives and come flying in right before the bad guy is about to set a building on fire. Christopher Boone is definitely not one of those heroes. But that is okay. It is okay because for the most part, Christopher is not concerned with saving one hundred people but rather how the hero’s cape gives him the ability to fly. He would rather understand the history than make it. Throughout the novel Christopher has been in many situations in which he can be a little hero, (ie. finding the murderer of the dog, passing his A level maths, finding his way to London) but he approaches them in such a way that the reader doesn’t see it as an act of heroism. It appears as just a character trying to solve a problem.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I think we should give credit where credit is due. Since Christopher is “different” from us, he is not comfortable in doing everyday things, like enduring the stressful ways of a subway station. The fact that he was so determined to get to London that he would throw himself into a situation where he knew he would be stepping out of his comfort zone.
“There were lots of people on the train, and I didn’t like that, because I don’t like lots of people I don’t know and I hate it even more if I am stuck in a room with lots of people I don’t know, and a train is like a room and you can’t get out of it when it is moving” (Haddon 158).
I definitely think this is a huge step for Christopher’s growth, but I would not call it heroic. This is because he only decided that he needed to go to London due to the fact his dad killed a dog. Once he made the decision that his dad could never be trusted, he made another decision based on temporary feelings. To me, Christopher’s story is not a hero’s journey. It is a story of growth and a look into a completely different process.
Despite his limitations as an autistic person Christopher is a courageous person. He overcomes his fears of people, unknown places, and change in order to get away from his dad and live with his mom. For an autistic teenager who can barely handle certain situations without fainting this is quite an impressive feat. This proves that he can be courageous, but does that mean he is a hero? To me a hero is someone who makes the world a better place for other people. The hero does this at a risk to his or her self. In addition to this the hero does what he or she does for the sake of others. It is in this last qualification for being a hero that I find doubt in the idea of Christopher being a hero. How could he do anything for others when he does not have the ability to emphasize with anyone else? I believe the motivation for everything he did relied completely upon his own desires. When he investigated the death of Wellington the dog his reasoning for doing so came from his love of mystery novels and the fact that he liked dogs. He didn't do it for the sake of his owner or any other person. When he left his father in order to live with his mother he didn't do it for his mother's sake but for himself because he no longer felt safe living with his father. Both of his major courageous actions were inspired not by a will to help others, but a will to help himself. How can someone who does not actually help others be considered a hero? Of course what Christopher did allowed him to develop and made an impressive story, But it does not make him a hero.
ReplyDeleteEach day Christopher Boone follows a very specific minute by minute timetable. Though he claims it is only “an approximation”, it is fairly obvious that he has been following this schedule long enough for it to be second nature that at 8:43 a.m. he will go past the tropical fish shop. I am fairly convinced that his life of computer games, educational videos, and maths is pretty regular and doesn’t leave much room for excitement, danger, or change. Then again, that seems to be Christopher’s instinctive personality: he keeps his life in order so that he knows exactly when everything is going to happen and he won’t be stuck hiding behind a trashcan creating tree diagrams in his head trying to figure out his next logical move which is exactly what ends up happening.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Christopher’s involvement in solving Wellington’s murder has caused many unexpected events to occur in his life which have turned him into somewhat of a risk taker. No longer does Christopher watch the streets for red and yellow cars which determine his day, he experiences real world situations and can decide for himself whether he is going to have a good or bad day. “I looked out the window for three hours and I saw 5 red cars in a row and 4 yellow cars in a row which meant it was both a Good Day and a Black Day, so the system didn’t work” (Haddon 205). This is very unlike Christopher’s logical and systematic way of looking at the world, he is beginning to feel for himself instead of relying on equations to figure out life issues and probability charts to make a decision. He is beginning to take his heart in account instead of solely his head.
When Christopher is reunited with his mother and together they move back to Swindon, he experiences great change in his daily living. The rat Toby dies so Christopher now has a giant gap in his timetable where caring for Toby once occupied. In fear of his father, Christopher has moved in with his mother who's house “ was small and the corridor was painted brown and there was a toilet and a bathroom that other people had used” (Haddon 216). Yes, Christopher is living in a place that makes him feel uncomfortable and perhaps a little unsafe. Dispite this, he made a decision to live with his mother and he finds a way to deal with his new life which does not include groaning and head banging. I know Christopher has changed because earlier on in the story when Christopher is in the equally bewildering environment of the Swindon train station, he resorts back to his usual coping method. “I gripped the Swiss Army knife in the other hand, and I groaned to cover up the noise because I had taken my hands off my ears” (Haddon 146). To me it seems like Christopher’s habit energies are shifting for the better and he is becoming a more stronger, courageous person “And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything” (Haddon 221). He himself is realizing the person he can be and that he does not have to limit himself if a spontaneous or conflicting opportunity should occur.
Right off Christopher introduced himself with his full name and two things he was very proud of. Mark Haddon (the author of the book) made the reader believe that Christopher is proud of himself and his many accomplishments. However, then he jumped right into his meeting with the woman named Siobhan. Christopher told the reader how he felt when the woman gave him a challenge. Christopher became very confused and angry with himself. He couldn’t understand and accept why he didn’t know what the feelings were. “I tore the original piece of paper up and threw it away” (Haddon 3). Throughout the rest of the book you can slowly see changes in Christopher’s attitude. At the very end of the book Christopher re-mentions the emotions that were on page 3. He talks about not understanding the emotions as if he was accepting it. “… Except people who don’t’ look at other people’s faces and who don’t know what these pictures mean and these people are all special people like me…” (Haddon 198) He referred to himself as “special” instead of being frustrated with himself. Christopher was able to accept a lot more about himself as the story progressed, and that helped him achieve great things like finding his mother and passing the A-levels. Another example of Christopher becoming confident in him-self through the book is in the times where he tried to explain himself to the reader. In the beginning of the book on page 46 Christopher lists off his “behavioural problems”. They are all things that he knows is wrong about him self. Throughout the book however Christopher becomes more confident in himself and at the vary end instead of listing off his faults Christopher creates a list of all his accomplishments. “And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed wellington? And I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything” (Haddon 221). In the future if Christopher keeps up his attitude he will be able to accomplish many things in science and math. He does his best work when he has confidence in himself. Christopher is going to have to learn however how to let people into his life and let them help him. By not accepting his Dad Christopher is going to loose that connection and it will hurt him in the long run.
ReplyDeleteA hero is one revered or idealized for their actions or characteristics. Throughout the story Christopher’s actions often obscure the lines between heroic and non-heroic. I do believe that Christopher’s story is heroic, because despite his sometimes selfish actions Christopher’s intentions were good and he managed to overcome antagonizing aspects of the story by exhibiting heroic attributes in pursuit of his goal.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story Christopher showed true courage. He confronted things that scare him and manages to overcome them. Some of these obstacles are due to his autistic condition. He fashions coping mechanisms that allow him to beat these fears and obstacles. “I pictured in my head a big red line across the floor which started at my feet and went through the tunnel… someone bumped into me and I made another noise like a barking dog, and they said, ‘Watch where the hell your going,’ but I just pretended they were one of the Guarding Demons” (Haddon 154).
Christopher’s heroism is also showed through his determination. While in the train on the way to London, Christopher is confronted with an overwhelming amount of information that consequently makes it extremely difficult for him to function. He is in a situation which causes immense claustrophobia he also is confronted by a policeman who is supposed to bring him back to his father. In this situation Christopher is forced into improvisation in order to beat the adverse situation that he was in. In this specific situation his autistic condition may have actually helped him to evade the police and come closer to achieving his goal of reaching his mother. “I saw that opposite the toilet were two shelves with cases and a rucksack on them and it made me think of the airing cupboard at home and how I climb in there sometimes and it makes me feel safe… I was shut in, and it was dark and there was no one in there with me and I couldn’t hear people talking so I felt much calmer and I was nice” (Haddon 163).
Christopher’s decision to evade the policeman may have been a selfish one, yet it was a decision that required great courage to make and brought him closer to his ultimate goal of reaching his mother.
As he travels Christopher does not give much thought to how his mother might perceive his arrival. One key aspect that divides Christopher’s story from that of a traditional hero is the fact that Christopher does not know whether his actions will is journeying to his mother without knowing whether his actions will induce a positive outcome. His character can truly be defined as heroic when we see the positive effects of his actions.
Gabe
Throughout the novel, Christopher demonstrated many strengths. First of all, he is indisputably smart. He is an unusually gifted mathematician, and takes the initiative to be the first student at his school to ever take the A-level test in mathematics. In the novel, Christopher speaks on why he could be an astronaut. He says,
ReplyDelete“To be a good astronaut you have to be intelligent and I’m intelligent. You also have to understand how machines work and I’m good at understanding how machines work. You also have to be someone who would like being on their own in a tiny space craft thousands and thousands of miles away from the surface of the earth” (Haddon 50).
Christopher’s intelligence is a strength that remains constant throughout the book. However, his inclination to always prefer solidarity does slightly change. For the first half of the story, Christopher is in his comfort zone. Once he discovers that his mother is alive and his father killed Wellington, he is forced to change his understanding of the world and take immediate action to leave his current situation. Since Christopher is someone who strongly prefers organization, familiarity, and consistency, this is an enormous problem for him. He thinks about being an astronaut again and realizes that he doesn’t like being so far from London since that is his home, and he doesn’t ever want to be far from his home. He struggles with unknown situations, and the trip from Swindon to London is entirely unknown and frightening for Christopher. He compares how he feels away from home with how he felt when he got a bad cut on his knee: “This hurt was inside my head. And it made me sad to think that I could never become an astronaut.” (Haddon 132). Christopher’s fear of the unknown is one of his biggest struggles, and it prevents him trying new things and sometimes from making progress. It also alienates him from other people, since he doesn’t like talking to new people.
By the end of the story though, Christopher does make it to London, finds his mother, and he and his father begin a process of getting to know each other again. These are three major steps that show that Christopher has changed throughout the story. He persevered through the unknown journey to London, which, before he left, was unimaginably frightening to him. He also is willing to spend some time with his father again , which goes against his logical outlook on life. He believed that since his father killed Wellington and lied about it, he was a bad, untrustworthy man who could kill him at any time. The fact that Christopher is willing to spend some small periods of time with his father shows that Christopher is capable of forgiving him, and I believe in time he will.
In the future, I think Christopher will be able to make similar progress, and continue his journeys into the unknown. He will continue the process he has barely begun of learning to understand other peoples’ feelings and actions; a process which has begun because he is going to try to get to know his father again. Maybe someday Christopher won’t mind venturing into outer space and living far from his home, as long as he knows home is always there.
Is Christopher a heroic character? I think this answer really depends on how you define a hero. When I looked up the definition of hero I found: “A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” The second one I found was: “The chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.” After reading the book and reading these definitions, I found that I can’t see Christopher as a hero.
ReplyDeleteThe first reason why I don’t find Christopher a hero is because he never shows “courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” The greatest achievement Christopher does in the book is taking a train to London and finds his mother. Which is a feat that people achieve every day, so to me, this is not a very outstanding achievement. Another reason is because Christopher shows no noble qualities. During his quest to find his mother, Christopher does it only out of personal gain, which isn’t noble. He also has little respect for other human beings: “…I had to go down the escalators…people were standing close to me and I wanted to hit them to make them go away but I didn’t hit them because of the caution” (Haddon 175). So Christopher only held back from hitting people out of fear of getting in trouble, not because he would feel bad for the other people, which is not noble.
Another reason why I find it hard to see Christopher as a hero is because of the second definition of a hero that I found. It says the reader is expected to sympathize with the hero, which is hard for me to do because of Christopher’s lack of empathy for other people. It makes it hard for me to feel bad for a person that can’t feel bad for me. So it is because of all these reasons that I can’t see Christopher as a heroic character.
