Chapter 83

Christopher has a dream of becoming an astronaut and considers that he would be good at it considering he is intelligent, likes small spaces, and understands machines. While the associated isolation may be a hindrance to others, Christopher views this as welcoming.

Chapter 83 Quotes

I think I would make a very good astronaut. To be a good astronaut you have to be intelligent and I’m intelligent. Chapter 83

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 behind me and sit there and think for hours and it makes me feel very calm. Chapter 83

Chapter 89

At school, Christopher tells Siobhan that the book is finished as he can’t do detective work anymore. He shows her the book and she encourages him, saying the book is really good and that there are many books that are short that are also good such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. This response is typical of Siobhan’s caring and considerate nature and demonstrative of her having formed a trusting relationship with Christopher. Christopher is driven by a sense of justice and community safety. He has two black days in a row after which he doesn’t speak to anyone.

Chapter 89 Quotes

And she said that was like life, and not all murders were solved and not all murderers were caught. Like Jack the Ripper. I said I didn’t like the idea that the murderer was still At Large. I said I didn’t like to think that the person who killed Wellington could be living somewhere nearby and I might meet him when I went out for a walk at night. Chapter 89

Chapter 97

Based on the sight of five red cars in a row Christopher believes it will be a good day, so when he sees Mrs Alexander at the shop he is willing to follow her into the park to chat. He overcomes his fears of strangers, knowing it would be considered wrong to follow her to the park, and shows some of his trademark honesty in telling her he doesn’t trust her. Mrs Alexander is impressed with Christopher as he tells her he is taking his A levels, once again showing how important these are to him. She makes Christopher promise that he won’t tell his father that they spoke and reveals to him that Christopher’s mother had an affair with Roger Shears.

Chapter 97 Quotes

So because it was a Super Good Day I decided to walk into the park with Mrs. Alexander even though it scared me. Chapter 97

And she said, ‘No, Christopher. I’m not sure that you do. I mean that they were very good friends. Very, very good friends.’ (Mrs Alexander to Christopher) Chapter 97

Chapter 101

The psychologist, Mr Jeavons, suggests Christopher likes mathematics because it is straightforward, unlike life. Christopher disagrees that math problems always have straightforward answers, and uses the Monty Hall problem as proof. In the problem a mathematician, Marilyn vos Savant, published a response to a game show scenario regarding three doors in which two were hiding goats and one, a car. The contestant chose a door and the game show host opened one of the other doors, revealing a goat. The question was, should the contestant change their choice or leave it? Vos Savant said she should change, and the public ridiculed her, but in a complicated mathematical formula, she proved she was right. To Christopher, this showed that numbers aren’t as simple as people think. It showed that although there is much logic in Christopher’s world, it can also be complicated, and the events of the dead dog and the information it has revealed was proving that following logic can be complicated.

Chapter 101 Quotes

And this shows that intuition can sometimes get things wrong. And intuition is what people use in life to make decisions. But logic can help you work out the right answer. It also shows that Mr. Jeavons was wrong and numbers are sometimes very complicated and not very straightforward at all. Chapter 101

Chapter 103

When Christopher arrives home from the shop his father is having dinner with a workmate, Rhodri, who frequently laughs at Christopher’s strange behaviour. Christopher doesn’t understand that Rhodri is just being friendly, and decides to sit in the garden and write down all the details he experiences. His detail and use of all his senses gives an insight into how Christopher views the world.

Chapter 103 Quotes

I don’t like it when Rhodri laughs at me. Rhodri laughs at me a lot. Father says it is being friendly. Chapter 103

Chapter 107

Christopher discusses one of his favourite books, The Hound of the Baskervilles. He likes the story because it’s about solving a puzzle and is full of red herrings, clues that prove to be irrelevant. Christopher especially appreciates Sherlock Holmes, finding similarities with himself that he takes to mean he would also make an excellent detective. He thinks they can both focus on something to the exclusion of all other distractions like when Christopher plays chess. He also thinks they are both very intelligent. Christopher’s positive assessments of himself are modest in that he simply tells what he believes to be true and is not bragging.

