The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a fictional story about a boy named Christopher who has behavioral problems. One night Christopher finds his neighbor’s dog murder and sets out to find who killed him. Christopher’s investigation takes him to London to meet his mother. As Christopher travels to London he meets many different people and through his interactions with others he is able to develop and become more independent. Christopher developed and his interactions with other characters indicated that he developed his interactions with other and became more independent. Mark Haddon develops Christopher in a way that proves he is more independent and he is able to interact with people better than before.
Balance and stability are integral factors of a human life and in maintaining relationships between humans, and can be influenced by whether or not a harmony is found between an individual’s freedom and confinement. These ideas are clearly presented in Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In this text, Haddon conveys his ideas, through tone and emotive language, that the emotional and mental stability of an individual impact greatly on his or her relationships. Through symbolism, he also describes the way in which a moderate level of isolation is a crucial part in maintaining human relationships. Together, these allow for Haddon’s audience to gain a deeper understanding of humanity and human relationships.
Who is your superior? Who are you in charge of? How do you know? In the Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time, by Mark Haddon, Christopher Boone is a young man who has special needs. He has strict rules about food, colors, and cars. He especially hates lies. One day he finds his neighbor's dog has been killed. He clutches the dog to his chest ultimately, leading to him hitting a police officer. He decides he wants to investigate the murder of the dog, but his father makes him promise to ‘'keep his nose out of other people's business”, but he investigates nonetheless, soon discovering dark family secrets. Authority leads to isolation. This is clear in Christopher's relationship with the police.
Every individual faces obstacles that are necessary to overcome, whether it be for equity, justice or honesty. Throughout The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, the main character, Christopher tells his story as a socially awkward teenage boy who has a supposedly deceased mother and lives with his father. Being an adolescent, Christopher faces obstacles throughout the novel that he has to overcome in order to grow. The only thing is, Christopher is not like everyone else. While discovering the truth and embarking on certain adventures, Christopher is in search of a form of justice that he truly deserves.
When Christopher’s father comes back home after leaving, he sees Christopher reading his mother’s letters. Christopher’s father was trying to hide the letters from Christopher, but was unsuccessful. When Christopher’s father realizes this he immediately said, “Those are. . . Oh shit. . . Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." (Haddon 114) knowing that Christopher read the letters from his mother. Christopher’s father said, “I killed Wellington” (Haddon 120) and Christopher could not comprehend whether his father was joking around or being completely honest with him. Christopher’s father tells Christopher the truth about his mother and Wellington after talking about the letters. When Christopher realizes his mother is alive and his father lied to him, he felt betrayed. His father tells Christopher it was for his own good and that he had to keep it a secret from him. Christopher’s thoughts were scattered; he no longer knew whether he could be near his father. The relationship he has with his father is crushed with a simple lie. Christopher’s father who matters to Christopher the most lies to Christopher, and his point of view suddenly shifts when he realizes
In the novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon the main character Christopher changes greatly during his adventure.
Christopher has a mindset to what is important to him; he will even disobey his father’s orders to do what he feels is important. “I am going to find out who killed wellington” (Haddon 20). Wellington is a dog that Christopher cares about, and when he finds the dog dead, he vows to find out who murdered the innocent dog. Once he finds out who killed the dog he is horrified of the man. “I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me” (Haddon 122). When Christopher realizes his father killed the dog he makes the connection that it was the right thing to do. Which leads him to search for his mother to get away from his father and find out the
“Belief in the truth of someone or something.” Trust is probably the most valued thing in human interaction and when Christopher’s father confessed to lying to him, Christopher feels like he cannot trust his father anymore. Although, Christopher, the main character of the novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time written by Mark Haddon, has autism and thinks very differently than I do, I can relate to him because a little over two years ago I lost all my friends and was diagnosed with depression making it hard to trust people. To me, parents and friends are supposed to be the people you trust and hope that they will never hurt you, and when Christopher felt betrayed by his father I instantly recollected when I felt that way towards
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, written by Mark Haddon, is a mystery novel about a young boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. Christopher Boone, the narrator of the book, compels the reader to feel the most sympathy towards him, due to his Asperger’s Syndrome. Not only is this portrayed by this affliction but also by his parents’ separation and losing the stability of a family life. Ed Boone, Christopher’s father, can be sympathised with when his wife leaves him and he struggles with being a single parent of a child with a disability. Mrs Shears has also suffered loss when her dog, Wellington, was killed and then when her husband left her for another woman. Haddon retells the life of Christopher Boone, through a variety of different techniques such as repetition, dialogue, expletive language and short sentences.
