IRP: I'll Admit It...I Cried... (Ch. 227-Appendix, prompt # 8/18)

(the above is a famous image from Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of Silver Blaze"

So yeah the ending was pretty awesome. Christopher does well in math and seems to have a hopeful future and though it took awhile, eventually began to trust his dad again which I was definitely worried about.

But for the prompt...For this post, I am going to do a mix of 8 and 18. I am going to answer 8 but to do that I have to answer 18.

So I was trying to find a deeper meaning or message or theme for the story and had some trouble. Then I thought about the whole mystery concept. I thought about possibly something with the whole Wellington thing. Then I realized that the book is supposed to be about Wellington and the whole mystery about his mother is completely unknown. Though I did figure it out early on, to most other readers, they probably thought she was dead the whole time. So for them, she was never a problem and any mention of her didn't really mean much. Even Christopher doesn't know he is solving this mystery. He has accepted the fact that his mother is dead and has no intention of proving otherwise. But I didn't think this was a good enough theme so I began to work on the title post...

I searched the title and of course a bunch of Mark Haddon book review sites and such came up but surprisingly, Sherlock Holmes also came up. I searched a little more about Sherlock Holmes literature and any connection between him and Haddon and found that the title of the novel is actually a reference to Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of Silver Blaze," a book mentioned in Christophers book. In this Holmes mystery, a silence of a dog was accepted as normal.

Here lies the connection. Not only is it about dogs, but the mistaken acceptance of something not true. While Christopher and the reader focus on the mystery of who killed Wellington, and Holmes focuses on his mystery, we all accept something else for real turning our heads and missing the true mystery, the mystery of Christophers mother and the dog in the Holmes mystery.

This is the true theme of the novel...

The reader fails to see the importance of what isn't there. Now obviously this relates to not just this novel but real life. As we focus on other aspects of life, and compensate by accepting other things, therefor no longer noticing them, we realize that it is the absence we should have been focusing on all along.

This true play on the reader is quite comical but also frustrating, though it does bring out a great novel and a modern masterpiece which I recommend to anyone who has the time to read it. That's it for these posts and I hope you have enjoyed the book.

Let me know your final thoughts on the novel and if you would recommend it or not...


This is just a little video to enjoy. If you've never witnessed a Sherlock Holmes movie you're really missing out. This it from "The Adventure of Silver Blaze." There's nothing really relevant in the clip but just thought I would add it to give you some enjoyment.