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How do I analyse The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? (1 Viewer)

Leadmen4y

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I personally enjoyed the novel more than any other studied in high school, however Christopher's style of narration is something I've never seen before and although I've found many quotes that represent specific ideas and themes, that's all I can do. As most of his sentences are simply statements without any techniques, I'm worried if I only provide textual reference and analysis without a technique and the intended effect, I'll get marked down straight to a band 3 or at best 4.

For example, here's a quote about Christopher's ideology of order and logic, which I was not able to identify a technique.
'I said that I liked things to be in a nice order. And one way of things being in a nice order was to be logical.' - Chapter 47

Maybe I'm just not competent in identifying techniques in general, but I've just had significantly more difficulties for this particular novel.

Thanks in advance. :)
 

jimmysmith560

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I will upload my analysis of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time to the Notes & Resources section, which is my essay minus the intro/conclusion/link to question. Those are obviously missing as they need to be written differently depending on the question. However, the analysis remains the same. I got 17/20 using that analysis so I believe it may help :D
 
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Leadmen4y

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I will upload my analysis of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? to the Notes & Resources section, which is my essay minus the intro/conclusion/link to question. Those are obviously missing as they need to be written differently depending on the question. However, the analysis remains the same. I got 17/20 using that analysis so I believe it may help :D
Thank you so much! Yes that'll be great, much appreciated! :D
 

jimmysmith560

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Etho_x

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I personally enjoyed the novel more than any other studied in high school, however Christopher's style of narration is something I've never seen before and although I've found many quotes that represent specific ideas and themes, that's all I can do. As most of his sentences are simply statements without any techniques, I'm worried if I only provide textual reference and analysis without a technique and the intended effect, I'll get marked down straight to a band 3 or at best 4.

For example, here's a quote about Christopher's ideology of order and logic, which I was not able to identify a technique.
'I said that I liked things to be in a nice order. And one way of things being in a nice order was to be logical.' - Chapter 47

Maybe I'm just not competent in identifying techniques in general, but I've just had significantly more difficulties for this particular novel.

Thanks in advance. :)
You could talk about the style of the book in itself as with something like The Curious Incident, your analysis shouldn’t solely be based off narration from Christopher. Consider other elements such as digressive chaptering; Christopher alternating between reflections or ideas within his own mindset and the main focus of the plot. Another example could be a visual element such as Siobhan’s illustration of facial expressions to allow Christopher to gain an insight into the finitely possible facial expressions one could portray. Although incorporating these ideas with quotes may enhance your argument, just these ideas if presented well should add on to your analysis nicely. I used the example with the facial expressions in my Curious Incident in-class exam and received overall 17/20 for the essay.

One more thing I will recommend is under no circumstances should you only take quotes from the first, say 50 pages. My teacher has emphasised this a lot and this is important because you ultimately have to show that you have a broad understanding of the text in its entirety, rather than a broad understanding of the first 50/100 pages (which coincidently happen to be the most technique-rich sections).
 

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