Mark Haddon's Character Analysis

In James Berger’s, Alterity and Autism, James makes a powerful statement on Christopher which basically describes him completely, “As a person with Asperger’s syndrome,

Asperger’s syndrome is becoming more and more common as time goes by. Each year, more children are being diagnosed. This paper focuses on Asperger’s Syndrome and developing social skills in various social settings. By looking at the etiology, diagnostic procedures, how the condition effects development, daily challenges, current social/cultural views, and relevant social interventions, a better understanding on how to develop social skills for children with Asperger’s Syndrome can ensue. The world revolves around social situations. This is how people are hired for jobs, ask for things, make new friends, meet their future spouse, etc. At the moment, social skills training and social support is minimal compared to where it potentially

Aside from routines and rituals, another essential symptom in Asperger’s is poor or nonexistent social skills. People with Asperger’s syndrome have difficulty during conversation and are awkward when starting conversation ("What is Asperger's Syndrome?

Besides the poor communication skills and resulting in awkward social behavior of Asperger’s Syndrome, there are also the physical aspects. People with Asperger’s Syndrome have a heightened sensitivity to loud noises, lights, or even certain colors. For example, they may not be able to wear certain kinds of materials because the fabric will irritate the skin. Often, they have strong taste buds and are sensitive to different textures. Additionally, they may have a rigid walk or an odd posture. Likewise, motor coordination is usually lacking making simple tasks such as handwriting, opening a jar, or catching a ball a struggle. The lack of motor skills makes it difficult to play team

Problems with social skills include difficulty interacting with others, are often awkward in social situations, and have difficulty starting and maintaining a conversation. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome may develop odd, repetitive movements, such as hand twitching or finger twisting. They might also develop unusual rituals, such as getting dressed in a specific order, and are resistant to change the ritual. Some communication difficulties people with Asperger's syndrome may exhibit are, not being able to make eye contact when speaking with someone, trouble using facial expressions and gestures, and understanding body language. They also have a tendency to misunderstand language in context and are very literal in their use of language. Individuals could express limited range of interests; they could develop an almost obsessive interest in a few areas, such as weather, topics in school, or sports. Many individuals with Asperger's syndrome are exceedingly gifted or skilled in a particular area, such as history or science. The coordination of individuals with Asperger's syndrome may seem clumsy or awkward.

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.

Autism is a brain disorder that is characterized by slow and difficult comprehension of spoken and non-verbal communication and repetition of behaviors. Autism is normally noticed in the first two years of a child (Myers & Johnson, 2007). Asperger syndrome is an autistic disorder that has almost the same similarities with autism. People with Asperger syndrome have little comprehension of the world and its surroundings and poor communication with other people. People with Asperger syndrome are hard to recognize, as they do not show on their outward appearances. They are average or above average intellectually and have fewer problems in terms of speech and specific learning disabilities unlike in autism. These difficulties include dyslexia, epilepsy, and attention

Communication is one of the hardest challenges with Asperger's. People with Asperger's have a limited area of interest, resulting in the excessive discussion about this area of interest. They often do not realize that someone has lost interest in the topic of discussion ("PubMedHealth"). "Most treatment efforts focus on enhancing communication skills and reducing problem behaviors. For children with Asperger's syndrome, most therapy should consist of school education combined with special psychological supports for communication and socialization problems "("Magill's Medical Guide"). Fortunately, people, like Jacob, have tutors or teachers to help them converse and behave in a calm and collected manner. Jess, Jacob's tutor, teaches him how to order food politely, how to greet people, and overall, how to carry on a conversation without delving too deep into a certain subject. Being in a school environment gives one with Asperger's a sense of belonging or recognition. Jacob goes to a public school that allows him to use a "get out of class" pass if it gets too overwhelming for him.

