Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time Essay

In the novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time” by Mark Haddon truth is a recurrent theme. It features a young protagonist called Christopher who suffers from Asperger’s and lives with his father. The story begins when he is confronted by the murder of his neighbour’s dog ‘Wellington.’ Christopher believes in obeying rules and always telling the truth however sometimes this can be a hindrance to him. Christopher’s inability to lie does hold him back and create more difficulty in his life and this is demonstrated in the troublesome situations he finds himself in.

What makes fiction novels especially interesting are the larger messages hidden within them. The novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon does just that. The novel centers around a 15 year old genius Christopher Boone who has a mental disability of some sort, struggling with communication because of it. The book is comprised of a murder mystery novel Christopher sought to write after discovering the bloody murder of his neighbor's dog, Wellington. Gradually, the story focuses away from the main conflict and morphs into a complicated story about Christopher’s life. With that, Haddon brings out the complexity and hardships of human life, specifically through the topic of truth and deceit. The truth comes out eventually; fabricating it now will only prolong the unwanted effects later. Also, lies ruin relationships, possibly for good.

First person narration is a technique which allows the reader to understand perspective. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a boy diagnosed with autism, lives his everyday life experiencing many issues. Mark Haddon chose to make Christopher, a boy with Autism, the narrator of this novel because Christopher’s first person narration has an overall impact on the story shaping it. First person narrative affects the novel as it lets the reader understand how Christopher, someone with Autism, may think about “dramatic” interactions and how he may interpret the actions of others.

By practicing nonconformity, Chris made it impossible to have a good relationship with his father. Chris cleary demonstrates this hatred for his father in the letter he wrote to his sister ; “I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever.” (chapter 12)

While on Chris's journey, he found out a heart-wrenching family secret. He discovers his dad is still with his ex wife and that he has a step brother and, to top it off, his mother had known about everything all along. This could've crushed Chris's free and friendly spirit; however, the lies fuel his fire to prove himself. "If something bothered him, he wouldn't right out and say it. He keep it to him self, harboring his resentment..."(122). Chris was very upset after hearing this news, but he used it as another reason to be on his own and live how he wanted to. Chris and his father never had a healthy relationship. They always butt heads on almost every thought Chris had." Both father and son were stubborn... Given Walt's need to exert control... Chris submitted to Walt's authority" (64). Chris didn't agree with the rules of society and his father could never understand that. Chris took all of his pain and hurt and traded it in for an adventurous and lively

This essay will be an analytical essay where the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon will be analyzed and interpreted. The focus will be on the language of the novel and the themes and messages.

The novel, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” is narrated by a 15 year old boy with a form of autism named Christopher Boone. It is about his search for order and stability in his life and how he copes with situations that lack this. At the beginning of the story, Christopher discovers that his neighbour’s dog, named Wellington, has been murdered. He decides to get to the bottom of this and solve the mystery of Wellington’s murderer while writing a murder mystery novel about it. As he begins to investigate the neighbourhood, Christopher’s dad discovers the book and confiscates it. While looking for his book, Christopher stumbles upon a box in his fathers closet containing his book as well as 43 letters. They are all from his mother and addressed to him. The letters are dated after her supposed death and reveal that she is living with Mr. Shears, the man she had an affair with, in London. Christopher is shocked and his father confesses that he lied about his mothers death and goes a step further by revealing that he was the culprit behind Wellington’s murder. Christopher leaves his father that night and embarks on his journey to London to live with his mother. He overcomes many obstacles, but is eventually reunited with his mother in London. After Mr. Shears shows his disapproval of Christopher joining them, his mother leaves Mr. Shears and takes Christopher back to Swindon. Christopher and his mother both live in a small flat and his father has

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a book that should be read by the millennial generation. The millennial generation would benefit from reading this book from its incorporation of the main character’s development disorder. The main character, Christopher, has difficulties with social interaction but the author doesn’t make the book revolve around this fact. Christopher describes himself as, “a mathematician with some behavioral difficulties”. Christopher investigates the murder of his neighbor’s dog and is confronted with surprising news when he finds out about the status of his parent’s marriage and when his father confesses to the murder. Christopher discovers his mother hasn’t passed away like his father told him and is instead living in London with his

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.

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.

In Mark Haddon's contemporary novel, "The curious incident of the dog in the Night-Time", the protagonist, Christopher Boone, does seem completely unsuited to narrating a novel, as he takes on his authorial voice, thus demonstrating symptoms of his disability, 'Asperger's Syndrome.' This is a syndrome that enables him to see the world only through his limited perspective, which is closed, frightened and disorientated - which results in his fear of, and inability to understand the perplexing world of people's emotions. His description of events can be somewhat unreliable as he is unable to see the real truths that lie before him. As he narrates, readers are confronted with his peculiarities - whether it is not liking to be touched, his fear

This shows the difference between the two parents. Both characters were blatantly frustrated with Christopher but dealt with this frustration in different ways. The father continued to stay at the house with Christopher and raised him by himself. The mother moved to go live in London with Mr. Shears and proceeded with writing Christopher letters. After

The writer and director also show alienation through the character's anger. Christopher McCandless isolates himself because of his anger towards his family. His family believes physical comfort is more important than spiritual values. Therefore Chris’ anger focus’ on his father and his affair, parenting not only Chris but his previous son as well. Honesty and honor, is a big deal to Chris and because of his father's double life, he lost respect for him. “Chris kept careful score. And over time he worked himself into a choler of self-righteous indignation that was impossible to keep bottled up.” (Krakauer 122) Consequently because of his father's past affair, Chris withdrawals himself from his parents. Later, Chris announced to his sister that

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a mystery novel written by Mark Haddon. The story takes place in England, during the year 1998. The protagonist of the story, a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher Boone, narrates the story as well as his personal thoughts throughout the course of events to the reader. The novel opens with the murder of his neighbor’s poodle, which leads to him discovering secrets that his father had kept from him. He loses trust in his father and runs away from home, heading to London in search of his mother, whom he had been informed had passed away, when in fact she had actually left Christopher’s father for another man. Christopher, as an autistic young adult, faces many obstacles in his day-to-day

Although this would have been the same in third person, we wouldn’t be able to interpret Christopher’s reactions as well. When he was told he was shocked that his mother deceived him and just wanted to go home. In the following chapter, which is one that diverges from the main plot, the line “And what he meant was that maths wasn't like life because in life there are no straightforward answers at the end” relates to the previous chapter because of the unpredicted events Christopher just faced. Lastly, in chapter 167 Christopher’s father confesses to killing Wellington after apologizing for lying about his mother because he doesn't want any more secrets. In third person we would see he is clearly outraged at his father. In first person we get more in-depth into his feelings, we learn how he rationales that his father is going to kill him next which lead to the final chapters in the book. In third person we could have foreseen these events but through Christopher’s logical mind we get lost in following his more in depth, unpredicted, and emotional path to the answer.