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Chapter 67
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 thinks that all the other students at his school are stupid, even though he’s supposed to say that they have special needs. He doesn’t like this rule, because he thinks that everyone has special needs, like wearing glasses. Besides, kids from the other school try to insult him and his classmates by yelling, “Special needs!” at them.
Christopher again shows that he thinks himself better than his fellow students. Furthermore, he doesn’t subscribe to the societal narrative that some people are “normal” while people like him are “special.” Instead, everyone has their oddities, and none are any more remarkable than others.
Themes
Christopher is going to prove his intelligence by getting a top grade on the Maths A level exam, a university qualifying exam. His father had to argue with the principal, Mrs. Gascoyne, to get her to allow Christopher to take it. Christopher plans that he and his father will move somewhere where he can go to university, and then he’ll get a job and find someone to look after him.
Christopher has ambitious plans for his future. He’s very realistic about what he can handle, in that he doesn’t imagine living alone and being completely independent. It’s clear, however, that he’s going outside the realm of what’s expected of him as an autistic student, and he faces additional challenges because of others’ assumptions about his abilities.
Themes
