Christopher Boone

885 Words2 Pages

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, written by Mark Haddon, tells the story of a young boy, Christopher Boone who lives with Asperger’s syndrome. By having Asperger’s syndrome, the audience sympathises for Christopher as we see the struggles he has because of his disability. Inability to read other characters and their emotions, his obsessive behaviour, and the fact he cannot touch anyone are all things which influence the reader to sympathise for Christopher. Christopher’s’ Asperger’s affects his everyday life, but more specifically, his inability to understand people and their emotions. For instance, at the beginning of the novel, Siobhan, Christopher’s friend has to write the meanings of the different faces and emotions people …show more content…

He is characterised in this way when “the policeman took hold of arm and lifted onto feet” (p8). This contact was unwelcome and on reaction, “ hit him” (p9). This is difficult for him to comprehend as he does not understand what is happening and he is someone who does not tolerate being touched. As Christopher has never made contact with a stranger before, his protective instinct kicks in and he does what any terrified person would do. As well as the fear of touching people, Christopher is also afraid of interacting with unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar environment. This is obvious when Christopher is on the train making his way to London to see his Mother, Judy ‘and then the roaring began again and closed eyes and sweated and felt the feeling like a balloon inside chest and it was so big found it hard to breathe.’ (p217) When Christopher makes his way London we notice him struggling to interact with the people in the streets and on the train. This is because this is so new to him and his Asperger’s changes the way he behaves with people. Mark Haddon, is able to show how Christopher struggles with his disability as it affects his interaction with people and this makes the readers sympathise for him. Christopher Boone’s first person narration, use of similes and characterisation are all able to help readers understand and sympathise with Christopher. They also help recognise the battles he has when trying to read the character’s emotions and thoughts, his constantly occurring rituals and his inability to interact with the people he comes across in the

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