(i) My impression of Christopher is that he has problems recognizing social cues. This is shown in the passage that states “Father banged the steering wheel with his fist and the car weaved a little bit across the dotted line in the middle of the road and he shouted.” This suggests that his father became angry and told him to drop the topic about the murdered dog but Christopher went on about it. This proves that he has difficulty handling with non-verbal forms of communication, such as body language, tone of someone’s voice and someone’s facial expressions. He also makes a point to recognize that he is angry only because he is shouting. Christopher thinks that when people looks at you when they are talking, it is a lesson to learn other than that, it is not. He cannot tell what others are thinking even though it is very obvious. Thus, Christopher has problems recognizing social cues and is bad at it.

Christopher is also someone who finds solace in his pet. As seen in the passage, it states “When we come in through the front door I went into the kitchen and got a carrot for Toby and I went upstairs and I shut the door of my room and I let Toby out and gave him the carrot.” This proves that animals provide him with the companionship that his father is lacking to give him. To add on, his father was just angry at him. Christopher was upset when the neighbor’s dog was murdered and he went to the police station only because of the murdered dog. This shows his affection and care for animals. Therefore, Christopher is someone who finds solace in animals.

Christopher is someone who is very detailed. In the passage, it states
“Played 76 games of minesweeper and did the expert version in 102 seconds, which was only 3 seconds off my best time, which was 99 seconds.” This proves that he pays attention to small things and actions and tracks simple things like a game of minesweeper. Christopher uses special methods to organize his thoughts. He is thorough with his thoughts and calculates every action that he makes. Christopher likes logic puzzles and math problems as he is part of his own world that is logical and ordered. He wanted to visit his mother in the hospitals not because of seeing if his mother is doing all right but because he likes hospitals. He likes their uniform because he likes order and hospitals uniforms are very organized. He likes the machines in the hospitals because he finds them less complex and easier to handle than humans as he does not handle human interaction well. Thus, he is a very detailed person.

Christopher is not motivated by emotions of sympathy, rather by logic.
Based on the passage, it states “There were tears coming out of his eyes. I decided to leave him alone because when I am sad I want to be left alone.” This means Father was frustrated with Christopher and the way he acted towards him. Christopher then makes a conscious effort to leave his father alone based on past experiences. Also, he wanted to make a get well card for his mother not because she is sick and he wants her to get well soon but because he provides suggestions based on experience and not because he really wanted to give it to his mother. Christopher sees things logically using cause and effect. He then formulates his response to these things through careful calculation based on experiences. Therefore, he is a logical person.

In conclusion, although the passage produces an impression that Christopher is a person who struggles to understand social cues and human interaction, the passage also gives us the impression that Christopher can be caring even when he does not realize it. He is considerate and he observes what others rationalize that what is expected of him. This contrast in character traits make him an interesting person to study, evidently informing the readers that there is more than meets the eye.

(ii) The writer gains sympathy for Christopher by using his father. In the passage, it shows that the father had lost his patience with Christopher and had been angry with him since the trip to the police station over the murdered dog. He shouted at him for not keeping quiet as he had already lost his patience by then. Father’s emotions were evoked when he was trying to explain to Christopher that the case of the murdered dog is over and whatever’s done cannot be undone. That night after that incident, Christopher’s father broke down into tears and was crying as he regrets shouting at Christopher earlier on in the car. As a single parent, he feels anxiety and burden of having to raise a child on his own. He is emotionally broken because his wife died, leaving no one to care for him. He had no one to help him cope with his emotions thus he bottles up everything until he explodes in anger and vents his anger on Christopher. This is probably why Christopher turned out this way as he has no one to show love and concern for him as his father already has problems coping with himself. No one understands Christopher, leading the readers to sympathize with him.

Another way the writer gains sympathy for Christopher is through pets and minesweeper. He finds solace in pets and minesweeper because he has no human companionship. His father does not understand him and also struggles with frustration to understand him. Unfortunately, no one does so he finds companionship in pets and games. He is therefore seen as lonely and it is interesting and sad to see that he is presented in this way. Thus, this makes the reader’s sympathetic towards him.

The last way the writer gains sympathy for Christopher is through his mother. Christopher does not understand the difference between life and death and thus leading to him being not able to comprehend sadness and lost. When his father did not look at him while talking about him mother, it means that something is not right but Christopher did not notice anything different. Christopher does not know that his mother passed away. Sympathy is evoked by a child without a mother and to add on, he does not even know that he has lost his mother. Also, in the passage, it states “I said I would make her a get well soon card, because that is what you do for people when they are in hospital.” This proves that Christopher still does not know that his mother is not living among them anymore and they is no possible way that she can read and appreciate the card he had made for her. This also evokes the feeling of sympathy as he is able to process the expected behavior in the situation but his mother is dead.

In conclusion, the writer uses Christopher’s mother, father as well as animals and games to gain sympathy for him. Christopher is a person who does not comprehend things easily and he is not very aware of whatever is happening around him. He cannot communicate with ease with humans and he finds himself easier to relate with machinery and animals and human companionship is what he lacks from young as he does not have a mother to guide him through life.