Each book is unique and can touch each heart differently. The level of empathy we feel towards a character is mainly based on how the author has decided to portray the character and the situation. In The Outsider by S.E. Hinton, we see a boy (with the name of Ponyboy) whose group is isolated and (as the title states) the outsiders of the society. In The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon, the main character (Christopher) is also an outsider but not due to his wealth but rather how he thinks and acts.
When writing a book the author has to make a decision: how to tell the story. They make this decision based on what they think will be the most effective method to convey their idea. Both Hinton and Haddon have chosen …show more content…
This way we are able to understand actions the character has made. This is especially well shown in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time, when Christopher hits the policeman because Christopher “didn’t like [the police officer] touching [him] like this.” (p.9). Our first reaction might be that, that is an unacceptable reason and make no sense. However the author has allowed us to see the reasoning behind what Christopher did. Due to chain of thought we see from Christopher we start to understand how his brain works, and don't judge him for his actions. For example if this book had stated that a 15-year-old boy hit a police officer because he did not like getting touched by people, we would have viewed Christopher differently. Similarly, might think that Ponyboy not “care[ing] about Darry” (23) is unreasonable considering that Darry has constantly been taking nurturing Ponyboy and yet once we see the trail of thought Ponyboy has, we understand the reasons. The difference between the trail of thoughts of the two main characters of each novel is obvious. Each has a difference mind and therefore think differently. Christopher’s is very straight forward, direct and “can’t do chatting” (70). Contrarily Ponyboy’s thoughts are full of emotions with “hot tears of anger and frustration” (62). Nevertheless, in both books it is
When writing a book the author has to make a decision: how to tell the story. They make this decision based on what they think will be the most effective method to convey their idea. Both Hinton and Haddon have chosen …show more content…
This way we are able to understand actions the character has made. This is especially well shown in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time, when Christopher hits the policeman because Christopher “didn’t like [the police officer] touching [him] like this.” (p.9). Our first reaction might be that, that is an unacceptable reason and make no sense. However the author has allowed us to see the reasoning behind what Christopher did. Due to chain of thought we see from Christopher we start to understand how his brain works, and don't judge him for his actions. For example if this book had stated that a 15-year-old boy hit a police officer because he did not like getting touched by people, we would have viewed Christopher differently. Similarly, might think that Ponyboy not “care[ing] about Darry” (23) is unreasonable considering that Darry has constantly been taking nurturing Ponyboy and yet once we see the trail of thought Ponyboy has, we understand the reasons. The difference between the trail of thoughts of the two main characters of each novel is obvious. Each has a difference mind and therefore think differently. Christopher’s is very straight forward, direct and “can’t do chatting” (70). Contrarily Ponyboy’s thoughts are full of emotions with “hot tears of anger and frustration” (62). Nevertheless, in both books it is