Another instance where Chris is unable to understand how someone else communicates is when his mother sends him a letter regarding his increasing distance from herself and Walt.Chrisreacts with, “What does she mean ‘whoever I’m with’?” Chris railed at his sister. “She must be fucking nuts. You know what I bet? I bet they think I’m a homosexual. How did they ever get that idea? What a bunch of imbeciles” (Krakauer 125).Most would conclude that there mother is simply concerned for their child, however Chris isunable to make this connection despite there being nothing to convolute her letter.Thisproves his inability to comprehendanother person’s message, whether it be written or spoken, Chris struggles with proper communication. Is this Asperger’s doing? No, it is not. As previously stated Chris does struggle with empathystemming fromhis anger towards his parents,and this directly affects his ability to read a person’s meaning behind what is being said. For a somewhat narrow clarificationimagine Sheldon Cooper from, The Big Bang Theory. Whenever a sarcastic crack is made, Sheldon takes what is being said for face value, ignoring the obviously sarcastic tone and believing that joke to be a literal statement. A lack of empathy makes it very difficult to understand emotion, which is crucial for proper communication. An inhibitor such asthis is what plagues Chris and leads to

Asperger’s disorder (AD) is a disruption in the formation of the child’s physical and or psychological development and recognizing these, the disorder was separated from Autism in 1944, to provide a basis for each child to get the proper care. All children with Asperger Disorder will show some traits in these three categories; impaired social skills, trouble communicating with others and a pattern of behavior, interest, and activities’ will be limited and recurring; they become obsessed with a single theme. Usually the child will have the normal communication skills in the beginning years. They will be using single words by age one. They just will not be using them in the normal way. When doctors are testing for this disorder, they are looking for specific behaviors or skills that are either present or absent. If the right services are available, Asperser’s children will show significant improvement in language

The novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time gives the reader an inside look on what life is like for a person with autism through their eyes. In the video clip Marianne Elliott, the director of the play, says, “Mark Haddon deliberately didn’t explain or describe who Christopher was.” Mark Haddon, the author, did not tell us that Christopher had Asperger’s because he wanted to focus on difference not on disability. By Haddon telling this story from the point of view of Christopher, the reader got to experience everyday life as a person with Asperger’s would. The reader got to be inside the mind of Christopher and compare and contrast their life to his.

Christopher Boone cannot identify moods by facial expressions or tone of voice. For example, when his father had found Christopher’s book he asked “What is this?” Christopher states “I didn 't realize he was mad because he wasn 't shouting” (page 81).Christopher answered but did not understand the gravity of the situation right away. This example falls in line with those who are on the spectrums inability to read social cues. Another example of this is when Christopher explains that he finds people confusing. He states “People can do a lot of talking without any words…if you raise one eyebrow it can mean lots of different things” (page 15). Daniel P. Callahan explains “Deficits in recognizing emotion, facial expressions , and vocal intonation may underlie the problems many people with ASD have in reading social cues” (page 218). This same reason is also why Christopher has trouble with metaphors. He explains he cannot picture exactly

I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn 't understand what someone was saying. But it was very difficult to decide which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because people 's faces move very quickly.” (Haddon, 2003: pp. 4) This quote gives us an insight into Christopher’s thoughts and shows us how enigmatic emotions can be for someone with Asperger’s. Christopher, however, is fully aware of the fact that he cannot understand how humans express emotions. “I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating.” (Haddon, 2003: pp. 6) When Christopher openly states his preference for dogs over human beings purely due to his lack of identifying feelings with human beings, it is confirmed that Christopher is incapable of openly conveying his emotions. His lack of empathy is the result of his ASD, which prevents Christopher from expressing emotions and feelings.

Christopher can be described in many different ways. He is very literal, honest, observant, precise, and tends to go off track. (Haddon, 2003) “Mr. Jeavons said that I was a very clever boy. I said that I wasn’t clever. I was just noticing how things were, and that wasn’t clever. That was just being observant. Being clever was when you looked at how things were and used the evidence to work out something new.” (p.24-25) As we can see Christopher tends to take simple comments and go off track with them. His thought process is much different from people without Asperger’s which is almost refreshing. It makes the reader engage more with Christopher by telling us his thought process and mental status.

Along with this information given, Aspies also have difficulties understanding emotional cues. Such as when listening to someone or watching someone they may say something inappropriate or repeat something that isn’t appropriate to the situation because they misread the social aspect of the situation or they misread the emotional aspect of the situation. People with Aspergers Syndrome usually have small eye contact with other people, which again can seem rude to others, but that is the way Aspies feel is most comfortable to them. Others may not like it but it is something that they can’t change, and it is a way their body posture works. Aspies have awkward body language (posture, movement, etc.). They don’t know what to do with their hand 's pasture difficulties, or they present differently in social situations in ways that make it seem awkward. With the low eye contact and not understanding emotional cues Aspies are more likely to be at risk when it comes to making friends, they are usually socially isolated.