The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon) (1 Viewer)

6James6

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Hey, we've been assigned to pick one section of a book/poem/play whatever, to analyze in regards to the concept of belonging.

The main reasons why i picked this book is that i enjoy reading it, and i think it explores these concepts in depth, however i cannot express this in words at the moment.

Here is an extract from the book

"I think I would make a very good astronaut.
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 spacecraft thousands and thousands of miles away from the surface of the earth and not panic or get claustrophobia or homesick or insane.
And I like really little spaces, so long as there is no one else in them with me. Sometimes when I want to be on my own I get into the airing cupboard in the bathroom and slide in beside the boiler and pull the door closed behind me and sit there and think for hours and it makes me feel very calm.
So I would have to be an astronaut on my own, or have my own part of the spacecraft which no one else could come into.
And also there are no yellow things or brown thins in a spacecraft so that would be OK, too.
And I would have to talk to other people from Mission Control, but we would do that through a radio link-up and a TV monitor so they wouldn´t be like real people who are strangers, but it would be like playing a computer game.
Also I wouldn´t be homesick at all because I´d be surrounded by lots of the thins I like , which are machines and computers and outer space. And I would be able to look out of a little window in the spacecraft and know that there was no one else near me for thousands and thousands of miles which is what I sometimes pretend at night in the summer when I go and lie on the lawn and look up at the sky and I put my hands round the sides of my face so that I can´t see the fence and the chimney and the washing line and I can pretend I´m in space.
And all I could see would be stars. And stars are the places where the molecules that life is made of were constructed billions of years ago. For example, all the iron in your blood which stops you being anaemic was made in a star.
And I would like it if I could take Toby with me into space, and that might be allowed because they sometimes do take animals into space for experiments, so if I could think of a good experiment you could do with a rat that didn´t hurt the rat, I could make them let me take Toby.
But if they didn´t let me I would still go because it would be a Dream Come True."

I believe that this extract explores his alienation from society, but it is apparant that he does not care, and has worked around this disconnection, creating a sense of security within his own mind.

I'm also wondering if belonging can be achieved through your own thoughts, not necassarily on how you fit in/dont fit in, with society.


Sorry for any spelling errors!
 
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Tsukiyomi Shiki

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Well, I guess it boils down to how well you can link this related text to your prescribed text. But I guess you can say Christopher 'belongs' to his family, mother in particular, as he makes a very daunting journey (at least for him lol) to London to find his mother. His father alienates him from his mother? Not too sure if that sounds right.

I haven't read that book in a while, but it was a pretty humorous read.
 

6James6

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We don't actually have to relate this text to our prescribed text for this upcoming task. I am now thinking of interperiting this extract towards the "not-belonging" concept, mainly due to the fact that he states he likes being alone, and in small spaces, very far away from society.

Comments?
 

Planck

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The curious incident

of the jew

in the oven

belonging
 

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