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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Growing Up
Trust
Truth, Love, and Safety
Logic vs. Emotion
Perspective and the Absurdity of the World
Summary
Analysis
Christopher takes the pitchfork out of the dog and hugs him. He likes dogs because they’re easy to understand and they don’t tell lies. Mrs. Shears runs out of her house in a panic, cursing and yelling at Christopher to let go of her dog. When he does so, she sees what’s happened to Wellington and screams more. Christopher doesn’t like people shouting, so he closes his ears with his hands and rolls into a ball on the grass.
This chapter demonstrates the difference between Christopher’s perspective and that of other people. While he stays perfectly calm at first, Mrs. Shears practically goes into hysterics. Christopher becomes much more upset about her screaming than about the dead dog, and responds by attempting to block out all external stimuli. His comment on the virtues of dogs also introduces the importance that he places upon truth.
Themes
