To get a better idea of the story I decided to look into a few of the characters who I found most interesting, by doing this I have a better understanding of who they are and how each character is related to one another.
From the very beginning of the play
you are drawn in, with Christopher finding Wellington - who is their neighbor's
dog Mrs. Shear’s, who has been stabbed to death by a garden fork. Christopher
is a very imaginative, intelligent young boy and is curious to find out
who killed Wellington, which leads him into all sorts of trouble throughout the
play. On top of this he has Asperger’s Syndrome, which makes it hard for
him to understand body language and other forms of human interaction.
My first reaction to this play is that
Christopher is rather childish because of his Asperger’s Syndrome as
he doesn’t know how to reaction in certain situations, communicating with
people, understanding emotions, hates being touched – unless they touch by
fingertips (pg. 8, 76) and constantly groans or screams. He lives alone with
his father Ed Boone, because his mother had died of a heart attack prior to the
time when the novel begins, which we then find out later on that she is alive
and well living in London with Roger. Christopher is a genius when it comes to
solving mathematical problems or science questions and spends a lot of time
watching TV or playing video games. He takes pride in the fact that he will be
the first person at his special school to take his Math’s A-Level at the age of
15 and feels that this is a huge achievement for him. Even thou he hates
talking to strangers he goes door knocking to ask questions about Wellington’s
death, he seems to get more confident talking to people as the play goes on
even thou he does not realize this. The fact that he makes it to London all by
himself is a massive achievement for him, as he has never travelled
independently before.
Mrs. Alexander seems like a lovely,
little old lady who lives across the street with her dog, but is a bit of a stalker
as she says that she says “I can see you sitting at your computer in your
bedroom sometimes when I look across the street”(pg. 27). Mrs. Alexander
represents significant development in Christopher’s independence as he can talk
to her, she also provides Christopher with information about Judy’s
relationship with Mr. Shears, even thou this is a hard subject she does try and
make Christopher feel comfortable by taking him to the park to tell him. When
you read through their scenes it is clear that Mrs. Alexander is like a
grandmother to him, helping him with his investigations and making sure that he
is well looked after, but he does not trust her and is afraid that she might
hurt him.
Ed Boone loves his son Christopher
more than anything else but does not know how to deal with him and he can
sometimes loose is patience way to quickly and escalates, which is sad because
the only way Christopher can deal with it is to curl up in a ball and scream. When
Ed finds out that Christopher is doing detective work on who killed Mrs.
Shear’s dog he becomes angrier and starts screaming out swear words to try and
get his point across to him. The audience finds out later on in the play that
Ed Boone had murdered Mrs. Shear’s dog. It is clear that he cannot cope with
his wife having an affair and leaving him, which pushes him over the edge to
lie about Judy’s death. When Christopher stumbles on letters from his mum that
Ed has kept from him, it promotes him to leave home and find his mum. Ed hates
it when Christopher ends up in London because it makes him anxious because he
knows he will have to see Judy and try and take Christopher back with him, as
he cannot imagine living without this son in his life, even thou he does not
know how to cope with Christopher’s behaviour. He does try and regain the
relationship with Christopher with buying him a Golden Retriever (pg. 97),
which is what he had always wanted.
Judy Boone to me does not seem to be a
very good mother as she runs off to London with Mr. Roger Shears, who she has
had an affaire with without saying goodbye, which makes Ed Boone lie about why
she left and then having to tell Christopher that she had died of a heart
attack instead of telling him the truth. She insists that she was a terrible
mother and Christopher would be better off without her – or is it that she is
better off without him. I do feel sympathy for her as she does try and write,
but at the same time why would Ed give the letters to Christopher, as it would
just make him feel broken and unloved. Sending the letters she has almost broken
the relationship between Ed and Christopher because Christopher believes that
Ed has been lying to him for the whole time and no longer trusts him, which
makes Christopher journey up to see him mother. By the end of the novel she has
moved back to Swindon and Christopher is living with her.
