A Silent Bike Ride

    This week, I have decided to write on an experience that I had last night.  I realize this may not be as much of a critical analysis, yet I am willing to lose a few points on writing about what happened and how this correlates to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  So last night, I was writing a paper until 3:30 a.m (not for this class) and realized that I had to still take my car back to lot 91 off of Hagadorn and Service Road before I received a ticket from the parking nazis.  I decide to go ahead and get the drive/bike ride over with seeing as I know I wouldn't get up early enough to do it later on.  As I walk outside to my car, I realize how foggy and eerie it is outside, almost a perfect setup for a horror movie.  I silently drive my car back to the lot, as I was too lazy to plug in my music for such a short ride.  As I get out of the car and walk to my bike, the silence was becoming almost defining.  I looked nervously around just to make sure the guy from the Saw series didn't pop out and try to capture me to "play a game".
    I get onto my bike and start the long journey back to my dorm.  Now usually when I ride my bike, especially this late at night, I put my headphones in and pass the time away by obnoxiously singing since no one can hear me, but this time, for some reason, I didn't listen to any music.  As I turn onto Wilson road, I realize that there was not a single soul around.  Not one.  Not even a car light flashing in the distance.  When I realized this, I instantly connected this experience with what Christopher does when he walks down the street, pretending he's the only person in the world.  I decided to try to think his way, pretending that a zombie apocalypse occurred and I'm the last woman standing.  As soon as I started to think this way, I was a tad frightened.  I'm a people person, I love conversations and interacting with people.  The thought that I would never have that opportunity again was slightly overwhelming.  But after passing through the initial crazed hysteria, I realized how calm I felt.  There was no noise, no one to disturb me, no one to upset my day or put more homework in my lap, just me.  And with that came the creation of a small connection between me and Christopher.  I then started to wonder if the author, Mark Haddon, did the same thing: went out for a walk in the dead of the night to try to understand his character just a little bit more.  I wondered how devoted this author was to try to divulge into such a complicated mind in order to make this creation.
    I finally started getting close to my dorm, and saw a figure in the distance, my connection with Christopher became immediately severed.  I thought "phew, another human being, I'm not alone" which was immediately followed by "I hope thats not Jason Voorhees" and began to peddle faster until I reached my safe haven that was my dorm.   I was sad that my "me" time  and my connection with Christopher was cut short.  This experience actually helped me better understand Christopher as a character.

Final Paper Idea

        So, I've been thinking "hmm...what would make a good final statement on this semesters english class" and I believe I have just the thing.  For the final paper, I wish to explore one of these two criticisms for the novel  "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time": either the "Madwoman in the Attic" by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar and how the roles of Angels and Demons have switched within the novel for each character, or "The One Vs. the Many" by Woloch and how the surrounding characters change the perspective of Christopher for the reader.  The reason I am so interested in writing about this book is because we as the reader have to change our perspective on what we think of someone who has some form of autism.  Society wishes to pin them as people who, for lack of a better word, are less.  But in this book, the roles are that society has given are switched, and it is us, the reader, who are lesser then the main character.  By flipping these roles, the reader is forced to acknowledge the superiority of Christopher compared to the other characters.
          This also creates an "Angel, Demon" comparison, where Christopher becomes angelic, while the other characters become demonic because each person is a suspect in Christopher's case.  Also, the fact that each male character has become "Demonic" in a way astounds me.  In Pride and Prejudice, the Angels were all women and the Demons were men.  In this book, some of those roles have switched as well.  Christopher is more Angelic than any of the characters in the book, but he is a male.  What does this do to the book as a whole?  These are the idea's I wish to explore further in my upcoming paper.

Two Tales, One Agenda

'This is me when I was 10 years old. This was in 1980....Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. We didn't really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn't understand why we had to' (3, Satrapi)

'My name is Christopher John Francis Boone.  I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,057' (3, Haddon)

Even though these stories are similar in the fact that it tells a persons story from their point of view, but how does the delivery differ and what does that delivery do to each story as a whole?


When first reading Satrapi's The Complete Persepolis, I had a sense of awe as I realized that I felt more emotion due to the drawings in each panel.  This gave me more of a connection to the main character even though I have not experienced many, if any, of the events she has.  This connection is what continued to drive me to continue reading the novel.  But in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", even though the story is still about a person and what happens to them, the tact for this novel is different.  This novel dives into the mind of a teen with Aspergers that has such a disconnect with its readers, that it has actually become just as interesting as the previous novel.  This disconnect perfectly reflects the real life social condition.  Because of this, the novel becomes more believable, therefore more interesting.  Pictures further accentuate the idea of someone who can not express themselevs only through words. The same can be said for the previous novel, only the pictures give more emotion.  Both novels give amazing insight to the minds of two different people by using two different ways of delivery.

