Chapter 157
What explanation does Christopher's mum give for leaving?
How does Christopher react to the letters?
What happens when Christopher's dad finds him and the letters?
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Chapter 163 - summary
Christopher tells us about an exercise that Julie, his first teacher at school, had him do when he was young. In the exercise, Julie showed him a tube of Smarties candy and asked him to guess what was inside. When he guessed Smarties, Julie revealed that the tube contained a little red pencil. Julie then put the pencil back in the tube and asked what Mother or Father would guess if they would come in at that moment. Christopher thought they would say the tube held a little red pencil. Julie told Mother and Father that Christopher would always have difficulty understanding another person’s point of view. Though, Christopher no longer has difficulty with these situations, because he thinks of them as puzzles to be solved.
Christopher describes an experiment he saw in a TV series called How the Mind Works. When a person looks at a page of text, they really only see the small area that their eyes are currently focused on. The mind fills in the image of the rest with an image it presumes to be true. If the text elsewhere on the page changes while the eyes aren’t looking at it, the mind doesn’t notice. People assume that computers are just machines without minds. But Christopher explains that the mind is actually a complicated computer, and that even feelings are just a picture in your mind of what is going to happen tomorrow or next year, or what might have happened instead of what did happen. If it is a happy picture you smile, and if it is a sad picture you cry.
Extra activity
What do you think about Christopher's father's reasons for lying to Christopher? What do you think of Christopher's response?
What impression do you get of Christopher's mum from having read the letters?
