Honest Judy is honest in the letters she writes explaining her feelings and failures to Christopher. "I'm not like your father. Your father is a much more patient person. He just gets on with things and if things him he doesn't let it show." It must be hard for Judy to be this honest - she admits failure, in her lack of patience and openly explains to Christopher why she left. Ed avoids this honest with Christopher until the end of the play. She clearly knows herself well too, like Christopher does Romantic Judy reveals that she has an active and romantic imagination -the audience discover this as she describes how her life could have been in a flashback sequence. "If I hadn't married your father I think I'd be living in a little farm house in the South of France with someone called Jean. And he'd be, ooh, a local handyman." Judy shows her romantic view of the life she could have had if she had not married Ed. This sadly shows that she was not satisfied with life as she knew it, she couldn’t just 'get on with things' like Ed could. Struggles to cope In another reflection of "And I remember Judy feels, rightly or
with Christopher her honesty Judy admits that she it hard to cope with Christopher at times. She describes how she felt after an argument with Christopher resulted in her having broken toes. looking at the two of you and seeing you together and thinking how you were really different with him. Much calmer..... And it made me so sad because it was like you didn't need me at all." wrongly, that Christopher is calmer around his father. This realisation comes after she lost her temper and Christopher threw a chopping board and it hit her foot, breaking her toes. She felt as if Ed and Christopher were better off without her. Social context Judy is not like Ed. She struggles with Christopher's behaviour whilst he with it. She mentions the time they went to the department store and Christopher had an episode - she could not help him and found the whole incident very upsetting. She also hints that she would like an easier more 'normal' life, presumably without Christopher. This is very sad but Stephens does not make Judy the villain, the audience can sympathise with her as she still loves Christopher dearly. Question & Answer Extract: JUDY: I used to have dreams that everything would get better. Do you remember that you used to say that you wanted to be an astronaut? Well I used to have dreams that you were an astronaut and you were on television and I thought that’s my son. I wonder what it is you want to be now. Has it changed? Are you still doing maths? I hope you are. Loads and loads of love, Mother.
How is Mrs Alexander like this? Evidence Analysis Kind Mrs Alexander is very welcoming and kind when Christopher first visits her during his investigation. "I'm afraid marzipan is yellow too. Perhaps I should bring out some biscuits instead. Do you like biscuits?" Mrs Alexander kindly to accommodate Christopher by offering him biscuits when she discovers he doesn't like the colour yellow and so won't eat Battenberg cake. It is likely that she is so kind because she is lonely and will do anything to get a visitor to stay. Gossip Mrs Alexander is at first reluctant to discuss Mr Shears with Christopher but eventually she discusses his mother's affair directly with him. This could be seen as gossiping. "I am going to say something to you and you must promise not to tell your father that I told you this." Mrs Alexander knows that she should not be discussing the details of the affair with Christopher so she tries to make him keep it a secret. It could be argued that she feels that she is doing the right thing but it is not very responsible of
mother, Judy is more honest with her feelings towards Christopher but the audience might initially find it hard to trust her after she walked out on the family. As well as these issues within his family, Christopher maintains a mistrust of strangers but trusts the advice of his teacher, Siobhan. She has worked with him for a long time and taught him strategies to cope with challenges. During the course of the play, Christopher also learns that he can trust himself to achieve his goals. How is the theme of honesty and trust shown in the play? In The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time, Stephens explores the theme of honesty and trust through: the lies of Christopher's father, Ed the honesty of Christopher's mother, Judy the trust issues Christopher has with other characters How does Stephens show this? Evidence Analysis Ed's lies Ed tries to keep the truth about Judy leaving home from Christopher. "Ed: Christopher, I'm sorry your mother's died. She's had a heart attack. It wasn't expected. Christopher: What kind of heart attack? Ed: I don't know what kind of heart attack. Now isn't the moment Christopher to be asking questions like that." This is a shocking lie for a father to tell son. Ed avoids telling the truth so he doesn't have to confront the reality of his marriage breaking down. Ed realises the error of his ways when the truth comes out later and realises that it is important to be honest with people from the outset because it can only be more hurtful if you are not.
Judy's honesty Judy is honest in her letters to Christopher about her feelings and her own failings. In this sense she is braver than Ed. "And I remember that night I just cried and cried and cried and your father was really nice about it at first and he made you supper and put you to bed and he said these things happen and it would be OK. But I said I couldn’t take it anymore and eventually he got really cross." It is very brave for Judy to be this honest. She is not afraid of painting Ed in a positive light even if it makes herself look worse. It is clear that she really struggled with some of Christopher's more unusual behaviours but her openness and honesty earns her the respect of the audience. Christopher's trust issues Christopher separates the people he meets into two categories - friends and strangers. He trusts friends but not strangers. This means he reacts in a way the audience might consider 'different' when talking to people he doesn't know, like Mrs Alexander "I to get nervous because I didn't know her well enough to know whether she was telling the truth about getting orange squash and Battenberg cake. And I thought she might be ringing the police and then I'll get into much more serious trouble because of the caution. Christopher walks away from a conversation because he doesn't know the person very well. This uncertainty can make Christopher very nervous, he struggles to trust people that he doesn't know as friends. He learns later in the play, much to his distress, that he sometimes can't trust
my fourth best ever score." Christopher who has an unusual personality. to know him it becomes endearing. Character motivation Ed, Christopher's dad reveals when he is lying through his dialogue "No. It's an ordinary hospital. She has a problem.....a problem with her heart." It is important that the audience pick up on what the characters are thinking. It helps them to get a better grasp on their motivations. The pause in this line highlights that his father is lying about the whereabouts of Christopher's mother. At this point the audience can only guess what motivated his father to say this, this engages the audience further. Moving the action forward Christopher often states very plainly what he is going to do "I've decided I’m going to find out who killed Wellington". Christopher speaking in such a manner is an effective dramatic device. It helps to move the action forward and keeps the audience informed and engaged. The audience know exactly what is driving the plot forward at any moment in time, be it looking for Wellington's killer or Christopher's quest to live with his mother. How to analyse language In order to analyse language you should: Choose a section from the text to analyse and then select a quote from it. Make sure that it is relevant to the question and the point you want to make.