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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 113
Explanation and Analysis—Film:
Throughout The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher often relates his mindset and life experiences to film. This motif makes a great deal of sense for his character. Given the anxiety and overstimulation Christopher feels in new settings, film has thus far been his primary medium for experiencing the wider world. He relates to films—especially science fiction films—and uses the medium as a framework through which to interpolate his own life.
In the following excerpt from Chapter 113, for instance, Christopher describes the filmic nature of his memory:
My memory is like a film. [...] And when people ask me to remember something I can simply press Rewind and Fast Forward and Pause like on a video recorder, but more like a DVD player because I don't have to Rewind through everything in between to get to a memory of something a long time ago.
Christopher feels a kinship with film that transcends physics. He views his own life and memories as a film, comparing his mental processing to the operation of a DVD player. He projects this mode of thought onto others, including his Grandmother, later on in Chapter 113:
And Grandmother has pictures in her head, too, but her pictures are all confused, like someone has muddled the film up and she can't tell what happened in what order [...].
Christopher uses filmic language to comprehend his grandmother's dementia, stating that the "pictures are all confused" in her head. He uses simile to describe her memory as "muddled" rolls of film—as opposed to digital film—indicating the age and quality of these "pictures."
Related Themes:
Chapter 181
Explanation and Analysis—Brains as Computers:
Christopher often imagines his own brain as a computer, filtering various circumstances and thoughts through this imagery. Note the following example of this motif from Chapter 181:
[W]hen I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn't any space left to think about other things.
Christopher loves computers, just as he adores the intricacy of other machines and of many scientific or mathematical concepts. Akin to his relationship with film, Christopher's love for computers extends one step further to kinship, causing him to project his own psyche onto the machine's operation. In the above passage, Christopher likens his overstimulated brain to an overloaded CPU. This is not simply a figure of speech for him, but a real sense of identification with a central processor.
Another example of this motif occurs in Chapter 211:
And then [the train station] filled up with people and another train came with the same roaring. And it was exactly like having flu that time because I wanted it to stop, like you can just pull the plug of a computer out of the wall if it crashes, because I wanted to go to sleep so that I wouldn't have to think [...].
This motif is an extension of Christopher's pragmatic mental processing; it also reflects the connection he feels to computers in his everyday life, given his frequent gaming hobby. He has clearly experienced a computer crashing and has had to unplug it from the wall. Christopher again personally identifies with this process, mixing human descriptors ("sleep," "think") with computer descriptors ("crashes").
Chapter 211
Explanation and Analysis—Brains as Computers:
Christopher often imagines his own brain as a computer, filtering various circumstances and thoughts through this imagery. Note the following example of this motif from Chapter 181:
[W]hen I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn't any space left to think about other things.
Christopher loves computers, just as he adores the intricacy of other machines and of many scientific or mathematical concepts. Akin to his relationship with film, Christopher's love for computers extends one step further to kinship, causing him to project his own psyche onto the machine's operation. In the above passage, Christopher likens his overstimulated brain to an overloaded CPU. This is not simply a figure of speech for him, but a real sense of identification with a central processor.
Another example of this motif occurs in Chapter 211:
And then [the train station] filled up with people and another train came with the same roaring. And it was exactly like having flu that time because I wanted it to stop, like you can just pull the plug of a computer out of the wall if it crashes, because I wanted to go to sleep so that I wouldn't have to think [...].
This motif is an extension of Christopher's pragmatic mental processing; it also reflects the connection he feels to computers in his everyday life, given his frequent gaming hobby. He has clearly experienced a computer crashing and has had to unplug it from the wall. Christopher again personally identifies with this process, mixing human descriptors ("sleep," "think") with computer descriptors ("crashes").