And then I saw Toby, and he was also in the lower-down bit where the rails were, and I knew he was Toby because he was white and he had a brown egg shape on his back. So I climbed down off the concrete. And he was eating a bit of rubbish that was an old sweet paper. And someone shouted, ‘Jesus. What are you doing?’
ReplyDelete(Haddon 182)
This quote illustrates just how different Christopher is. At this point, Christopher’s only focused on Toby who is on the tracks—not what’s going on around him. As far as he’s concerned there’s no train and no people, just Toby. I think it’s safe to say that he thinks of his behavior as normal. However, the man who shouts at him knows better. To the stranger, Christopher is crazy. There is the same sort of reaction from the policeman Christopher interacts with as well.
Although there seems to be a different relationship between Christopher and the people he knows:
‘Christopher, I’m really, really sorry. About everything. About Wellington. About the letters. About making you run away. I never meant…I promise I will never do anything like that again. Hey. Come on, kiddo.’
And then he held up his right hand and spread his fingers out in a fan so that I could touch his fingers, but I didn’t because I was frightened.
And Father said, ‘Shit. Christopher, please.’
(Haddon 197)
In most cases people would try to forgive and forget, which is not the case for Christopher. Although Christopher’s father doesn’t make it a big deal that he won’t go along with him. Christopher’s father has become accustomed to his many quirks, and knows he can’t expect too much from him.
These two examples show how different behaviors are perceived by different people. The general rule taken from this novel seems to be, ‘different’ behaviors are accepted if and only if someone is used to them or knows someone who has the same quirks. But once a new behavior is brought into the picture the person acting differently is automatically considered weird. Shouldn’t people take more consideration before they judge? There was definitely more to Christopher than ‘meets the eye.’
Christopher Boone is a hero. Perhaps not a hero to many, perhaps not even a hero to me—but a hero all the same. Is he heroic because he’s flying from rooftops, fighting criminals, or shooting web from his wrists? No, Christopher is far from that old cliché--Christopher preserves the title of “hero” by being constantly, truly courageous. Throughout this novel Christopher accomplishes many new things that to us may seem trivial but to Christopher they are accomplishments to be rightly proud of. Also after reading the prompt for this post I began wondering that maybe a person with Christopher’s same disability would see him as more than that. Maybe they really would look at him as if he were a hero. Maybe there are people all over the world with this disability who have read this novel and are idolizing Chris’s heroism at this very moment. Let’s say there are. They (those people) are astounded by Christopher’s bravery. They wish that they could brave police officers and subways. They dream of running off to London on their own. They want to be detectives when they grow up—because hey—Christopher Boone did it. He did run off to London, he did threaten police officers with knives, he conquered the subway, and he solved the mystery of “Who Killed Wellington?”. I’d like to think that somewhere someone is being filled with inspiration thanks to Christopher Boone and his bravery. And although Christopher is around my age now and the things he’s accomplished seem childish to us “young adults” (whatever that means). I know that there was a time long ago where if I had heard of these things—I would have wanted to be just like Christopher. If my mother had read this story to me I would have had dreams about standing up to police officers, and hopping on “the tube” by myself, and stealing my parent’s credit card. Also I would wish that I could have my own little special place for the snacks that I bought when I went to the store solo. I’d be a hero.
ReplyDeleteThrough the duration of the book Christopher’s actions and thoughts seem normal and work in his head. Other characters around him in the book act differently than him, and react to things differently to him. People in the book usually find his actions peculiar, and sometimes get frustrated with his ruler straight answers and actions. As he describes people’s reactions toward him, the reader understands what the other character is thinking and feeling about Christopher. When Christopher reads the letters and finds out that his mother has not died, and really left him, he feels sick and actually becomes physically sick. When reading the letters and the stories about how his mother treated him as a child, you understand the mother’s reactions to her mentally disabled child. Although she may have been wrong to act the way she did, she did not find his actions normal. Like when he has those tantrums in the store while they are shopping, she cannot deal with them. To him it is completely normal to get angry and hide and scream on the floor because there were too many people. The readers see that the mom was embarrassed and does not want to be around him when he does that, even though for him, it seems right. Just random people around Christopher notice that his actions are different; and they think that he is weird. Like in the train when he is hiding in the suitcase rack, and man walks by and says “ ‘you are fucking weird, mate’ ” (Haddon 167). Although Christopher does not think he is acting strange he sees it at ordinary, everyone else around him thinks he is a freak. This comes to show how unaccepting the human race is to things that are a little different or weird. We automatically judge things that are not “normal” and try to keep ourselves as average as possible. When people do things the way Christopher does things, we think to ourselves, or even out loud how we don’t like it. Even though it most likely has not effect on us at all, just being around something that is “weird” scares us, and makes us feel uncomfortable. It something that the human race is so obsessed about, being normal and perfect, when really it’s the things about us that are “weird” that make us who we are.
ReplyDeleteI started to consider the question whether or not Christopher was truly a hero or not. At first I believed that he is not, but looked the word up just to clarify on my assumption. What I found on Dictionary.com was, “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” After reading this I would not consider him a hero.
ReplyDeleteChristopher did show much courage throughout the story. In the beginning he walked up to the dead dog and held it in his hands, he talked to many strangers around the neighborhood to try and find clues as to who killed Wellington, he traveled into the subway all by himself and made it to London and found his mother. The difference is that Christopher did not show many noble qualities.
I believe that a very important noble quality that should be found in any hero must be selflessness. Through the entire story I can’t remember any time that he truly showed selflessness. When trying to find out who killed Wellington it wasn’t for Mrs. Shears, it was just to be a detective. When he ran away to London it wasn’t for his mom, he did it because he was scared that his father killed Wellington and had no other options in his mind other than go to her. He never actually helped anyone, and whenever someone asked him to do something that he didn’t like, he screamed and threw a fit. Such as when his mother tells him that he will have to take his Math A Level test next year. This isn’t such a big deal because you still have the opportunity or taking it and it is much better than not getting to take it at all.