Culture Gaps Bridged

"Sarrapi's text is framed dietetically, and externally in her introduction, by injections to 'never forget': it is the defining project of the text.  Arguably the most moving narrative thread in the book is Marji's relationship with her charismatic uncle Anoosh... Anoosh tells her: 'Our family memory must not be lost.  Even if it's not easy for you, even if you don't understand it all.' Marji replies, 'Don't worry, I'll never forget'"(9)

"'In life you'll meet a lot of jerks.  If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid.  That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty.  Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance... always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.....don't even forget what I told you'" (150-151)

How does this text breach the racial and cultural gap in order to connect to readers across the world?


       I believe the reason I love this novel so much is because I can connect to it even though it has nothing to do with my culture or background.  I have not gone through having my house being bombed or my friends (not in the war) die just right next door.  But the messages within this text connect perfectly, I just never really tried to explore why it works.  I figured that it must be the comic book style that helped me connect, which is part of the reason, but the message of "never forget" also hits hard throughout.  Every time I go through anything hard or I fail in some sort of aspect, I remind myself "don't forget where you came from, your stronger than this".  This exactly how I relate to Satrapi's story.  This is a message anyone can related to, no matter what culture or background, which is astounding.  The funny thing is, my grandma told me a version of the quote above years ago, "love is deaf, blind, dumb, and stupid.  Don't get caught in that ok?"  It's something that has stuck to me for all my life, and will continue to do so. Satrapi is able to make me realize that cultures are more similar through this message of "never forget".
      Satrapi also uses the theme of "growing up" in order to help breach the culture gap.  This message is something every person goes through during their teen years, no matter what culture during what time.  Satrapi went through different experiences, worse then I've ever been through, but its the fact that we've all been through something, and that event is what makes us come into ourselves as adults, helps us discover ourselves.  Because Marji goes through horrible events and makes mistakes makes her more human then ever, which helps us connect with her as a character.  The graphic novel aspect of Persepolis does indeed help the barrier across cultures, but the messages inside of the novel create more of a bond between reader and author, one that keeps the reader engaged until the very end.

Graphic Novel in the Class Room? Say What?!

"Each cognitive mode has advantages and limitations.  Deep attention is superb for solving complex problems represented in a single medium, but it comes at the price of environmental alertness and flexibility of response.  Hyper attention excels at negotiating rapidly changing environments in which multiple foci compete for attention; its disadvantage is impatience with focusing for long periods on a non-interactive object such as a Victorian novel or complicated math problem" (188)

"When we walked past the Baba-Levv's house, which was completely destroyed, I could feel that she was discreetly pulling me away.  Something told me that the Baba-Levv's had been at home.  Something caught my attention.  I saw a turquoise bracelet.  It was Neda's.  Her aunt had given it to her for her fourteenth birthday.  The bracelet was still attached to... I don't know what... No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger" (142)

What affect does the idea of "the graphic novel" have on such a serious but comedic book such as "The Complete Persepolis"?

  The first time I opened this book, I was completely taken aback, our teacher has us reading a graphic novel...awesome.  But what I didn't realize was the complete and utter seriousness of this novel.  When one thinks about a comic book, its exactly as what Hayles describes as Hyper attention, something that catches your attention but allows you to notice the world around you at the same time.  But with this graphic novel, the first time I opened the book, I refused to put it down until I was half way done and I realized I really needed to go to bed.  This book took deep attention, something you wouldn't think a graphic novel would be able to achieve.  But how does this novel accomplish that?  I noticed several times throughout the novel that I found myself smiling, and even laughing, at many of the things that transpired.  But I also found that on a few occasions I was ready to cry or be angry at some of the events that transpired.  I believe it is the complete ability to switch between comedy and tragedy that caught my attention and made me want to continue reading.
    Another idea that I noticed within the novel was the complete and utter disconnect between events.  Numerous times throughout the novel, there would be an ending to a chapter that would be upsetting and you would think the author would continue on commenting on that event.  Instead, the next chapter is named, and usually starts out with some form of a joke or the start of an entirely new event.  This disconnect is what takes this graphic novel from "Hyper Attention" to "Deep Attention".  The fact that this is a diary of a young girl going through war is enough to catch attention, yet the fact that you can feel the disconnect of feeling of each chapter is really what takes it to another level.  Think for a second, a person who wants to make a novel about a young girl suffering in war would do just that, tell about her suffering.  But this author took the life of a person was able to convey the idea of her experiences and what she needs to do to move on, part of which is disconnecting from those horrible experiences.  Many would have me believe that because this is a graphic novel, it is not worthy of being within a class room, but the idea's within this book, to me, are just as important then the novels we are required to read today.

