Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Close Textual Analysis
Using your knowledge gained from time in class, listening and participating in discussions about
the book, and the journals you have written about the book, create a piece no longer than three
pages typed and double-spaced that closely analyzes one passage from the novel. Essentially,
you are creating an analytical piece that provides a close-reading of a selected passage.
Choose one of the quotes from the list below (or you may select one not listed, just have it preapproved by me). Take some time to reflect upon the passage and figure out what it literally means,
but also what it figuratively means and implies. Overall, make sure that you are demonstrating your
ability to explain the significance of a passage and your ability to apply it to other areas of the text
(you will use other quotes) in order to extend your thinking.
Tips for approaching the paper:
 Reread the passage in context to remember what is happening around it.
 Reflect upon what this quote indicates about the characters involved.
 Reflect upon what this quote implies about the characters involved.
 Reflect upon how this quote is significant.
 Reflect upon what essential ideas are involved in the passage.
 Reflect upon how the ideas indicated and implied by the passage can be applied to other
situations in the text.
 Reflect upon how this passage leads to other questions and thinking.
A Possible Structure:
Introduction:
Begin with a lead. Provide a brief overview of the book. State the title and author. Explain the
context of the passage. End by explaining what the quote reveals. Think big picture. For example:
“The underlying meaning of the quote is basically, Christopher wants an equation for life. Nothing is
ever open-ended in his mind. Every problem, no matter how unconnected to math, has some
equation that can be solved.”
Several body paragraphs where you break the quote down piece by piece. You should also apply
the quote to other scenes. Be sure to build in other quotes as you explore these scenes. You may
even choose to connect to your own life in the body.
Conclusion: Wrap up your ideas and attempt universal appeal. Think big picture. For example:
“The use of logic and intuition in a person’s life should be a balanced equation: logic = intuition.”
Assessment Criteria:
Content and Analysis: The text passage is explained literally and figuratively and its significance
to the book is evident through your writing. It is also evident that you have closely considered all
that is said in the quote and explained what it reveals about the characters involved. Be sure to
think “big picture” but explain how you “got there.”
Organization / Clarity / Fluency/Mechanics: The writing is presented in an organized fashion.
Order of information effectively presents the ideas clearly and fluently. The piece has been edited
with attention to mechanics, especially the grammar concepts covered in our mini-lessons.
Pick one of the following excerpts:
A) “But this is stupid because everyone has learning difficulties because learning to speak French
or understanding relativity is difficult and also everyone has special needs, like Father, who has to
carry a little packet of artificial sweetening tablets around with him to put in his coffee to stop him
from getting fat, or Mrs. Peters, who wears a beige-colored hearing aid, or Siobhan, who has
glasses so think that they give you a headache if you borrow them, and none of these people are
Special Needs, even if they have special needs” (43-44).
B)“Also I wouldn’t be homesick at all because I’d be surrounded by lots of the things I like, which
are machines and computers and outer space” (51).
C)
She said, “What happened to you the other day?”
I asked, “Which day?”
And she said, “I came out again and you’d gone. I had to eat all the biscuits myself.”
I said, “I went away.”
And she said, “I gathered that.”
I said, “I thought you might ring the police.”
And she said, “Why on earth would I do that?”
And I said, “Because I was poking my nose into other people’s business and Father said I
shouldn’t investigate who killed Wellington. And a policeman gave me a caution and if I get
into trouble again it will be a lot worse because of the caution” (54).
D)“But I was excited, too. Because I thought she might tell me a secret. And the secret might be
about who killed Wellington. Or about Mr. Shears. And if she did that I might have more evidence
against him, or be able to Exclude Him from My Investigations.
So because it was a Super Good Day I decided to walk into the park with Mrs. Alexander, even
though it scared me (59).
E) “And it means that sometimes things are so complicated that it is impossible to predict what they
are going to do next, but they are only obeying really simple rules” (102).
F) “And it made me think how all the water in the world was connected and this water had
evaporated from the oceans somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico or Baffin Bay, and now
it was falling in front of the house and it would drain away into the gutters and flow to a sewage
station where it would be cleaned and then it would go into a river and go back into the ocean
again” (103-104).
G) “And when I opened the paper and read through it I couldn’t think how to answer any of the
questions and also I couldn’t breathe properly. And I wanted to hit somebody or stab them with my
Swiss Army knife, but there wasn’t anyone to hit or stab with my Swiss Army knife except the
Reverend Peters and he was very tall and if I hit him or stabbed him with my Swiss Army knife he
wouldn’t be my invigilator for the rest of the exam” (212).
H) “And when Mother and Mr. Shears argued I took the little radio from the kitchen and I went and
sat in the spare room and I tuned it halfway between tow stations so that all I could hear was white
noise and I turned the volume up really loud and I held it against my ear and the sound filled my
head and it hurts so that I couldn’t feel any other sort of hurt, like the hurt in my chest, and I
couldn’t hear Mother and Mr. Shears arguing and I couldn’t think about not doing my A level or the
fact that there wasn’t a garden at 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG, or the fact that I couldn’t
see the stars” (205-207).