Many readers of the book The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nightime by Mark Haddon may conclude that the father of Christopher is in the absolute wrong for hiding and lying about his mother’s death to Christopher. The father is doing his best to take care of a “special” kid who does not fully understand human emotions and feelings which creates a barrier to the outside world. As the book progresses the father does “hit” Christopher, but that is a simple reaction to Christopher’s persistent pushing around. Eventhough alcohol creates some of the anger in the father, the alcohol I think is a coping mechanism for the father to get over his wife leaving him. Christopher’s father really loves his son, his love is hidden through indirect characterization and shows its parts throughout the book. …show more content…
There were tears coming out of his eyes” (Haddon 21) that shows his father deep down loves Christopher and is sad from what he has done by seeing if Mrs. Shears dog was okay. Furthermore, Mark Haddon creates more of these hidden feelings of the father after he reveals to Christopher that he killed Mrs. Shears dog. His father only killed the dog because he felt that Mrs. Shears was going to leave them to dust when they got in a fight, that was the closest relationship he had with someone since his wife left him and that helped him partially deal with Christopher. He even said he did not mean to hide anything from his son, all he did was protect Christopher from the real horrors of the
Christopher has major conflictions with his father throughout the novel. He was lead to believe that his mother was dead, when in reality; his father had been keeping a major secret and had been lying to his son the entire novel about his mother’s wellbeing. Christopher’s mother had been writing him letters a couple times every week for a couple of years. Conversely, Christopher’s father had been hiding the letters after he told his son that his mother had died from a heart attack. His mother had actually just been having an affair with a neighbor, and his father couldn’t figure out a way to explain that to Christopher. “Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And father had lied about this”(112). While his father may have had good intentions by lying to Christopher, to him it seems as if his father had been keeping secrets from his because he believed he was incapable of understanding them. Christopher’s father has lost his son’s trust, and Christopher felt betrayed. He couldn’t believe that his own father, his parent who had been nurturing him ever since his mother had been gone was capable of lying to his face about something that big. In addition, another external conflict was between Wellington and whoever killed him. The story began with the dog’s murder, and after a sequence of events it was
In “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time”, Haddon utilizes the idea of trust to his reader through the experience of Christopher. When Christopher finds out about his father lied to him about his mother death, faking that he did it for Christopher, he makes an important decision which is to disobey his father and go to his mother to swindon.
It’s really fascinating to see that for Christopher his Father could become a villain so quickly. He is his dad who have taken care of him for more than fifteen years. I
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.
At the beginning of the story, he believed that his mom had died and he ends up finding out that his father was lying to him the whole time. Also, his father tells Christopher to stop looking for whoever killed Wellington, and the reason he tells him to stop is because he did it. His father knows that Christopher's life is hard, and he just makes it harder. For example Haddon writes, “I was cold and I was frightened Father might come out and find me. But I felt safer in the garden because I was hidden. (pg. 126) This shows that not only does Christopher's father make life harder, but he scares christopher and as a father, the last thing you should be doing is scaring your son, especially if he has a mental
Upon finding out about his parent’s mistakes, Chris had an undeniable resent toward his parents. His father had had an illegitimate child and refused to accept him, and his second family. Chris kept the concept of truth very close to his heart and when he discovered this deceit he was shocked. " ‘Their fraudulent marriage and our father's denial of his other son was, for Chris, a murder of every day's truth’ ” explained his sister (Krakauer 103).
Christopher decided to find his father, he didn’t have a good relationship with him but he tried. He tried helping him even though he saw him as a stranger. When he found him, his father was already sober and had a new family. It took them time to figure out how to work things out, even though Christopher knew that he would never be able to see him as a father like figure, he at least knew he could build a small relationship with him and his
Christopher’s mental instability places an enormous strain on his parents, together with their relationships with each other and Christopher. After Ed Boone becomes a single father, the relationship between him and Christopher is put under even more tension, as both are affected by a lack of stability. This is conveyed through a contrast between Ed’s emotive language and Christopher’s dry tone in his journal – ‘… and he said, “I need a fucking drink.” And he got himself a can of beer.’ This simultaneously demonstrates Christopher’s lack of empathy towards his father’s emotional state and Ed’s frustration at his son, and therefore the negative impact that the lack of stability of both characters has had on their
The readers will now clearly see through his “secret hate,” even if there is no evidence that the boy himself has realised consciously that it is directed towards his father. Defeated and in anguish he returns to his nightmares. This time round the dreams become more definitive. The father appears, conducting the dance of death and actually directing the monsters that haunt him. This shows that his subliminal self has learned, to some extent, the cause of his pain, even if he is still hasn’t managed to consciously comprehend the events.
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.
“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
When Kevin sees his father almost dying, he begins to think of the fatherless children in the world. He extends grace towards fathers in general by thinking how important a role they play in a child’s life, regardless of the mistakes that they might make. After thinking about fathers in general, he then thinks about his own father and as Bailey puts it, “ The caring-the carefulness-which was the belief in holding on to something worth preserving and passing on. Love. Kevin felt the tide of emotion that had been at its lowest ebb flowing back into him again. He looked to his Dad”. (259-260). Instead of remaining angry at his Dad for previous conflicts or for accidentally shooting his brother, Kevin extends grace to his Dad when he chooses instead to think and remember about all the love and caring his father has ever shown him. When he begins to feel that love for his father, his emotions pick up and that gives him the grace to keep on going without emotionally breaking down.
Throughout the novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, emotions are the most challenging problems of all for Christopher. However, beyond the drama of Christopher’s crises involving feeling, or interaction with other people, we glimpse a more general idea – that dealing with people and feelings is difficult. Discuss in relation to the themes and characters of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
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.
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