In Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Haddon writes about a boy named Christopher Boone who tries to solve a murder mystery. He is met with different challenges such as an unspecified form of autism that holds him back from understanding other’s feelings and why they are feeling the way they are. He also wants to be understood by people who question the way he acts. In this novel, Haddon shows that even though people are different in their way they all want one thing and this is to be understood.
Christopher finds a dog, Wellington, dead with a pitchfork sticking out of it. But instead of getting help he kneels by it and hugs it under the night sky.
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Mark opens with Christopher showing the characteristics of his autism leaving the readers questioning why? In the first few pages, he has memorized every country on the map and their capitals, he claims to relate to animals more than humans, the way he treats his pet rat is evidence of this because they are easier to understand due to people often hiding their emotions making it difficult for him to understand. while animals clearly show their emotions. Also, he hates the colors yellow and brown to where he will even not eat them. At this point in the novel, Christopher is acting just like regular people because they all have likes and dislikes, and the feeling that no one gets them when they are going through a difficult time but their pets.
Haddon, again, shows Chris’ characteristics by using climax. In the middle of the novel, Chris’ dad comes forward and confesses that he was the one who killed Wellington. Shocking Chris, he tries to run away because of the rising distrust in his father. Telling lies does not go with what Chris believes in: “I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that this was because I was a good person. But it is not because I am a good person. It is because I can’t tell lies” (Haddon 37.1). He expresses this because he relies on others to help him understand the aspects of life but somehow he gets to wiggle out of his own rule by allowing himself to tell fibs or white lies because he thinks of it as telling the truth but omitting parts of the story.
Next, after snooping through his dad’s room he later finds out that his mom, Judy Boone, was having an affair with Mr. Shears and that she was still alive when thinking that she died of a heart attack when he was younger. Searching through his dad’s mail from his mom, he finds that she left Chris and his father because she claimed to be a bad parent. For the sake of her not being able to have patience with Chris as his father did.
Afterward, Chris gets sick to his stomach because he’s just now finding out not only that his mother is alive but that his father lied to him about it this whole time which drives him into a panic: “.Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And Father had lied about this” (Haddon 157.19). With his hate for lying, he is sick to his stomach but is feeling most of his hurt from his father who keeps it from him.
Chris’ mind is under a lot of stress to where he cannot function. He soon runs away to be with his mother in London while also being challenged throughout his life-changing journey with the very things he hates most: loud places, buses, and places that he has never seen or been before. And, once again, Haddon is giving Chris more characteristics of having feelings when he suffers from a mental disorder that blocks him from detecting them from other people. This is because Haddon wanted to put the readers in Chris’ shoes. Critic Jay Mclnenery states the novel’s great effect:
Haddon manages to bring us deep inside Christopher’s mind and situates us comfortably within his limited, severely logical point of view, to the extent that we begin to question the common sense and erratic emotionalism of the normal citizens who surround him, as well as our intuitions and habits of perception. (Osteen 294)
It goes into detail how the father picks up his son’s dislike for the color yellow. He walks another path to avoid the yellow cars on that was on his old path. Furthermore, when more people finish The Curious Incident more people feel more like Christopher to where they almost see eye to eye with him on everything. Whether it be disliking colors, loving animals more than humans, or having the feeling that everyone around should be dead.
Everyone has their favorite toy or object they have that will help them feel safe when times are rough. But, fortunately, that same coping mechanism for Christopher happens to be a Swiss army knife. This is backward because why would a 15-year-old with high autism be given a knife? But well it is just that it helps Chris feel safe when he is somewhere new: “ I opened my Swiss Army Knife in my pocket to make me feel safe and I held on to it tight”(Haddon 211.17). He is saying this because he is on a bus full of people. therefore his mind could not function properly. He does not know how to act or what to think. he also has the same thought process when he gets talked about by some kids when he is walking home: “If they hit me and if I kill them it will be self-defense and I won't go to prison”(Haddon 44). The knife has a meaning of a sense of security to Chris but one could also assume that he thinks a little too highly of the knife he has in his hand.
Christopher proves time and time again that even though he is different from ‘normal’ people he is very much just like them. Throughout the novel, Christopher is a logical thinker. He does not like situations or things he cannot control or explain. Sounds familiar? Of course, it does! When things become too complicated people tend to shut down this goes for Christopher as well but like everyone else, he finds a way to cope and that is by imagining himself playing video games which lets him focus on his task at hand and nothing else.
Haddon focuses on having the reader see the novel through from Chris’ point of view. He wants the people who read Curious to understand that it is not easy being Chris but sometimes it is. Like honestly, who does not want to be able to recite every country and their capitals without stumbling or to know every prime number up to 7,057? Sometimes being special is a gift but also a curse. Beth Haller goes in-depth as to how Christopher’s point of view is an important part of the novel:
From a disability image standpoint, The Curious Incident has power because the running undercurrent in the book is that it is less that Christopher's disability causes challenges than it is the disabling environment in which he lives. This disabling environment includes several adults in his life who don't know how to deal with Christopher and his many unique requirements and rituals. (He only eats the food of certain colors, for example). Also, the conflicts that begin to swirl in Christopher's family arise from the adults' frustration and lack of acceptance of the teen's differences. Mostly, Christopher himself manages his disability perfectly well through a set of strategic rituals such as doing complex math problems in his head. But his family causes his autistic symptoms to erupt through their collective inability to cope. (Haller)
Even though Christopher does not work like others he still thinks like everyone else Haddon brings forward that we should always get the chance to understand each other. Even if we do not fully see how others see.
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