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Chapter 211
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 describes the advertisement that’s on the wall of the train station, because Siobhan told him to include descriptions in his book. The ad is for a vacation in Malaysia, and it has a photo of two orangutans in trees. Christopher doesn’t like going on vacation because he doesn’t think it’s relaxing, and he prefers to see new things by more closely examining what’s already around him. For example, lots of people have thin drinking glasses in their houses, but they don’t even know they can make music by rubbing them with a wet finger. Christopher provides the text of the advertisement and draws the orangutans.
Even in the midst of his terror, Christopher still notices everything around him well enough to reproduce it exactly. His detailed and logical description of the ad, with the text removed from the picture and without the flashy tricks of advertising, makes it seem ridiculous. Christopher takes in the everyday world like it’s an exotic location. He believes there’s so much to appreciate and think about just in one’s own house that no one should ever have to go on vacation for entertainment.
Themes
