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Setting
Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Prime Numbers:
Throughout The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher returns again and again to the topic of prime numbers. The novel's chapter numbers are consecutive primes—a deliberate choice, he notes. In Chapter 19, Christopher uses simile to relate prime numbers to his own personal life experience:
I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.
Christopher compares prime numbers to life: both comprise and contain their own patterns, but these patterns can never be fully understood. Christopher finds the rules of life impossible to discern, using the word "life" to refer broadly to the set of standards by which his society measures normative behavior. The lives others lead, and expect him to imitate, are absurd and unstructured to Christopher. Though he does memorize some of the rules, knowledge of them is not an innate reflex. Despite the absurdity of life, Christopher is not resentful; in fact, one rather gets the impression that Christopher can appreciate life's inscrutability, just as he appreciates the inherent unpredictability of prime numbers.
Christopher's perspective challenges normative assumptions about the "rules" of life, asking readers to consider whether or not these conventions are arbitrary. Neurotypical people take these rules for granted, rarely questioning convention when perhaps they should.
Related Themes:
