Themes
- Courage is shown to be one of the most important themes in the novel, and is represented throughout the actions of the characters. Christopher's courage comes from the adventure that he embarks on in order to figure out who killed Wellington. This shows that even though Christopher is mentally disabled, he can still show ways of being courageous, such as interrogating people on his street that he doesn't know to see if they heard anything about Wellington. Also, courage is shown through Judy, as she has the courage to cope with her already hectic life, which includes her leaving Ed and Christopher, and living with Roger in London. Judy knows that life for her is hard enough as it is, yet she always just goes though it one step at a time. Finally, Ed demonstrates courage through heading over to London to see Christopher, even though he knows that he will run into Judy and Roger when he gets there. This is courageous because Ed has to face the woman who left him, and the man who stole his wife from him, together, all in order to talk to Christopher to persuade him to go back home to Swindon.
- The theme of independence also plays a part in the novel. Similarly to other novels with a teenage protagonist, Christopher wants to be more independent. However, due to his disability, he is unable to achieve the independence easily. For Christopher to achieve it, he builds up his self-confidence so that he is able to solve problems, and take to new people, like the interrogating for information about Wellington.