TEmple and CHristopher
Temple Grandin and Christopher Boone are two completely different characters/people, but with each of their cases with autism, they have their similarities and differences.
Similarities
These two characters are similar in a few obvious, repeatative ways. Some of these similarities include extra strong senses, satisfaction when working in fields of interest, taking everything literally, feeling calm in tight spaces, having mathematical minds, and extreme photographic memories. Temple's strong senses are seen when random sounds souch as fans, for example, appear to be loud to the point of discomfort, as shown in the movie. Christopher's strong senses a seen when he shows great sensativity to things like TV or people's conversations as they pass him walking. To feel satisfied, they must be working in subjects where they enjoy spending time, such as engineering or animals for Temple and Space and simply math for Christopher. They each take everything literally and can't really understand sarcasm or jokes, and then they both enjoy being in tight spaces. Temple created her own squeeze machine for the calming sensation she recieves in tight spaces, and Christopher likes to cram himself into tight spaces, like between luggage on the train, for example. 2 more characteristics they share in common are mathematical minds and photographic memories. As seen by the blueprint flashes in the movie, Temple breaks down the mechanics of everthing she sees and analyzes how everything works. Christopher solves extreme math problems in his head when he feels bored. Then Temple's extreme memory is illustrated when she glances at the text boo page for 1 second in french class and recites it to the teacher. Christopher's is seen when he uses picures of maps in his head to get around his neighborhood and how he knows the layout of his street in pictures. As seen by these characterstics they share, they each have some quite extraordinary minds.
Diferences
While Temple and Christopher share many aspects of their own cases with autism, there are a few differences that can be seen to really separate the two. One significant difference between them is their willingness to talk to strangers. For example, Temple even went out of her own way to talk to people she's never met before, as seen at the slaughterhouse. Christopher never felt comfortable talking to strangers and would sometime even ignore others that tried to talk to him first. One more difference between them would be how willing or comfortable they are when it comes to touching others. Temple would shake hands with people she met, like her science teacher, but later on in the movie she even reached the point of hugging her Mom at Dr. Carmichael's funeral, which was a huge step for her considering her autism. Christopher was never comfortable with touch to the point in which he hit a police officer just because the policeman touched him. As seen by this, each of their cases is different when it comes to sociality.