“Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”- William of Ockham. Occam’s razor; A principle in latin which translates to “No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary” (90). In the novel ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time’ by Mark Haddon, the main character named Christopher Boone is a high functioning mathematical savant. It is stated in the back of the book that he “has no understanding of human emotions.” This is false. Christopher has the capability to understand some human emotions, but to what extent Christopher understands human emotions is unknown due to his limited understanding of other people 's emotions as well as what he states he has felt in the novel.
To feel emotions is …show more content…
To stay true to the novel, it should be rewritten as “Christopher has an ambiguous understanding of human emotions.” His understanding is demonstrated when he first met Siobhan when he is seven years old and she drew him several different facial expressions. “When I first met Siobhan, she showed me this picture and I knew that it meant ‘sad’... and I knew that it meant ‘happy’... she drew some other pictures but I was unable to say what these meant”(2-3). Christopher can also understand when someone is angry, usually when they are shouting. “Father banged the steering wheel with his fist... and he shouted, ‘I said leave it, for God’s sake.’ I could tell he was angry” (21). What makes measuring the extent of his understanding difficult is that there are times he cannot tell when someone is angry with him. “[Father] said, ‘What is this?’ But he said it very quietly and I didn’t realize he was angry because he wasn’t shouting.” (81). “Mr. Shears came into my room and woke me up...and he said, ‘You think you’re so f*cking clever, don’t you. Don’t you ever,ever think about other people for one second, eh? Well I bet you’re really pleased with yourself now, aren 't you’”(207). This shows that Christopher can fully understand some emotions, sometimes interpret others, and not understand some entirely, usually other peoples, making it his understanding
To feel emotions is …show more content…
To stay true to the novel, it should be rewritten as “Christopher has an ambiguous understanding of human emotions.” His understanding is demonstrated when he first met Siobhan when he is seven years old and she drew him several different facial expressions. “When I first met Siobhan, she showed me this picture and I knew that it meant ‘sad’... and I knew that it meant ‘happy’... she drew some other pictures but I was unable to say what these meant”(2-3). Christopher can also understand when someone is angry, usually when they are shouting. “Father banged the steering wheel with his fist... and he shouted, ‘I said leave it, for God’s sake.’ I could tell he was angry” (21). What makes measuring the extent of his understanding difficult is that there are times he cannot tell when someone is angry with him. “[Father] said, ‘What is this?’ But he said it very quietly and I didn’t realize he was angry because he wasn’t shouting.” (81). “Mr. Shears came into my room and woke me up...and he said, ‘You think you’re so f*cking clever, don’t you. Don’t you ever,ever think about other people for one second, eh? Well I bet you’re really pleased with yourself now, aren 't you’”(207). This shows that Christopher can fully understand some emotions, sometimes interpret others, and not understand some entirely, usually other peoples, making it his understanding