CLOSE READING QUESTIONS
Chapter 7
• Can you offer an interpretation of the passage that Christopher quotes from a ‘proper novel’?
• What appeals to Christopher about detective stories? Can you explain why?
Chapter 11
• Comment on the sort of minute detail that Christopher notices. What do you make of this? I.e., what does it tell us about the way he sees the world and his responses to events?
• What effect does the policeman’s questions have on Christopher, and why? How does Christopher try to find safety?
Chapter 13
• Why are there no jokes in this book, according to Christopher? Yet why do we often find the novel funny?
Chapter 17
• Why does Christopher feel calmer even though the police officer says he is under arrest?
• Why does Christopher find scientific facts – e.g. about the galaxy – reassuring?
Chapter 19
• How are prime numbers like life, according to Christopher?
Chapter 29
• Why does Christopher find people confusing? Can you understand his confusion?
• Why does Christopher find metaphors confusing?
• Why does Christopher say the word metaphor is itself a metaphor?
• Make a list of ten common metaphors we use in everyday speech.
• Why doesn’t Christopher like his name?
Chapter 31
• Why doesn’t Christopher find similes as confusing as metaphors?
Chapter 37
• Christopher always tells the truth, but this isn’t a matter of a belief in what is right and wrong. Why doesn’t he ever lie?
Chapter 47
• How does Christopher explain the link he makes between seeing red cars and having a good day?
Chapter 59
• How does Christopher justify his investigation into how Wellington died, even though his father has told him to stay out of other people’s business?
• What character qualities does Christopher have that would make him a good detective?
Chapter 67
• Why doesn’t Christopher like chatting?
• How does Christopher work out who his prime suspect is?
Chapter 83
• What makes Christopher think he would make a good astronaut? Do you agree that he would qualify?
• What does Christopher discover about Mr Shears from Mrs Alexander? Questions?
Chapter 101
• How is Mr Jeavons wrong about Christopher’s love of maths?
Chapter 107
• Rephrase the quotation from the ancient scroll in The Hound of the Baskervilles so that it would be easily understood by a modern reader.
• What qualities does Christopher admire in Sherlock Holmes?
Chapter 139
• Find a dictionary definition and the orgins of the phrase Occam’s Razor.
Chapter 157
• What insights do Christopher’s mother’s letters give us into family life with Christopher? How does the picture we’ve had so far change? What new elements are there, in terms of mood and situation?
• What ways are Christopher and his father actually alike in the way they react to Christopher’s mother leaving?
Chapter 163
• Explain how Christopher thinks the human brain is just like a computer.
• Do you agree that human feelings are just like a picture on a computer screen? Explain your answer.
Chapters 191-197
• What are some of the ways Christopher finds to cope with the new and frightening situations he finds himself in?
Chapter 229
• What is shocking or surprising about Christopher’s favourite dream? What is understandable about his dream?
Chapter 233
• What makes Christopher decide he has to go back to Swindon?
• Do you agree with Christopher when he says (on page 260) that ‘I think it is worst when you don’t know whether a good thing or a bad thing is going to happen?’
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