1. cars
1.1. represent his need for rituals and predictability
1.1.1. "But it wasn't the end of the book because five days later I saw 5 red cars in a row, which made it a Super Good Day, and I knew that something special was going to happen." (53).
2. Characterization
2.1. Father
2.1.1. understanding and patient
2.1.1.1. "We do this because sometimes Father wants to give me a hug, but I do not like hugging people so we do this instead ,and it means that he loves me." (16).
2.1.2. levelheaded; calm
2.1.2.1. "But Father was a more levelheaded person, which means he didn't get angry as quickly..."
2.1.2.1.1. yet he hits Christopher, showing that he still has his limits of what he can take
2.1.3. protective
2.1.3.1. "He was shouting, 'I want to see my son," and "Why the hell is he locked up?" and "Of course I'm bloody angry.'" (16).
2.2. Mother
2.2.1. short temper
2.2.2. easily overwhelmed
2.2.2.1. "...or Mother would say, "Jesus, Christopher, I am seriously considering putting you in a home," or Mother would say, 'You are going to drive me into an early grave." (46).
2.2.2.1.1. had difficulty raising him
2.2.3. emotional
2.2.3.1. "You haven't written to me yet, so I know that you are probably still angry with me. I'm sorry Christopher. But I still love you."
2.2.3.1.1. regrets leaving Christopher; gets emotional
2.3. Christopher
2.3.1. favors predictability and security
2.3.1.1. "Then he said, 'I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer.' This made me feel a lot calmer because it is what policemen say on television and in films." (9).
2.3.2. rigid and inflexible
2.3.2.1. "...and my ham jumped sideways so that it touched the broccoli, so I couldn't eat the ham or broccoli anymore." (49).
2.3.3. excellent at mathematics and reasoning
2.3.3.1. "So if you change, 2 times out of 3 you get a car. And if you stick, you only get a car 1 time out of 3. And this shows that intuition can somethings get things wrong." (65).
2.3.4. Compassionate
2.3.4.1. "I replied, 'I think dogs are important, too.'"(20).
2.3.4.1.1. wants to advocate for them
2.3.4.2. "She had sent me lots of love and had my Get Well card on the table beside her bed...And I colored all the cars in with red paint to make it a Super Good Day for Mother." (26-27).
3. Structure
3.1. run-on sentences
3.1.1. "And I said it was also Uncle Terry, but he was in Sunderland, and he was Father's brother, and it was my grandparents, too, but three of them were dead and Grandma Burton was in a home because she had senile dementia and thought that I was someone on television." (13).
3.1.1.1. conveys Christopher's fast-paced thought processes; further adds to his characterization as a through and logical thinker
4. Tone
4.1. critical and questioning
4.1.1. Occam's Razor
4.1.1.1. "No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary." (90).
4.1.2. existence of God and spiritualism
4.1.2.1. "Also Sherlock Holmes doesn't believe in the supernatural, which is God and fairy tales and Hounds of Hell and curses, which are stupid things." (74).
4.2. frank and honest
4.2.1. "...sticks and stones can break my bones and I have my Swiss Army knife if they hit me and if I kill them it will be self-defense and I won't go to prison." (44).
4.2.1.1. he does not beat around the bush; he is frank about his intentions if they grievously harm him
4.2.2. "All the other children at my school are stupid." (43).
4.3. logical
4.3.1. math explanations
4.3.2. chain of reasoning
4.3.2.1. "I was imagining a Chain of Reasoning inside my head which was like this...c) Because you wanted to make Mrs. Shears upset...5. If it was (c) I only knew one person who didn't like Mrs. Shears, and that was Mr. Shears, who knew Wellington very well indeed." (42)
4.3.3. science explains everything
4.3.3.1. "Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet." (100).
5. Figurative Language
5.1. Analogy/Smilie
5.1.1. "He smelled of body odor and old biscuits and off popcorn...like Jason at schools smells because his family is poor." (38)."
5.1.1.1. represents Christopher's method in comprehending a concept by connecting it to a familiar one
5.1.2. "And this is why people's brains are like computers...because they have to keep turning off for fractions of a second while the screen changes." (118).
5.2. Imagery
5.2.1. "He was wearing a lime green and sky blue check shirt and there was a double knot on one of his shoes but not on the other." (80).
5.2.1.1. gives the reader insight into how Christopher absorbs visual information; it is ironic he is so specific in his descriptions, yet struggles with narrative writing
6. Diagrams and Pictures
6.1. "3. A piece of a wooden puzzle which looked like this..." (13). A picture of his puzzle is included below the except.
6.2. "Then she drew some other pictures but I was unable to say what these meant." (3). Four cartoon faces making different expressions are included .
6.2.1. The diagrams that Christopher includes shows that he uncomfortable with forming descriptions. He prefers to show you what he is trying to say, rather than attempting to describe it. He slips so easily into those when he is analyzing his surroundings, though. He just does not realize this.