After you put all these reasons out, I can simply say that Christopher is not a hero. He does show much courage, but only at times when it benefits him and no one else. If it ever benefits anyone else it would be just out of coincidence, because he would do it for himself. His will and logical thinking doesn’t go into how others will feel or can feel.
In the beginning of the novel, I admit that I did not have much faith in Christopher. I thought that his neuroticisms would cripple him and prevent him from living a full, successful life. However, as the novel progressed, he displayed surprising tenacity and bravery, overcoming fears that could have paralyzed him.
ReplyDeleteChristopher demonstrated bravery when he was forced to overcome several of what he calls his “behavioral problems” (Haddon 46). For example, Christopher said that he does “not like being in really small places with other people,” but later he had to get onto a train (Haddon 46). “There were 11 people in the carriage and I didn’t like being in a room with 11 people in a tunnel.” (Hadddon 184) He prevailed over this neurosis by concentrating on the other things in the train carriage. So despite his fear, he managed to ride the train. If Christopher had not conquered his fear of being in enclosed spaces with other people, he would have been unable to ever travel, work in an office setting, or eat in a busy restaurant.
Christopher also refused to give up on the things that he wanted, even when they meant addressing his many shortcomings. He wanted to discover Wellington, the dog’s, killer, find his mother so he can live with her, and take his “math A-level.” In order to accomplish these things, he had to talk to strangers, be touched by other people, and overcome—at least in a small way—his fear of the color yellow. These phobias were not easy to conquer, but, in his own words, beating them: “means I can do anything” (Haddon 221). If Christopher had continued to let his life be dictated by the colors of passing cars and the presence of people he did not know, he never would have been able to pursue higher education or plan to live independently.
At the end of the book, Christopher sets himself a new and even more ambitious agenda. “I am going to pass it [Further Maths for A Level] and get an A grade. And in two years’ time I am going to take A-level physics and get an A grade. And then, when I’ve done that, I am going to go to university . . . and then I will get a First Class Honors degree and I will become a scientist” (Haddon 220-221). It would be easy to assume that someone with autism would have trouble achieving any of these aspirations, let alone all of them. Nevertheless, based on the strength he showed in meeting his initial goals, I have confidence that Christopher will achieve his dreams.
Throughout this novel Christopher Boone grows mentally in his ability to handle different circumstances. He starts out the book in complete fear of anything and anyone new in his world. He can't understand why people are the way that they are. In order to try to emulate them he comes up with his own set of reasons why he feels a particular way. For example in chapter forty seven he explains that he determines what type of day it is by the number of cars that he sees in a row while riding a bus to his school. In chapter 233 he is at his mothers home and he looks out his window to see whether or not the day will be a good day or a black day and finds that he can sit there all day and see many different combinations of cars going by and finds the system no longer works. He is not disturbed by this change and merely accepts it.
ReplyDeleteHe also has a great amount of fear of anything new or of moving to a new location. He is able to get over his fear and travels to London, alone, to escape his father and to find his mother again. This took a great amount of courage on his part particularly being able make it all the way there even with all of the sensory overload that he experienced.
Another time that we see Christopher growth is after finding out that his father had killed Wellington. After finding his mother in London he and her move back to his fathers house. He has complete terror of his father but over time he is able to over his father and is able get over his fear his father. I believe that this shows the greatest amount of growth. From going from complete terror of his father to being able to live with and trust him again is a huge thing.
Christopher's growth may seem small when compared to many other characters that you may read about in other books but it is still there. I believe that though Christopher may never be able to live on his own he will have a greater level of independence than he would have had he not experienced this adventure. I believe that, being as smart as he is he could eventually achieve his goal. To become an astronaut.
Matthew Diamond
ReplyDeletec)
Throughout the book “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time” Christopher exhibits characteristics many people would describe as heroic. He powers through many different obstacles that he would have avoided in the past. But when he went through most of these, was it because he was being heroic or was he just being logical. Because of his autism he thinks very logically and most of the uncomfortable situations he powered through because he saw logic in doing so.
Dicitonary.com defines heroic as being bold and dramatic; Christopher is being bold when he is is going on his journey to find his mother, but again this is because he is being logical. The gas behind the engine in his journey starts at page 131 when he creates a diagram to decide what would be the safest solution.
He goes on this entire trip because he logically thought that it would make sense for him to live with with his mother after he found that his father killed wellington. Christopher is not being heroic throughout the book. At times Christopher was uncomfortable and powered through. Many people would consider this to be heroic. But he wasn’t driven by sheer will, or a destiny as a hero is. He was driven by his logic. Doing things one does not feel comfortable with does not make a hero. Doing what needs to be done and fending for those who can not fend for themselves is heroic. Some people might say that Christopher is doing what he needs to do, in his mind, but doing what you see as what you need to do is not heroic. The heroism in doing what needs to be is not personal it is for the greater good, at least in the classical sense of the word.
While reading everyone's posts I found that a few ideas seem to show up again and again. One of these ideas was using the definition of hero found in a dictionary to prove whether or not he is a hero. The problem I see with doing this is that everyone's personal definition of what it takes to be a hero is different. And everyone has a concept of what it takes to be one. I also noticed that out of all these definitions none of them really captured what being a hero means for most people. Not a single one mentioned the act of helping other people or fighting for other people or anything like that. Some people may disagree, but to me a hero becomes a hero or at least at some point acts like a hero in order to protect others in some way. Whether on purpose or not a hero would do this. In the case of Christopher if he ever acts heroically in this manner then it is likely not on purpose. I believe this is because of his lack of ability to properly emphasize with people. I find it doubtful that someone who can not emphasize with others would go out of his or her way to help others. I believe this quality should be used to judge whether or not he is a hero in addition to the more definition based standards that were used.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason some people said Christopher was a hero was because he showed bravery in the story. I agree that he does show a great amount of bravery especially during his journey to find his mom. But I also feel as if there's more to being a hero than just being brave. After all, just about everyone is brave at some point in their life but does that mean they are all heroes? Going back to what I said before, I believe that there are many factors that need to come together in order to make someone a hero.
Josselyn
ReplyDeleteWhen reading others’ reasons to why or why not Christopher wasn’t a hero to them, I found that in her post, Ashley made a great point with her curiosity; did those who have a similar disability as Christopher see him a true hero once they finished the novel? It’s interesting to wonder, because while we have our reasons for why Christopher wasn’t a hero, was it because we were misunderstanding him? For instance some made the point that Christopher wasn’t a hero because when surrounded by strangers he didn’t respect them or care if he hurt them. But say that someone who had a similar disability to Christopher read the same passage would they think differently? I do agree that at some points in the novel, such as when Christopher is in the train station, I did think his thoughts to be rude and unreasonable, simply because that is my opinion. But perhaps when someone who had the same disability as Christopher read his adventure thought him as a brave and heroic person, for maybe if they had been in a similar situation they would have difficulty handling such drastic changes in their environment. I’m not saying that I agreed with everything that Christopher did, and yes at times I didn’t find what he was doing to be as hard as he thought, but maybe that is because I don’t know what it is like to be in Christopher’s shoes. I don’t share the same fears as he does or the same values because I am different. We all are, which brings me to a second idea that I liked when reading over everyone’s posts— being different.
Emily mentions in her blog her noticing of others thinking that Christopher is weird because to them his actions are odd, which makes him a freak; while to Christopher what he is doing is sensible. She is right in saying that our society is cruel in our desire to be perfect and “normal”—which someone once told me was just a setting on a washer machine not a personality label. We need to start realizing that our “weirdness” or rather “uniqueness” is what makes us different and have different opinions. It is what makes us special. Just because someone has different ideas from you, you shouldn’t think that you are better than them, because it’s not true; we are all equal and deserve to have our voices heard. Without our voices the world wouldn’t have people who cared about making it a better place. If we didn’t have different ideas, perhaps we wouldn’t have heroes or the role models that we all love so much and strive to be like, I know that I have many. Without my role models I don’t think I would be as motivated as I am in life. Without our heroes, we would live in a world where no one stuck up for what was right, where motivation didn’t exist and that would just be disappointing. Whether shooting webs out of their wrists or just finding out who killed their neighbor’s dog, heroes and ideals make the world go round.
I think that you can not say wether Christopher is a hero or not. If you were to look solely at his intentions then he looks like a hero but if you look at just the outcomes of then he looks more like the villain than a hero leaving problems were every he went. I believe that you have to way both intentions and outcomes to see if someone is really a hero. The way I see is it that someone how trips and accidentally pushes someone out of the way of a bus I don't consider them a hero and I don't think someone who tried to save that person but fail is a hero either. For them to be a hero in my book both the intentions and results must be there and in Christopher's case only the intentions are there.
ReplyDeleteMany times thought the book we find Christopher trying to help people but instead of get the desired outcome he ended up messing things up for someone and not helping as much as he may of liked. Many times he put pressure on this dad to have to keep an eye on him even when he couldn't be not following his rules and by betraying his trust. I know that he doesn't all ways think of things the way we might but he did know that this dad didn't want him to investigate the more dog more. These are the reason I don't believe he is a hero.
In Josselyn’s post she said, “Though we never saw Christopher rescuing a town from invading monsters, we did witness Christopher help many as he sought to seek the truth.” Although a fair number of people saw Christopher as a hero, some did not. I then asked myself, why? Christopher went far beyond what the average person would do to find the truth. He defied his father, traveled far from home, and in the end solved the murder of Wellington and more.
ReplyDeleteI think the main reason people didn’t all agree, was the fact we all have different ideas of what a hero is. Again back to Josselyn’s post, she gave an example of “rescuing a town from invading monsters,” and Hannah referred to “...those who save hundreds of lives and come flying in right before the bad guy is about to set a building on fire.” Neither of them are wrong, nor anyone else who gave an example. It’s all about perspective.
...I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.
(Haddon 221)
It definitely seems that Christopher thinks he’s somewhat of a hero, and I agree. Whether or not Christopher or anyone else is a hero to others, they’ll always be a hero in their own eyes.
I agree with how Simon said that Christopher was a hero. Hero: someone who shows great courage; all Christopher did was show great courage as he faced everything he feared to be away from his father. I also liked how Zoë drew a connection between selflessness and being a hero. She said maybe it was unfair that she connect the two. When she said that I was reminded of an episode of Friends (this is connected to my point- I swear). In the episode Joey points out that all Phoebes acts of niceness are selfish because she does them because it makes her feel good about herself. Phoebe tries all episode long to find something that is good to do for someone else, but doesn’t make her feel good, she doesn’t find anything. So, I don’t know if selflessness is part of being a hero. When we do something for someone else it makes us feel good about ourselves and that isn’t a bad thing but it makes it impossible for the action to be selfless.
ReplyDeleteBilly says that Christopher isn’t a hero because he never shows “courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities”. I, whole-heartedly and respectfully, disagree. Christopher show courage time and time again when he breaks through the patterns he has had for years and faces all his fears to reach his mother. As for outstanding achievements, this may be just my opinion, but I think the fact he got an A grade on his A-level maths is outstanding, how he found the train station, how he got to London, how he found his mothers flat, how he solved Wellingtons murder, and how he single-handedly brought his mother back into his life- I think all of those are outstanding achievements.
After reading everyone’s posts about whether or not Christopher is a hero, I notice that each side has good points to them. I found myself agreeing with Devon the most. In his post he explains; “To me a hero is someone who makes the world a better place for other people. The hero does this at a risk to his or her self. In addition to this the hero does what he or she does for the sake of others.” That is exactly how I feel about who is a hero. I believe that a hero is simply someone who is courageous along with selfless. The two must go hand in hand to actually own the title of ‘hero’.
