Curious Incident

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Honestly, of our three books, this was my least favorite reading but it had me posing the most questions of the three. I think it was my least favorite because I had a hard time relating to it due to my lack of knowledge about autism. One question I had was whether or not parents were more involved in their child's life if they had autism or less so involved than that of a child whose mind functions "normally." I couldn't find much on that so I'll ask whoever reads this, what do you think? I personally have seen both sides at the daycare where I work. Some parents are overly involved in their autistic child's life, more so than all the other parents and some care far less than they should and it shows in varying ways but it was shown in one instance with a boy in  how his "normal" sibling was fine but he had worn the same thing for three days- sometimes his parents would pick up his brother when they got off but leave him there until 6, when we close. I also wonder how many parents, like our main character's mom, don't even know what special program their child is in.  This also connects to one of our essential questions for this book being what role does trust play between parents and children. Christopher has trouble understanding people and when he lost his trust in his father I wondered about my own parents, and honestly at times I haven't trusted their judgement, but I don't believe I've ever lost all trust for them completely. So in my own opinion, I believe trust is crucial between a parent and their child. If the child doesn't trust the parent, they won't follow their guidance, and if a parent doesn't trust their child, they may become overbearing and in both cases there isn't a healthy relationship. His father recognizes this in saying "you have to learn to trust me...and I don't care how long it takes. From the beginning of our lives we have no choice but to trust our parents and as they are our only source, and as our minds develop in adolescence its as if this trust is emotionally embedded within us. The narrator says, "I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that this is because I was a good person. It is because I can't tell lies." This has everything to do with how Christopher sees the world. He literally doesn't see a point in lying- it seems unnatural almost. Combining the two concepts, trust is how he categorizes people. His mind has a hard time wrapping around a lot of information so this is how he simplifies the complication of relationships. I  feel like I've rambled, but these are just thoughts and considerations I had :)

Comments

  1. Eva YoussefSeptember 23, 2019 at 10:22 PM

    I also had very similar questions! It was my least favorite book as well because I had a hard time connecting with it due to my lack of knowledge on the subject. It makes me wonder though how hard it must be on parents with lack of knowledge on the matter to have a child with autism. I like that you bring up the trust aspect of this book because its something so crucial in parent- child relationships and we get to see a little of what broken trust can lead to in this book.

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  2. Kiara McVaySeptember 25, 2019 at 6:01 PM

    I agree that this was my least favorite reading as well overall it was an eye opener. I also am still learning more about autism in my other courses I am taking so some of it was interesting to me as well. To answer your question I think how much a parent is involved in their child’s life isn’t always based on whether their child has a disability or not it just depends on what type of person that parent is.

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  3. NoahGoodwinSeptember 25, 2019 at 8:03 PM

    Logan,

    I love that you point out Christopher's inability to tell lies against the façade his parents have laid out before him. Thereis an important distinction to be made between Christopher and his parents in that almost everything he knows of his parents is untruthful, yet Christopher lives in a world where lying serves no purpose in his mind. This dichotomy plays such a crucial part in the damage his parents cause him as he develops and tries to discover the world and form his own relationship with his mother. This part of the novel really serves as an eye opener for me in that many people diagnosed with ASD are isolated and alienated by the community for being so 'strange' and in many cases portrayed as being 'non-human', when in my opinion (especially in Christopher's case), they can exhibit some of the purest forms of humanity.

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