Chapter 107 Quotes

And I don’t know what ‘some hardness, perhaps of eye’ means, and I’m not interested in faces. Chapter 107

‘The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.’
But he notices them, like I do. Also it says in the book:
‘Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will.’And this is like me, too, because if I get really interested in something, like practicing maths, or reading a book about the Apollo missions or great white sharks, I don’t notice anything else and Father can be calling me to come and eat my supper and I won’t hear him. Chapter 107

Chapter 109

Siobhan is caringly concerned for Christopher when she reads what he has written about his mother and Mr Shears. She does suggest that he doesn’t discuss this with his father and offers to be willing to listen or help if he has any questions. Christopher’s logic protects him once again as he figures because he believes his mother is dead there is no need for questions.

Chapter 109 Quotes

And I replied, ‘But I don’t feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr Shears isn’t around anymore. So I would be feeling sad about something that isn’t real and doesn’t exist. And that would be stupid.’ Chapter 109

Chapter 113

Christopher outlines the way his mind works and how it is different from other people’s thought processes. Christopher describes his mind much like a computer, with memories stored like files he can search through and retrieve. He remembers things exactly as they occurred, with all the details, as if he was watching a film. He can rewind and compare events in the past to what he is seeing to decide if he knows someone or if someone lying on the ground is having an epileptic fit or not. Other people, Christopher observes, have ideas in their minds of things that haven’t actually happened; his mother used to imagine herself living in France and Siobhan pictures herself on vacation on Cape Cod. Sometimes people ask Christopher what his mother would think about certain things, but he thinks this is ridiculous because she’s dead and can’t think.

Chapter 113 Quotes

My memory is like a film. Chapter 113

Other people have pictures in their heads, too. But they are different because the pictures in my head are all pictures of things which really happened. But other people have pictures in their heads of things which aren’t real and didn’t happen. Chapter 113

Chapter 127

Christopher’s book, which had been primarily for school, contains many secrets and although he had been writing for an audience, he couldn’t comprehend what might happen if his father were to read the book. After all, it shows that he has been disobedient, and that he now knows about his mother’s affair. When Christopher’s father reads the book, finding it left on the kitchen table, he furiously grabs Christopher and Christopher hits his father repeatedly. Ed throws the book into the trash outside.

Chapter 127 Quotes

This is what Siobhan says is called a rhetorical question. It has a question mark at the end, but you are not meant to answer it because the person who is asking it already knows the answer. It is difficult to spot a rhetorical question. Chapter 127

I found it hard to work out what to say because I was starting to get scared and confused. Chapter 127

Father had never grabbed hold of me like that before. Mother had hit me sometimes because she was a very hot-tempered person, …. But Father was a more levelheaded person, .. he didn’t get angry as quickly and he didn’t shout as often. So I was very surprised when he grabbed me. Chapter 127

Chapter 131

In a digression from the seriousness of the events occurring, and a glimpse into how Christopher’s mind works, he now writes about the different colours he likes. He is torn between knowing that logically there is no difference in colour but has an aversion to yellow or brown.

Chapter 131 Quotes

Mrs Forbes said that hating yellow and brown is just being silly. And Siobhan said that she shouldn’t say things like that and everyone has favourite colours. And Siobhan was right. But Mrs Forbes was a bit right, too. Chapter 131

Chapter 137

Ed takes Christopher to the zoo to apologise for grabbing him. He explains that he shouldn’t have grabbed him but that he doesn’t want Christopher getting into trouble by poking around in other people’s business. He places his fingertips on Christopher’s in the gesture they have agreed on, and Christopher accepts the apology, telling his father that he knows he is loved by him. Christopher uses a logic to experience the love, that is, if someone loves you they tell the truth and do things for you. Ed fulfils both of these criteria. The idea of truth is important here as when Christopher finds out that his father has lied to him about his mother’s death, it is logically a sign to Christopher that his father doesn’t really love him. This contributes to Christopher’s fear and mistrust of Ed.

Chapter 137 Quotes

And I said ‘Yes,’ because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father […] always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me. Chapter 137

Chapter 139

In this chapter, Christopher discusses one of the principles that he follows: Occam’s razor, a law that says that ‘no more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary’. To Christopher, this means that ‘murderers tend to know their victims, fairies don’t exist, and you can’t talk to the dead’.

Chapter 139 Quotes

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary. Which means that a murder victim is usually killed by someone known to them and fairies are made out of paper and you can’t talk to someone who is dead. Chapter 139