ReplyDeleteHowever I can see the other side of the argument. Josselyn explains in her first paragraph how he had helped his mother and Wellington along with jumping into action once he found out his mother wasn’t actually dead. This is very true and the outcome of what happened was nice. And many other students state that his bravery was what made him a hero. He overcame his fears on many occasions throughout the story and really showed his capabilities to the reader.
After considering all of this it does make sense how for many reasons Christopher can and is considered a hero among others. But my original idea of a hero comes to pop up once again of how a hero is brave and willing to help others. He did help his mom, but only because he was scared and didn’t want to stay with his father. He never wanted to help her; he just knew that was a safe place to be. He was incredibly brave throughout the story and I do believe he has grown very much through it all, but he did not help others without expecting any beneficial response.
This is why I still believe that while Christopher deserves credit for much of what he has done and is an extraordinary character; I still do not believe him to be a hero.
I like the analogy Sydney made comparing Christopher's reaction to discovering his father had lied and the reaction of a police department that discovers one of its detectives has been compromised; finding out his father had lied to him changed everything for Christopher because his whole life revolves around discovering and understanding the truth of things, and a lot of the truth he knew was based on the assumption that his father was always honest with him. Everything he knew was called in to question. I don't have much to add to that; I just liked it a lot.
ReplyDeleteI also liked what Simon said about Christopher finding "an inner strength he didn't know he had before." I think this sums up why I consider Christopher a hero; he was able to overcome a lot of obstacles (admittedly, most of which were in his head) to make his journey, and by sharing his story, he has inspired others to do the same. If he just did the journey part, not the sharing part, I'm not sure that would make him a hero on it's own; I think what makes him a hero is a combination of the courage he showed and the fact that that courage has the potential to inspire others to be better people. This is connected to what Ashley said in her post about people with similar disabilities (potentially) idolizing Christopher; I don't know if anyone actually has, but the potential is definitely there.
Obviously, some of us were more inspired by Christopher than others. Billy, for instance, was unable to sympathize with him because of his lack of empathy for other people, which I understand; he is not an entirely likable character. However, I think to be a hero, you really just need one person to consider one, and since several of us do consider Christopher to be a hero, Christopher IS a hero.
Matt Diamond
ReplyDeleteOut of all or the responses I find myself agreeing with Jared the most. When first writing my response I didn't stop to think about the trail Christopher leaves behind him because of his actions. He seems to create far more problems than he solves, sometime even for himself. Some of these problems come from his logic and what he believes he should be doing at that exact moment in time. For example the policeman in the train station. If he had just stayed with the policeman on the train he could have still possibly lived with his mother. But he decided to cause problems for the officer by leaving him. There are not many times in the book when Christopher is doing this intentionally. One time when is does is when he leaves his Dad because he believes it is not safe; but if he had stopped and talked it out with his Father the problems might have been solved faster. Altogether I very much agree with Jared that he tends to cause more problems than he creates which does not help one become a hero.
While reading the comments people left, I found myself struck by a couple of them. The first one was by Simon, in which he says that Christopher is a hero because a hero is defined as “one who shows great courage”. If that were the only definition of being a hero then I would completely agree, he did show much courage to overcome obstacles that were hard for someone with his condition to undertake. But as Chad said in his comment: “The difference is that Christopher did not show many noble qualities…a very important noble quality…must be selflessness…” I agree with Chad completely. Christopher does show great courage, but does this make him a hero? Does he do it for the good of another individual, or for himself? As Chad and Devon said in their posts, Christopher did all of his courageous acts for himself. Devon pointed it out perfectly when he said that Christopher cannot show empathy to other people, so doesn’t think about how other people are feeling and so doesn’t do anything for other people. So I agree with Simon that Christopher did show great courage, but courage is not the only characteristic of a hero.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Sydney’s response to my post, I agree that all that Christopher did was courageous, but disagree by saying what he did was not noble or outstanding. When he got A in math, was because he is good at math…I don’t think it makes him noble or gives him the right to be a hero. If someone makes an outstanding chair in shop class, does that make them a hero? In my opinion what someone is good at, does not make them a hero. And the journey to find his mother was because he can’t understand why his father killed a dog…and out of fear for himself. The fact that he boarded a train and travelled for an hour was not that astounding achievement to me; children take airplanes and trains by themselves all of the time. This makes him courageous, not a hero. I think that this debate is so controversial is because everyone is using a different definition for hero. Some say being a hero is just being courageous; others say that it is being noble along with courage. I agree with people that Christopher is courageous, but that doesn’t make him a hero.
I feel like we all have either overrated or underrated the label of hero. To me, I have places heroes on a very high pedestal, which is one of the reasons I don't find Christopher a hero. Like it is said above, he seems to have created more problems than he had solved throughout the novel. I think since the ending of the book is a happy one the bad decisions he made to get him to that ending are overlooked.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the list of qualifications to be a hero that we have made are interesting. I like what Billy said about how if someone shows courage doesn't make them a hero- it makes them courageous. I think we are also sort of giving Christopher special treatment because of his disability. I wouldn't get an applause for making my way through a subway or figuring out who killed my neighborhood dog. Would Christopher want this special treatment? Some people have also discussed that Christopher seems to only do things for himself, not for others. I sort of doubt he would have made his way through the train station for someone else.
After reading many of these comments a few things in particular stuck out to me. The first was the idea that to be a hero selflessness was generally required or expected. I think we typically assume that a hero is completing a difficult task because he is acting to help others, but I think we underestimate the rewards the hero gets upon completing his task. Let’s say there is a monster in a village and a "hero" agrees to kill this monster. I suppose that at first it may seem as though he is sacrificing his safety for the safety of the village without the monster. But if you look closer it becomes clear that the hero benefits as well. Besides getting a lifetime of glory and fame the hero gets to live without the monster as well. For all we know, safety of the village could have been just an added bonus in the mind of the hero. I think my point is that we never really know the motivation behind a hero's actions. Christopher is not less of a hero because he benefited from his actions.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I also found Hannah's ideas very interesting. She said that because the book has a happy ending the fact that Christopher's actions cause problems are overlooked. This is true, but I don't think it stops him from being a hero. Plenty of "real hero's" make mistakes as well. I would even go so far as to say that making mistakes is a requirement of being a hero, as mistakes are usually how people learn. Another thing I found interesting was the idea that we are giving Christopher special treatment because of his disability. I think this may be true, but often in a hero's story his disability is actually his superpower, and of course we treat superpowers specially. I bet plenty of superhero’s were made fun of when they could lift things that were clearly too heavy to lift. In this case, Christopher’s superpower is his need to always tell the truth. I also think that a hero can't exist without overcoming something, in Christopher's case he overcame the limitations that autism created for him.
