The curious incident of the dog in the Night-Time

Quote #1: “Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being. “ Albert Camus

“…carrying a book in his hand and he said ‘You look lost.’ So I took out my Swiss Army knife.” (Haddon 171) In this quote Christopher feels threatened and scared. He is flustered from being away from home and is not used to his normal routine. He is turning to acts of rebellion and violence when he is an innocent boy. He is confused about the situation being presented to him and pulls out his Swiss Army knife, which is how this quote relates to Camus’s quote. Instead of being reasonable he results to rebellion in a time when rebellion is not the answer.

“I killed Welling, Christopher…I guess in the end… I think she cared more for that bloody dog than for me, for us (Haddon 121). In this quote, Christopher’s father is telling Christopher how he killed Mrs. Shear’s dog Wellington. His father killed Wellington with a garden fork out of pure anger. This quote relates to the one from Albert Camus because his father was expressing nostalgia for innocence through rebellion. He didn’t truly want Wellington dead; he wanted to be happy with his son.

“I make this noise when there is too much information coming into my head…The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him (Haddon 8). In this quote, Christopher is being question by a police officer and gets over whelmed. Christopher does not like to be touched, and when the police officer touched his he sprung into action. He punched the police officer because of the spur of the moment, not because he is a bad child. This quote relates to Camus’ because Christopher shows his innocence even in a moment of rebellion. Christopher is a peaceful person who did not mean harm to anyone.

“And when I was asleep I had one of my favorite dreams… And in the dream nearly everyone on the earth is dead…” (Haddon 96) In this quote, Christopher is saying that sometimes he wishes everyone on earth were dead. Throughout the book, Christopher often wishes to be alone and free from anybody. This quote relates to Camus’ because while being rebellious and wishing for everyone to be dead, he is innocent because he only wishes for a calm and relaxing place. This is why Christopher had brought up a couple of times that he wanted to be an astronaut. He wants a surreal feeling from being alone and at peace with himself.

“I had never felt more hate for a person than I had now, I hated him.” (Haddon 106) Christopher is describing his feelings towards his father in this quote. He had discovered that not only had his father killed Wellington, but he was lying about Christopher’s mother. He was feeling extreme anger towards his dad and didn’t even feel safe near him, so he ran away. This quote is similar to Camus’ because while being rebellious, he is doing the right thing by not trusting his father. It wasn’t right for Christopher’s father to keep him in the dark, and Christopher had a right to be furious.