The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night

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.

“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of the dynamic and creative intellectual activity”.- (John F. Kennedy). This focus on mental capacity and dynamism is clearly seen through Christopher Boone's character in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Diagnosed with autism, Christopher is a very unpredictable character who grows dynamically throughout the novel. The emphasis on Christopher’s various abilities highlights his different skills rather than fixating on the fact that he is on the autism spectrum. Christopher’s personality signifies his unique character as well as being able to do many things beyond readers imaginations. In Haddon’s Curious Incident of

Christopher- In the beginning of the novel Christopher finds a dog dying in Mrs. Shear’s yard when she looks to see Christopher on top off the dog she calls the police. When telling them his innocent he launches an investigation to find the person that killed the dog. Christopher and his father were very close ever science he was a child. Christopher was told that his mother died, but really the mother and the neighbor Mr. Shears had an affair. Which lead his father to tell him that she died from a heart attack. His mother has always been alive and sending him letters which his

The Curious Incident: Analysis Using Marxist Criticism In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a Marxist critic would be interested in how Mrs. Alexander has higher wealth shown through specific purchases and possessions included in her daily life. Mrs. Alexander shows her wealth when she offers Christopher a piece of Battenberg cake when he meets her for the first time. When Christopher is being a detective around the neighborhood asking questions about who killed Wellington, he comes across Mrs. Alexander outside and she offers him orange squash and mentions, “‘And what about Battenberg?’”

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.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is a novel introduced by Christopher Boone, the protagonist who changes from the beginning to the end of the novel. In the beginning of novel, Christopher’s emotions are not developed which indicates how he is not matured. Christopher is dependent on other people several times which shows that Christopher is an immature character. However, later on in the novel Christopher becomes more mature as he responds more emotionally to events. In addition, Christopher develops into a more mature character as he becomes independent. Christopher Boone develops from an immature character to a mature character.

Temple Grandin’s TED talk and the novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, have several similarities between the two. In the TED talk, Temple explains the way children with autism think, process, and react differently from those who are not autistic. Grandin announced to the crowd of the TED talk convention that those with autism tend to be sensitive to sound- just as Christopher was in the novel. There were several occurrences when Christopher’s surroundings became too much to handle- which is why “[he] walked at the edge of the road. And [he] didn’t like all the people being near [him] and all the noise because it was too much information in [his] head”(The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 139). She also

“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

However, what makes him a fascinating narrator is how he has learnt to deal with some of his phobias - as he also cannot bear loud noises, physical contact, strange people or unfamiliar places, he uses coping strategies such as 'groaning', 'screaming', 'hitting' fasting or even 'crawling' into small spaces. We see his distress at being grabbed by the policeman at the scene of Wellington the dog's death, which results in initiating one of his coping strategies, 'hitting'. Later we learn, Christopher attacks his father after his novel has been discovered. Overall, Christopher does convey to readers that his biggest underlying fear is of physical assault/illness, thus why he carries his 'Swiss Army Knife' and gets out the 'saw blade' when feeling scared. Christopher's phobias may suggest that he is unsuited to narrating a novel; however by including such accounts of how he deals with them single-handedly adds twists to the plot, as such sideline traits make the book readable apart from when he goes into excessive detail about mathematics and complex scientific explanations. Christopher is completely suitable to narrate this novel in a sense that he also caters for various audiences - people who live with or without the syndrome.

Many believe that those with autism do not have the capacity of developing moral agency without empathy. Kids at a young age are taught the lessons of good and bad of what other people see as good that impacts on them as they grow up. The same concept goes with Christopher in the novel of, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, that endorse the fact that he has autism is able to learn right and wrong without feelings. He is viewed as naïve, but gives that sense of innocence of nature through the way he portrays his thoughts to action. To fully understand Christopher on whether he has moral agency is better

At the beginning of the novel he says, “This book will not be funny. I cannot tell jokes because I cannot understand them.” Not only can Chris not tell jokes, but he also can’t determine or express human emotion. When his mother was in the hospital, he wanted to visit her because he liked the uniforms and machines in hospitals, not because she was sick. On the day she died, he noted in his journal his Scrabble score, and that he ate Spaghetti for dinner. This was rather disturbing to read; it was difficult not to be angry and disgusted with Chris for not mourning the loss of his mother. It is, however, essential to remember that he does not know any better, and couldn’t process his own feelings of sadness. I then felt sorry for Christopher; the severity of his disease was shown when he wasn’t even capable of feeling anything when his own mother died. Even though emotions can be tormenting, it is far worse to feel nothing than to feel pain.

Christopher was born with Asperger’s Syndrome, which limits his communication skills, interaction with others and his ability to read emotions that other characters portray. In addition to dealing with this, Christopher also struggles to come to terms that his mother “died of a heart attack and it wasn’t expected”. (P. 36) This dialogue between Christopher and his father

“The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone's comfort” Katherine Dunn perfectly describes what attracts us to lies from a quote in her book Geek Love. Most people lie to help themselves make it through day to day life. If people lie all the time, can all that lying really have an immense effect? Delays for telling the truth is not always a bad thing.While some lies are more helpful to some people more than others. Lies can make people seem untrustworthy, although lies help protect innocence, maintain self-esteem, and prevent harm from yourself or others.

Christopher’s real change happens when Christopher finds a stack of letter’s his ‘supposedly dead’ mother - “Mother died 2 years ago.” - writes to him whilst finding the book he was writing. This happens because his father tells him not to mind other’s business - “Father said, ‘Just try and keep your nose out of other people’s business.’” - and in result of not following his dad’s orders gets his book taken away. During his ‘detective work’ Christopher finds out the real reason as to why Wellington’s owner’s husband left as he was one of Chris’s main suspects. He finds out that his mother was having an affair with him. So when Christopher goes to find the book he finds the stack of letters - “One other possibility was that Father had hidden my book somewhere in the house.” -. All this leads to his change because if it wasn’t for his realization that his mother was alive he would have stayed and nothing would have differed. It is what leads to Christopher wanting to find his mother, and on this journey he experiences new danger and he learns how to cope with the real world. I believe the finding of the letters is very important as it helps the readers to sympathize with Christopher it also makes you sad especially because he is autistic and cannot understand why his father would lie to him.

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.