I think Hannah brings up a very interesting point about Christopher not being a hero. She also says that we are giving him special treatment and therefore he seems like a hero. But shouldn’t we give people with disabilities different treatment, shouldn’t we try to see what’s life is like in there shoes? I think being a hero depends a lot on the circumstance, and in Christopher’s he has a disability. That changes a lot of factors for being a hero, and he did things that most of the time didn’t feel right for him. He does have Asperger’s and so we should look at his story and think about whether he is a hero differently. He shows courage overcoming his very large fears to many things in the world. If it were a person without a disability we might just overlook that they went in a train alone to a new place, but for Christopher it was a huge feat. I also like what Ashley said that maybe his heroism would be an aspiration to other kids elsewhere with disabilities. I completely agree that Christopher showed that although overcoming your fears can be extremely difficult that it is possible, and other people can do it as well. Over all for Christopher’s circumstance he showed extreme courage and could be an inspiration to many, therefore making him a hero in many eyes.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to begin by acknowledging the point that Billy made about my previous comment. Indeed, my definition of “hero” does seem a bit narrow. However, I heartily disagree with everyone that claims that Christopher is not a hero. Hannah is one of those people: “I think we are also sort of giving Christopher special treatment because of his disability. I wouldn't get an applause for making my way through a subway or figuring out who killed my neighborhood dog. Would Christopher want this special treatment?” I disagree that Christopher gets “special treatment” here. He is being treated the same way any other hero-candidate is: by considering the challenges they face to reach their goal. Aside from the courage component, it must be stated that a hero can be many things. All this “lifting bridges and flying through the air” stuff is fine and all, but it seems that we are forgetting the essential core of what a hero is. A hero is one that is worthy of admiration for their accomplishments in the face of great adversity. Zoë puts worded it nicely: “…what makes him a hero is a combination of the courage he showed and the fact that that courage has the potential to inspire others to be better people”. A hero does what they need to do and faces their challenges with bravery and, as I said, a degree of inner strength that is rarely found. Emily poses the essential question here: “…shouldn’t we give people with disabilities different treatment, shouldn’t we try to see what’s life is like in there shoes?”
ReplyDeleteNext, I think that some of us need to take a good, hard look in the mirror. In more than one case, I have read about a supposed “trail” that Christopher leaves behind him. Clearly, the point of the book has not reached everyone yet. Let’s take a look at a quote from Matt:
ReplyDelete“…I didn't stop to think about the trail Christopher leaves behind him because of his actions. He seems to create far more problems than he solves, sometime even for himself. Some of these problems come from his logic and what he believes he should be doing at that exact moment in time. For example the policeman in the train station. If he had just stayed with the policeman on the train he could have still possibly lived with his mother. But he decided to cause problems for the officer by leaving him…he tends to cause more problems than he creates which does not help one become a hero”.
The implication here is that Christopher is inconsiderate and goes out of his way to cause trouble for everyone around him. First off, we all make mistakes—don’t fool yourself into thinking that you don’t. Even the mightiest of idols do things that cause trouble for others. Secondly, many of the problems of the story are not his doing. It was not entirely because of Christopher that his mother left his father, for example—it was also because she was cheating on her husband at the same time! The example presented here is a good case of someone not considering his motivation. Keep in mind that his father was lying to him about the fact that his mother died, recently killed a dog with a pitchfork, and was being pursued by the police to bring him back. The last thing on his mind was to try and make the cop’s job harder; he was just trying to get to somewhere he felt was safer. It is also necessary to consider one of the main symptoms of autism: lack of empathy. Christopher isn’t hardwired to consider the feelings of others, and so it follows that it is hard for him to envision the challenges his actions may present to others. To me, it seems as though he is being blamed for something he has no control over—even autistics that practice such skills work their whole lives to keep it up. Lastly, since when does creating problems negate the “hero” status? A president could cause all sorts of damage while in office, but still be championed by his supporters nonetheless. (I’m not actually referring to anyone in particular here.)
And in final response, some of us face these travails every day—people like me. So many people in this world are wrapped up in their preconceived notions of how people should think, or how they should act. Maybe THEY should try showing a little empathy every now and again! Consider how we feel when autistics and our own accomplishments are dismissed like this.
--SP
I really think it's interesting to hear our differences in what we think should be the characteristics of a hero. I like Hannah’s frank comment about Christopher not being a hero at all, adding that he receives “special treatment” because of his disability. That could be all too true. Perhaps we all just romanticized some inspirational story because we think it will give us the highest grade. Maybe we all chose that prompt thinking it would be the easiest (I totally did) and decided to say he was some terrific hero so that we could look like genuine good-hearted people. Who knows? I can’t say that I fully agree with Hannah, but I can see where she’s coming from.
ReplyDeleteThen there are some who seem to truly believe that Christopher has what it takes to be a hero. I like what Emily brought up about it being based on circumstance: “Over all for Christopher’s circumstance he showed extreme courage and could be an inspiration to many, therefore making him a hero in many eyes.” I completely agree with that and raise it with one smashing example: My cat Pippin was making the alarm on my clock go off the other day because he was trying to scratch his face with it. It made me stop playing Final Fantasy XII long enough to see what time it was. I was going to be late for work. I would have been much later had he not put his fat face on my clock. Does that make him a hero? I definitely said thank you and promised him that I wouldn’t make fun of his fat anymore. He didn’t show courage, he was just itchy, but in my circumstance he was a hero.
