A Curious Book about a Curious Boy

Such is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Finally read this book that I had been wanting to read for quite some time because it is praised so much. I liked it too. Christopher is an interesting character and he looks at the world in a very interesting way. Some of it is so surprisingly insightful: such as his observations on how likes and dislikes are meaningless but necessary so that we can make unimportant decisions faster (like which dish to order at the restaurant) and how humans sub-consciously fashion alien beings after themselves though for all we know, spaceships could be made of clouds instead of metal. And that logic presents the very interesting possibility that aliens are already amongst us but we just don't recognize them! The style of the book is nice and different too (the chapters are numbered according to the prime number series!).

I felt very bad about Christopher's inability to understand emotions more for the sake of his father than himself. I felt really bad that Christopher could not understand how much his father had done for him. I don't condone dog-killing under any circumstances but if Christopher had been emotionally mature, he might have understood that the lie was to protect him. Wouldn't it have hurt anyone to know that they were the reason their mother went away? Writing weekly letters is not the same as staying and dealing with the situation, and it was really sad to see his father being treated like a villain by everyone after all that he did for Christopher :( Anyway, it was good to see that things were slowly working out in the end and my happiness would have been complete if the mom and dad had got back together :D Another very positive thing in the end, though I'm not sure the author intended it so, was how Christopher's confidence increases and he plans an independent future for himself. Note how he talks about himself living in a flat and taking Sandy and his stuff but does not mention his parents. It sounds like he is ready to take on the world!

Partial Relief

One of my favouritest books in the world is Alice in Wonderland. It's so funny and so wonderfully imaginative with all those cute, easily offended animals. I love how reality, order and logic all go topsy-turvy, the crazy conversations Alice gets into with Wonderland inhabitants, and the language (especially the cute way in which the word 'very' is often stressed). Most importantly, it was my refuge when reality got too nasty or disturbing and I had made it an unofficial symbol of all that is innocent. The fact that Lewis Carroll was himself childlike and preferred the company of children made it even better!

That is why I was really upset when I read theories on him possibly being a paedophile. His relationship with Alice Liddell (who inspired Alice in Wonderland) and his photography of children led people to question the nature of his attachment to children. Thankfully, there were no instances of misbehaviour on his part so these remain speculations. Still, my doubt did not completely go away and I really wished there were some way to know about Lewis Carroll for sure!

Now recently, I read about this other crazy person called John Ruskin who was a great art critic, philosopher etc. Apparently, he did not consummate his marriage because real women turned out to be quite different from the marble statues he studied and he was not prepared for that (lol!). Then he went and fell in love with a nine year old girl :O This was really shocking but I think I understood what the problem with these people was. I think when these very intellectually advanced people live in an idealistic world of their own, their minds are distanced from their physical self. So when they are forced to confront with baser needs of their own and those of others, they are unable to understand it (because they try to understand/study it in the first place) and they are repelled by it. The conflict between their minds and bodies then exhibits itself in strange and often questionable behaviour of this sort. That is why both of them showed a more-than-natural attraction to children because relationships with children did not require any cunning or crudeness from them (I got this analysis partially from Wikipedia). So I don't think either of them ever meant to harm children: they were just two men sadly out of touch with reality and unable to cope with it in a healthy manner.

I think even Nikola Tesla might have been of this category because he never had intimate relationships with women and towards the end of his life, he is said to have fancied a pigeon. Now we all love children and animals for their innocence. But the problem with these men was their inability to accept life as it was which made them look at normal things in a warped way. So the sad and ironical thing here is that these geniuses have sort of tainted the very innocence they desperately tried to cling to! That is why I'm only partially relieved. (Disclaimer: I don't really know much about John Ruskin so all my rambling is speculation based on superficial knowledge only!)