The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time By Mark Haddon

It has become paramount that composers utilise various techniques in order to influence an individual’s perception of the world. As seen through the eyes of an Aspergers sufferer, Christopher Boone, Mark Haddon’s inventive novel entitle ‘The Curious incident of the Dog in the Night Time’, skilfully portrays how the decisions of significant characters and their relationships shape the overall message about the difficulties of living with a limiting social condition. This is challenged from the unique perspective of Christopher and explicitly seen through the relationship between the protagonist and both his parents. Haddon employs a myriad of techniques through the concepts of the conflicting nature of love, the desperation for a world of

In the book, Christopher was trying to solve the murder of Wellington, Mrs. Shear’s dog. He wants to go find out information about whom the suspect could be, but he has difficulties talking to strangers. His anxiety holds him back and makes him awkward around all strangers. While questioning his neighbors about what they know about Wellington he said, “‘Do you know who killed Wellington?’ I did not look at his face. I do not like looking at people’s faces, especially if they are strangers. He did not say anything for a few seconds”(36). This quote demonstrates Christopher’s severe social problems. He is withdrawn from the conversation and appears to be uncomfortable. While Christopher may not realize it throughout the course of the novel, his disability is a conflict to himself. When Christopher was trying to make his way to London to reunite with his mother, he had to travel through a train station. This situation could have been overwhelming to anybody who had never traveled alone, but Christopher didn’t handle his unease like most normal people. “And there was sweat running down my face from under my hair and I was moaning, not

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.

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

Mark Haddon provides us a perspective from someone living with Asperger’s, he uses first person narration to do this. Haddon creates Christopher’s unique perspective by using

being “combative, and often let his feelings dictate his reactions and his favorite type of

Christopher struggles with social appearance and understanding and that is a result of his apparent Autism. When Chris is at school he struggles with people and making friends, he can’t understand that others are thinking, he can’t understand sarcasm and can’t

He always tends to make a big commotion about everything. He also develops strong opinions about other people without even meeting them or even talking to them. And when people do get past his wrong first impressions, he still finds some way to dislike them.

He copes to finding out his father lied and his mother was still alive. Christopher changes his personality toward his father when he found out father had lied to him. After a while christopher found out that his father was the one who killed wellington straight away a thought coming up in his headed that “Father had murdered wellington. That meant he could murdered me” so he started to plan a way to escaped the situation and the only way for him to escaped is to ran to his mother

A journey is more than going from point A to point B, it can be something that will change those involved forever. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an example of one of those journeys. A journey may be simple for some, but in Christopher’s case it is a difficult and complex journey. Christopher’s journey was a very tedious and the outcome of it affected more than just Christopher. At the end of the novel after Christopher came home from London, he was more confident in himself, and that is due to his journey.

Contrary to a computer, Christopher can feel emotions. He may not understand why he feels a certain way, but he knows what it feels like to be happy or sad. He recognizes that he felt sad when he found the dead dog (pg2), and he knows that he feels happy when he reads about the Apollo missions. The most important time in the novel that Christopher shows common human emotions is on page 112 when he first finds out that his mother is alive. He is very hurt and betrayed, but he does not know what he is feeling and cannot find a way to handle himself. Although Christopher concedes to having these emotions, he seems to just accept that he has them rather than to understand them.

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon successfully explores the different perspectives presented with the use of several language & stylistic features. Featuring Christopher Boone, the fifteen year old narrator with mild Aspergers discovers his neighbours dog, dead on the lawn. Leading to Christopher’s determination to discover the murderer, where he also encounters destabilizing events. Haddon effectively uses first person narration to influence the audience on Christophers characteristics with Asperger’s assisting with a perception of his logic and behavioural patterns. Further, Haddon incorporates stylistic features and narrative techniques to express the hardships faced with the mother and the cultural perspective towards Christopher’s Aspergers.

The reader is positioned to feel sympathy for Judy when she is telling it through her point of view. Judy’s decision to leave the family is right and wrong as Judy was not coping as Christopher’s mother and her and Ed were arguing a lot, however the decision hurt Christopher. Mark Haddon challenges the reader to think deeply about this difficult decision though reading Judy’s letters to Christopher that give the reader insight into Judy’s struggle. Ed Boone (Christopher’s father), makes a challenging decision and decides to not tell Christopher that his mother is alive and living in London but tells him she died from a heart attack in hospital. Ed Boone is portrayed as a father who is patient with his son but who also gets angry at times, he is portrayed as a man who needs attention when he forms a relationship with Mrs Shears as he needs physical affection that he could not get from Christopher due to his Aspergers Syndrome.

In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon, the main character, Christopher, compares himself to Sherlock Holmes in a way that tells the reader that he has high self-esteem. This is first apparent when he says, “Sherlock Holmes...is the kind of detective I would be. He is very intelligent” (73). By stating that he would be like Holmes because he is intelligent, Christopher is indirectly saying that he believes himself to be just as intelligent. Christopher also believes himself to be more observant than others like Holmes who knows that “‘The world is full of obvious things which nobody...observes.’

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, has autism. Due to his disabilities, his mother left him at a young age, leaving his father to care for him. Due to his specific condition, many unordinary situation happened to him. He has been sent to a special school, which is only available to those with disabilities.