The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

When Christopher’s father comes back home after leaving, he sees Christopher reading his mother’s letters. Christopher’s father was trying to hide the letters from Christopher, but was unsuccessful. When Christopher’s father realizes this he immediately said, “Those are. . . Oh shit. . . Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." (Haddon 114) knowing that Christopher read the letters from his mother. Christopher’s father said, “I killed Wellington” (Haddon 120) and Christopher could not comprehend whether his father was joking around or being completely honest with him. Christopher’s father tells Christopher the truth about his mother and Wellington after talking about the letters. When Christopher realizes his mother is alive and his father lied to him, he felt betrayed. His father tells Christopher it was for his own good and that he had to keep it a secret from him. Christopher’s thoughts were scattered; he no longer knew whether he could be near his father. The relationship he has with his father is crushed with a simple lie. Christopher’s father who matters to Christopher the most lies to Christopher, and his point of view suddenly shifts when he realizes

It is a challenge for many children as they grow up to learn to be more independent. It can be particularly difficult for people with learning disabilities to learn how to move through the world on their own. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, Christopher Boone matures into an independent person after experiencing internal and external conflicts. Christopher struggles with his search for independence, and becomes an extreme example of this integral part of growing up.

Judy left with Mr. Shears and this caused trouble to Ed, with not knowing what to do, he lied to Christopher. Christopher was lead to believe that his mother had a fatal heart attack and had died later in hospital. Ed was faced with a major decision to make and at the time lying was the only option furthermore seeing the idea that lying was necessary in that case. Christopher would have struggled to understand the concept of his mother leaving with Mr. Shears due to his condition. Later in the novel, Christopher discovers letters that his mother has sent him since she has been gone. Here we see the effect that a lie has on him; he began to feel sick and dizzy. Christopher curled up into a ball and started to have a bad stomach ache, the next thing he says he remembers was waking up and discovering that he had been sick all over him self. Christopher learns a lot from this lie. He goes on an adventure to find his mother as he is scared of his dad; this is because of the lie by omission Ed told. Ed killed Wellington and never admitted it. ‘I couldn’t trust him, even though he had said “Trust me,” because he had told a lie about a big thing’.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a mystery work of fiction by a British writer Mark Haddon, who was born on the 26th of September in Northampton, England in 1962, where he was brought up by an architect. Mark Haddon was educated at Uppingham School he then went on to his English Literature major at Oxford, Merton College. After completing his studies, he went to Scotland where he spent his time working with MENCAP which was an organisation that helped disabled people, this experience of looking after individuals who were diagnosed with autism and various sclerosis soon influenced him with his fictional writing. Having an interest in mental and physical health issues it encouraged Mark Haddon to start seeing the commonalities

set the book into motion; he wanted to find out who murdered the dog named Wellington. From that

Hercule Poirot says goodbye to his partner Dubosc and boards the Taurus Express train to Stamboul. While riding the train to Stamboul, Poirot observes two passengers, Mary Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot. The two passengers appear to be strangers, but Poirot notices behavior that suggests they are not. One day passes and the train arrives in Stamboul; Poirot checks into the Tokatlian Hotel, as soon as Poirot checks into the hotel he receives a message asking him back to London. While waiting, at his hotel, for his next train to arrive Poirot bumps into an old friend, M. Bouc, head of the Wagon Lit. M. Bouc arranges a space for him on the Orient Express. In the dining hall at the Tokatlian, Poirot spots Ratchett and Hector McQueen eating dinner. Poirot knows that Ratchett has done some terrible things, and he describes him to M. Bouc as an animal. After dinner Poirot boards the Orient Express, he is made to ride second class because the train isn’t usually full. That night M. Bouc decided to give Poirot the last first class cabin so he could ride second. The next day in the dining car Ratchett approached M. Poirot; he told him he needed Poirot’s protection because someone was threatening his life. Even though 20,000 dollars was offered, Poirot turned him down.

In the novel, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon, the elements of Character of Father, the Aha-Moment of Christopher and the Conflict develops the theme when in making an effort to heal a relationship, one must be truthful in order to show a sense of trust and value to the person. Firstly, the Character of Father helps us to understand a level of effort he puts in trying to fix his relationship with Christopher. Father says “ And, um… I’ve got you a present. To show you that I really mean what I say. And to say sorry (Hadden 219), the quotation gives us a perspective that Ed really care for his son and that the golden retriever symbolizes a peace offering between them. However, he also shows effort in the relationship

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.

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.

Attention Grabber: In the “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” we see a young adult, Christopher, traveling through life and overcoming obstacles he never thought he could.

Christopher has a mindset to what is important to him; he will even disobey his father’s orders to do what he feels is important. “I am going to find out who killed wellington” (Haddon 20). Wellington is a dog that Christopher cares about, and when he finds the dog dead, he vows to find out who murdered the innocent dog. Once he finds out who killed the dog he is horrified of the man. “I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me” (Haddon 122). When Christopher realizes his father killed the dog he makes the connection that it was the right thing to do. Which leads him to search for his mother to get away from his father and find out the

Shears is really surprised when he sees Christopher in London because Mrs. Boone forgot to tell him, and she had forgotten that Christopher was going to come as well. He reacted by asking, “What the hell is going on?” (p.233). He isn’t happy in the slightest, and supposes that Ed Boone must be in London as well if Christopher is here. He obviously doesn’t have a very good opinion of Christopher, and believes Christopher can’t do anything by himself.

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.

In the novel, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mark Haddon uses a range of techniques such as short sentences, dialogue and repetition, that contribute to the making of a characters readers can relate and sympathise with. All these characters are struggling with the loss of loved ones, which most readers will have experienced in their life. This therefore leads to a strong connection between the reader and the characters, making it easy to sympathise with the struggles that the characters are

The mind of an autistic person is fascinating and frightening because usually their actions can’t accurately express what their brain is thinking. It is frustrating to try and determine what a child with autism is trying to say, and often results in them being misunderstood. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, tells the story from the perspective of Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old boy with autism. Chris is brilliant at math and science, but is unable to understand or express emotion. His difficult home life further contributes to his illness; he doesn’t have anyone at home who supports him and tries to help him. His teacher, Siobhan, is his only friend and the only person who tries to help him learn to