Curious Incident of the Dog

Thesis Statement: Despite the common misconception that Aspergers is a disability, Christopher Boon demonstrates that the syndrome provides him with distinct advantages.

Imagine what it would be like to live with a disease in which there’s no diagnosis and nobody can even allude to a possible conclusion? John Elder wrote Look Me In The Eye to tell the reader stories of his life, whether it be family struggles or hardships he felt on his own. Through writing, he had hoped to give a reader insight to his life; he wanted to give all people and people with Asperger’s information on a topic to see what it’s like. Elder uses pathos, ethos and logos, along with the use of detail and diction to tie his rhetorical strategies together and to create a story which a reader will remember and learn something valuable from.

Are you able to comprehend the confrontations faced by an autistic child? In the book “the curious incident of the dog in the night time” by Mark Haddon, You are able to understand the challenges faced by the main protagonist Christopher Boone. In order to gain a sense of maturity an individual must overcome difficult challenges. This will be demonstrated by examining Christopher Boone’s ability to learn to become independent and understand social interaction and emotions.

In the article, “How to Speak Asperger’s,” by Fran Goldfarb and Guthrie Devine, the authors contend that learning to communicate with people with Asperger’s Syndrome is an important skill. The authors introduce the article by providing a narrative about Goldfarb’s son. The point of her narrative is that communication is misunderstood with people with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). The author, Fran Goldfarb, explains how her son misunderstands communication with his teachers, and how punishment is ineffective, because of his Asperger’s. The authors start by explaining why communication is very complex. To begin with, people with AS struggle with communication, because of their lack of social cues. They tend to miss irony, humor, and they take everything literally. That’s why people with AS don’t understand communication and everything is a struggle for them.

The reader is able to observe how Christopher interprets others actions when people call him “Special” and autistic. “Sometimes the children from the school down the road see us in the street when we’re getting off the bus and they shout, “Special Needs! Special Needs!” But I don’t take any notice because I don’t listen to what other people say and only sticks and stones can break my bones and I have my Swiss Army knife if they hit me and if I kill them it will be self-defense and I won’t go to prison” (Haddon 44). Christopher does not care what other people call him and interpret it as annoying. He goes as far to say he is willing to kill them if they act aggressively showing Christopher’s actions based on other people’s actions. Additionally, Christopher’s interpretation of how people do things leads him to be surprised by what they do instead. Christopher having autism allows him to think uniquely and in ways other people might not understand. When Mrs. Shears told Christopher to put down the dog, “She bent down. I thought she was going to pick the dog up herself, but she didn’t. Perhaps she noticed how much blood there was and didn’t want to get dirty. Instead she started screaming again” (Haddon 4). Christopher thought that because Mrs.Shears bent down, she would pick up the dog. However, he thought wrong and screamed to Christopher’s surprise.Therefore, Christopher’s interpretation of others actions affects the overall narrative, as having autism allows him to see things differently than other

To write a good mystery novel takes time and only a few authors have been successful in writing them. Mystery novels has been around for a period of time with historical authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and recent author Stephen King. In these novels, clues are provided by the author and Christopher Boone, narrator of the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, states, “If it is a good puzzle you can sometimes work out the answer before the end of the book” (5). In relation to this, the most valuable information is typically gained throughout the process of the investigation rather than the solution itself. Although the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is not classified as a detective story, the plot still goes through an investigation and shares elements of a mystery novel. The mystery within the story that keeps the novel going is to find the killer of Mrs. Shears’ poodle, Wellington, and in turn, shapes the ending where the audience sees the development of the protagonist, Christopher, through the investigation itself, the journey to London and his overall ability as a writer.

Throughout the novel, our main protagonist Christopher is faced with various obstacles. From being unable to fit in socially, to trying to figure out who murdered the beloved neighborhood poodle, he begins to feel the uncomfortable constraints of his unspecified, but very likely, Asperger syndrome. His character is revealed through the way he seemingly remains unchanged throughout his journey, but when under closer inspection his new-found maturity is portrayed in a much subtler fashion. Christopher has followed rules and schedules all his life, he can’t cope without them. His entire existence has revolved around the same tedious routine, from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep. However, as the story progresses we are shown how he learns to cope with change and how he begins to see the world as a less

Throughout the novel,’ The curious Incident of the dog in the night-time,’ the theme of the understanding and the acceptance of people’s differences is explored by Variety of events and different situations. Prior to reading this novel, most responders would have been unaware of differences between them and someone who has Asperger’s syndrome so the plot is ensuring us the readers the novel is informative to the responder.

Thesis: Interestingly, Chris puts the practice into action when he embarks on an adventure in spite of his Asperger's.

“Normality is to be different. Every person is a different person. And one day you need to be aware of your difference. Aware that you are not the same as the others. That is to be normal.” Through his quote, Alejandro Jodorowsky creates a reflection upon what he thinks the idea of normality in society should be. ("Alejandro Jodorowsky Quotes." BrainyQuote.com). In the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Haddon alludes the idealistic thoughts on normality in today's society. In the world today, society expects the individuals to conform to what is thought to be normal. As humans, one strives to adapt to societal standards. Normality within society is considered something different for those that refuse

The language used in the novel is very important, since it gives the reader a deeper understanding of the life and thoughts of a boy with Asperger’s and shows how to interpret the characters. First, there’s the excessive use of “and”. Throughout the story, it is very noticeable that the writer uses the word “and” a lot, which can be seen in the following quotation: “…and then she laughed. So I tore the original piece of paper up and threw it away. And Siobhan apologized. And now if I don’t know what someone is saying I ask them that they mean or I walk away”. In this quotation, the writer uses a total of four “and”. The large number of

Moreover, Christopher’s first perspective informs the readers of the many privileges he has, despite his most obvious lack of ability privilege while on the autism spectrum. To start off, Christopher is an extremely structured character who plans things in great detail to a point where he can visualize it. This is exemplified in the novel when

In simple terms, language is commonly defined as the ability to speak to and communicate with others. In reality, the concept of language is far more complex. There are multiple ways in which language can influence the human experience. It allows us to measure empathy, understand the viewpoints of others, listen, and process emotions with the goal of correctly interpreting words and cues from others. Language, however, is an imperfect tool, and although we as humans develop the ability to use and express the same words, we are often unable to control the ways in which others receive the messages that our words are meant to convey. The book Fifteen Dogs illustrates the complexity of language and shows that there are multiple factors that contribute to the way we develop language and communicate with one another. Although each dog is granted human consciousness at the same time, they individually interpret language in their own way based on their experience and perceptions of the new world and the ways in which they form connections with each other and with humans. No dog was better able to communicate with both his peers and with humans than Majnoun. Despite his mastery of language, he struggled to fit in with groups. This essay will argue that Majnoun’s example illustrates the problem of using language alone to ensure effective communication. This will be accomplished by focusing on how Majnoun struggles to understand and feel empathy, the difference between speaking words

While the main purpose of language is to communicate, Joseph Heller creates the world in which language loses its function as a tool for communication in favour of an

In this book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time, Mark Haddon writes about Christopher John Francis Boone who is an autistic child. Throughout this story Christopher attempts to solve a murder case of his neighbor’s poodle. Christopher wakes up one day at seven minutes past midnight, and he notices the next-door neighbor’s dog laying on the ground. So he decides to go over and check out what happened, soon he found a garden fork sticking out of a dog named Wellington. Since Christopher likes murder mystery novels, he decided to write his own murder mystery novel starting with finding out what happened to Wellington. Throughout his attempt in solving the mystery of the