Jane Needs Brains

"Perhaps the zombie attack on Austen’s novel is telling us that the novel is neither alive nor dead but undead. We are living in a time when what counts as “life” is in significant scientific dispute, and in the heyday of zombie computers and zombie banks, zombie this and zombie that. Why wouldn’t we also be living in a time of zombie literary forms?"

"But no sooner had she grabbed the handle of her weapon than a chorus of screams filled the assembly hall, immediately joined by the shattering of window panes.  Unmentionables poured in, their movements clumsy yet swift; their burial clothing in a range of untidiness.  Some wore gowns so tattered as to render them scandalous" (PG. 16)

        The critical review, "Zombie Renaissance" gives an interesting view on what the zombies do to the novel "Pride Prejudice and Zombies.  It states that the novel, at some point was dead, and somehow was revived by the action and gore thrown into the ordinary pages of this novel.  I would have to highly agree with this critical review.  I do not want to say Pride and Prejudice is dead, because to me, any novel that has made it this far in time still deserves some recognition, yet the heaviness of the novel along with the run on lines and seemingly unimportant conversations, make this a very tedious book.  Therefore, I believe that for a time, this book was in hibernation, a state where no one really truly enjoys the book (unless they're one of "those" people) or no one decides one day "hey, I should buy Pride and Prejudice to read" even though it is a must read.  When zombies took over the novel, I hesitate to say that the book is "alive" again, only because it is not the true book, word for word.  Therefore the idea that the book is "undead" is brilliant.  

        First off, Seth Grahame-Smith chooses zombies, something that we as a culture can truly relate with, but also something that ironically fits the book and its characters perfectly.  Austen put forth many characters that seemed to drone and move as society wished them too.  Others fed off societal norms such as Lady Catherine, one who continuously tried to throw her rank in others faces.  The fact that this resembles zombies in so many ways does not appear as a coincidence to me.  Others have asked, "why not vampires?  Or werewolves?" and the answer is simple, it wouldn't fit the book.  Werewolves would go amazingly in a book where there are groups of people that stick together, or packs.  Vampires could almost fit, but this book is about the underclass, not the upper.  By putting in Vampires, you overrule the feeling of the underclass that Austen originally intended.  But by putting zombies, mindless creatures that act on the need of one thing, brains, it creates a reflection of the society and its norms and makes us compare the humans and zombies with each other. 

Wait....Did You Say Zombies?

"And when she was nervous-- as she was nearly all the time since the first outbreak of the strange plague in her youth-- she sought solace in the comfort of the traditions which now seemed mere trifles to others.  The business of Mr. Bennet's life was to keep his daughters alive.  The business of Mrs. Bennet's was to get them married" (8)

"She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.  When she was discontented she fancied herself nervous.  the business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news" (45)

How does the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies take what Austen created, and turn it into a world full of action while introducing more sarcasm into the novel?

           I would like to first start off by saying I just couldn't resist.  This is suppose to be a literary interpretation, but I find myself vastly in love with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and went "awwww" when I couldn't click to the next page.  But what made it so very toxic?  Yes, the action and the random encounter of zombies did help, but I also believe that the style of the novel helps by taking a more sarcastic tone.  By doing this, the book actually revealed more to me than the original Pride and Prejudice, which is amazing to me.  For instance, in the quotes above, I stopped and thought to myself, "wait...they're seriously making fun of Mrs. Bennet here, that didn't happen in the other book."  But when I took a look into the passage, I found that they indeed made fun of Mrs. Bennet, but in a more subtle way, something I was never able to catch.  This happened several times just within the few pages given.  The favoritism given by Mr. Bennet is enhanced, the ball is torn apart by zombies, where Darcy first gets a real glimpse into Lizzy, something that only happens in Pride and Prejudice when she first talks to him.  I am truly astounded that the author was able to take this very difficult novel and understand it enough to zoom onto particular events, some of which I was unable to comprehend, or were too drowned out by the long run on lines that seemed to never end.  I am immediately picking up this book and reading it, but funny thing is, not just for the zombies and action, even though that is a very big part of it, but because I actually think this book might help me understand Pride and Prejudice just a little bit more.