I found Chad's comment very interesting. After reading other's comments I agreed with them in that Christopher was a hero in his own special way. He achieved many things and showed courage throughout the book. However, while reading Chad's comment I realized that he was also right. Christopher never seemed to go out of his way to be kind, selfless, and help out others. Along with Chad’s examples such as Christopher only finding out about Wellington’s death for his own pleasure of accomplishment, and going to live with his mom not for her benefit but his own, I also found some other examples of Christopher being particularly selfish. Throughout the book you can tell the Christopher’s dad really cared and understood Christopher. He set down ground rules to keep him safe, and always knew what got Christopher upset and what made him happy. Christopher’s dad always tried to do what was best for Christopher and Christopher never really understood, realized, or was very thankful for that. “And Father shouted, ‘Wrote to him? What the fuck use is writing to him?’ And Mr Shears shouted. ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’ ‘And Father shouted, ‘I cooked his meals. I cleaned his clothes. I looked after him every weekend. I looked after him when he was ill. I took him to the doctor. I worried myself sick every time he wandered off somewhere at night. I went to school every time he got into a fight. And you? What? You wrote him some fucking letters’” (Haddon 196). Christopher heard this whole thing, and even if, lived with his father and was able to see this all his life but he so quickly went to his mother instead of trying to forgive and even in the smallest way understand that his father did not tell him about Wellington and his mother for his own good. He refused to accept that his father was only trying to look out for him. However right after I wrote this I read Simon’s comment. I then realized that it is so hard to call someone a “hero” or “not a hero”. Everyone has his or her own opinions and ideas on what a “hero” may be, and sometimes you can’t just call someone a hero just based off a dictionary definition. So I guess I would say Christopher is neither a hero nor not a hero. Christopher is a young talented boy who has a lot to learn but also has time to take what he has learned and accomplish great things.
ReplyDeleteThough I chose to focus of the changes Christopher experienced from start to finish in this book, I have to say that many of your opinions and ideas of Christopher’s questionable heroic qualities were very interesting. The book is defiantly written in a way that makes us see Christopher in a heroic light even though he may not outwardly appear as a hero, the issues Christopher struggles with throughout sure do make him seem like one. As Billy said “The greatest achievement Christopher does in the book is taking the train to London and finds his mother.” From an outside point of view, this is really not something to write a book about. I had no issue leaving home for a semester and going to the Himalayas for almost four months and as Billy pointed, hundreds of people ride the train to London everyday. Christopher seems like a hero because we are there to experience his thought process through these events and once again experience a whole other way of looking at the world through Christopher. Everyone has their own thing which makes them nervous or scared. To other people it may seem silly and stupid but it doesn’t matter because to that person it is real. We can all learn this lesson from Christopher, all of us would have no problem but Christopher did and he faced some of his most terrifying fears. Christopher’s actions do not make him a hero on the outside but clearly he struggled a lot to get though them and it took a lot of strength and perseverance to get there. He faced some of his most terrifying fears which is a very commemorable feat and lived through them. In Billy’s deffinition he said “A person, typically a man, who is idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities”. To people like you and me, Christopher is not a hero, but when you think of a fear equivalent to Christopher’s and how much it would take for you to overcome that fear you understand just what Christopher went through. In this way, I think there are valid points in both what Billy and Simon have to say: while Christopher’s actions are not that impressive at all, when you convert them to something that would upset us it is easier to understand the reasons why Christopher is a hero. “Imagine being at a concert- sitting directly next to the band while they’re playing- and you’ll imagine what hypersensitivity is like” (Simon).
ReplyDeleteI have to say that some of the people making the argument that Christopher is not a hero quite interesting. I can see why people could view Christopher as not being a hero. This conversation about being a hero and not being a hero brought back a memory of something that was introduced to us a few year back. The heroes journey. There are twelve elements to the heroes journey: The ordinary world, call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting the mentor, crossing the threshold, tests, approach, ordeal
ReplyDeletereward, the road back, resurrection, and return. I believe that Christopher goes through most if not all of these different elements of a heroes journey. To take a few as examples: The call to adventure is where Christopher finds the dog dead and decides to peruse finding the person who did it. Another example is the ordeal where Christopher has to travel through the subway stations and through London. The reward is where Christopher completes his A level tests. The return is where Christopher is able to trust his father again.
If you look at the heroes journey model you see that even though you may not see that Christopher is a hero he matches the format of a hero laied down by the heroes journey. So I believe that in order to accurately make the decision whether or not Christopher is a hero must come down to whether you are talking about the technical definition or are talking about what you truly believe I believe myself now that I have read through what others have said that I agree that Christopher isn't a hero because he didn't complete a monumental task and he did create more problems then he fixed. Though if you are looking at the heroes journey model then yes Christopher is a hero.
It is true that Christopher does cause hardship for others in his heroic pursuits. When he evades the policeman on the train he is forcing the policeman he is inconveniencing him. Many people brought up the idea that Christopher is not a hero because he creates problems. This is true, he does cause unrest and trepidation in his journey. But I think that his goals and the final outcome outweigh the problems that he creates.
ReplyDeleteThe positive are greater than the negatives. In the story Christopher confronts fears and hardships in his life, many of these specific to him and his disability. Hannah mentioned that we give him special treatment and view his successes differently, but I would question why we wouldn't applaud his courage in his situations. It is not unjust to view those with disabilities in a different light, I would say it is better to view them that way. It is true that the actions of Christopher would not be heroic if performed by anyone. But what is key, is that Christopher was overcoming obstacles, even if they were specific to him.
We are not coddling him, but making necessary adjustments in our human calculations of his actions judge his actions against the limitations of his disability.
I also agree that with those like Simon and Zoe who discussed aspects of Christopher’s character that they found to be heroic. The essence of Christopher’s heroism I believe lie s in his “degree of inner strength” and his courage that “has the potential to inspire others to be better people.”