Greek philosopher Socrates once said: “To find yourself, think for yourself.” Independence is a fundamental quality in the life journey of a person. The strive for independence is the symbol of growth for teenagers. In Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time, author Mark Haddon explores this trait. The novel explores the world through the unique perspective of Christopher Boone, a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome. The book begins with the murder of Wellington, a dog in the Boone neighborhood. As Christopher embarks on a journey to solve the murder, he discovers the dark secrets of his family. Christopher then made his decision to revisit the secrets and uncover
Christopher’s father had come to take him out of jail, however Christopher was supposed stay out of trouble, otherwise he would get into deeper trouble. But Christopher was stubborn and still decided to continue the investigation to find out who killed Wellington. His father kept on scolding him on doing so, and he attempted to restrain Christopher from investigating, he even told him to keep his nose out of other’s business. Despite that Christopher was very stubborn
(Haddon 122). This shows that all Father was trying to do was to protect Christopher and he didn’t want it to all backfire but as the lie got bigger and stronger it all went downhill. Father was just trying to protect Christopher from the hurtful truth but as it went along it went the wrong way. Christopher was so hurt by this truth that all he wanted to do was run away, in which case he did. Father hid Christopher's book to make sure that he would stop investigating about the murder of Wellington and made sure that he wouldn’t write in that book again, but as Christopher was looking for his book he found a box with envelopes in them, he opened them and started reading. As he started reading he did not know that is whole life was about to change so suddenly. “ Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And father had lied about this” (Haddon 112). This quote was the actual realization that Christopher’s mother wasn’t dead and that father had lied, this was a shocking moment for Christopher in which he couldn’t even talk or think for that matter. Father was trying to protect Christopher from the information of his mother so suddenly leaving, in
The curious incident of a dog in the night time is an adult novel which tells the story of a fifteen-year-old boy called Christopher Boone, who discovers that his neighbour’s dog is dead. He did some detective work to solve the mystery of who killed the dog, as he was a fan of Sherlock homes stories, as the story unfolds he finds out a lot more than he thought, regarding himself and parts of the world he did not know existed. Mark Haddon gained influence from Jane Austen who wrote about dull lives of individuals with empathy that seemed somewhat intriguing, he mentions that he was trying to do this exactly with the novel the curious incident of the dog. By taking a life which seemed unpleasantly guarded, and to write about it in a book, where the male protagonist would read a mystery murder and show that if you looked at life with enough imagination it would seem endless (Haddon,
In trying to find out who murdered Wellington, Christopher uncovers a box containing letters from his mother addressed to him. Prior to this incident, Christopher’s father, Mr. Boone, told him that his mother passed away due to a heart attack while in the hospital. In addition, Christopher was unable to visit her. The date of the supposed death did not match up with the recent inscription on the letters, indicating his father lying about her death. Mr. Boone soon finds out about Christopher’s discovery, struggling to explain the situation: “I did it for your good, Christopher. Honestly, I did. I never meant to lie...I just thought
They nurture him and take care of all of his needs. But to maintain a healthy and happy relationship both parties need to trust each other and when someone breaks that bond of trust for the first time, its just simply really hard to get the other person's trust back. In the quote “Your mother was very good friends with Mr. Shears” (60) we realise that Christopher's mother wasn't happy with her life and was in a state of mind where she needed to breathe and she needed something new. So she went looking for something else, something that would get her mind off of things and that's when she met Mr. Shears and cheated on Christopher's father. Therefore throwing away all the trust he had on her. Christopher's father does not tell Christopher the truth, instead he tells him that his mom died.”I told you to keep your nose out of other people's business” Christopher's father says on page (49). He doesn't want Christopher to do research because he is afraid that he will find out that his father is lying to him therefore not trusting him any longer. Which would be horrible for both of them because they have each other, and that is the only thing they have in this