Analysis Of Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime'

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When solving a mystery you must have a clear mind. In “The curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” written by Mark Haddon, we see how a lack of a clear mind can make this process difficult. Christopher’s autism restricted him from successfully solving the mystery surrounding Wellington’s death. His Father had to tell him that, in fact his father killed Wellington. Some symptoms that are affecting Christopher is he is easily distracted, he thinks in a two-dimensional orderly fashion, and he is unable to read social cues. Viewing this novel, First person through the eyes of Christopher helps us better understand, what was going through his head and why.

One of the many symptoms of autism is being easily distracted; we see this in many
One example of this is when Christopher was going around his neighbourhood, asking people questions about Wellington. At one point, when he was talking to Mr. Wise, he made a joke and started laughing, so Christopher turned around and left. “Then he laughed. I do not like people laughing at me, so I turned around and walked away,” said by Christopher, page 38. Christopher was unable to recognize that Mr. Wise made a joke; he thought Mr. Wise was laughing at him, so he left. Mr. Wise could have had good information about Wellington that Christopher needed, but his misconception of the situation may have caused him to lose that. Another example is when Christopher’s Father told him to stop looking for Wellington. “You are no to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog,” said by Christopher’s Father, page 50. When Christopher’s Father told him to stop looking for who killed the dog, it should have immediately made him a suspect, but due to Christopher’s condition he was not able to pick up on this clue. One final example is when Mrs. Shears stopped coming over to take care of Christopher and his father. This shows that maybe something happened between Father and Mrs. Shears, so Christopher’s father could have killed the dog to get back at her. Christopher, not being able to read social cues, missed a lot of clues, which ultimately led to him not solving the

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