A few aspects of Asperger Syndrome include limited understanding, outburst of blunt honesty, as well as phobias to specific ideas depending on the person. This affects the individual’s social interactions by making them awkward because they do not understand clichés. Asperger also influences an individual’s academic growth because, though they become intelligent, it takes longer for them to comprehend what he or she is learning. For example, in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the character, Christopher, dislikes the color yellow because he fears that it will cause his day to become awful, or as he refers to it, a “Black day”. He also does not let people touch him, so to hug his parents, they will just touch palms; however, …show more content…
It is because I can’t tell lies. He simply cannot tell something that did not happen because then his mind is overwhelmed with all of the other possibilities scenarios that did not happen which Christopher explains on page 19. Christopher also does not understand emotion the same as others may because he believes if someone left then they do not exist. Therefore, how can he have feeling for something not real or have the ability to think of something that does not exist? To continue, on page 75, when Siobhan asked if his knowledge of his mother’s affair with Mr. Shears made Christopher upset, Christopher replied, “But I don’t feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr. Shears isn’t around anymore. So I would be feeling sad about something that isn’t real and doesn’t exist. And that would be stupid.” His understand of honesty affects his emotions because if he were upset, then he would perceive the emotion as a lie because the reason for the emotion does not exist; however, Christopher cannot lie so he does not feel that emotion about his mother because she left.These are other examples of how Christopher’s life is affected by Asperger and how it affects his understanding and changes his way of thinking compared …show more content…
Christopher describes a white lie in chapter 79 as “It is where you tell the truth, but you do not tell all of the truth.” Therefore, he only says a partial truth about what he did to remove himself from a position where his parents will know about the part which would put Christopher in trouble. Such as the white lie Christopher uses on page 48 when his father asks where he has been and Christopher replies “I have been out.” Christopher does not speak the specifics about what he did while he was out so he does not mention to his father about how he had snooped around Mrs. Shears’ garden because he knows his father would disapprove of his actions. In addition, on page 66, Christopher uses a white lie to avoid telling his father that he had talked to Mrs. Alexander about Mr. Shears. Christopher only answered his father’s question with what he brought at the shop and about his interaction with Mrs. Alexander’s dog; however, he did not mention his conversation with Mrs. Alexander. Christopher uses white lies in ethical situations to avoid trouble. However, he still answers his father with partial truth so he does not
In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a Marxist critic would be interested in the socioeconomic power that Christopher lacks in comparison to the people he encounters on the train and at the train station. This results in him being oppressed by those encounters.
Though Christopher is aware of these facts about himself, this no lessens his struggles for self and social acceptance. His self, although different than most, still seeks validation and approval. On the other hand, Christopher seeks a world with people like him, or no one at all. Therefore, he simultaneously attempts to understand others and wishes he did not have to do
In “The Curious Incident” Christopher’s mother died when he was at a young age. However, he doesn’t let her death bother him. He states, “But I don’t feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr. Shears isn’t around anymore. So I would be feeling sad about something that isn’t real and doesn’t exist. And that would be stupid.” (Haddon, p.75) As quoted, he feels no remorse for his mother being gone forever. He thinks logically that it is senseless to be depressed about a commodity that doesn’t relate to his existing life anymore. Nevertheless, he doesn’t connect to other people and can’t feel the emotionally pull from a tragic situation. Concluding that he is
In a lot of ways Krakauer relates to Christopher like their complicated relationship with their father’s,”Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please” ( Krakauer 134). Using words like “Fury” and “hunger” both describe christopher, they convey Christopher’s anger towards his parents ( more so his father) and his undying will to fool them into thinking that they are all he needs in this world. Krakauer like McCandless has the unconscious behavior to please but also defy at the same time. Krakauer says,” The boy could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man, and he was even less willing to pardon the attempt at concealment. He later declared to Carine and others that the description committed by Walt and Billie made his “ entire childhood seem like a fiction “ ( Krakauer 122-123). The word “ fiction” was used to describe how much of a convoluted story was that Walt had described being that the relationship was nothing that was described. This sheds light on why Christopher was headed towards the adventurous life and why he greatly despised his parents. Krakauer also uses anecdotal evidence to examine Christopher and his parents
...m causes him to struggle with many things that a normal person would not have a hard time with. If following someone without autism readers would not be able to see the difficulties for an autistic. This scene, or the entire book, would not be nearly as captivating. Christopher’s role throughout the story is not only to narrate but also to pull readers into the life of an autistic.
He says, “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 because I can’t tell lies.” This means that because of his learning disabilities, his mind physically can’t let him tell something that is not true because he just is not wired that way. People without autism have a better grasp on lies and being told them. He thinks that telling the truth is just something that should be done no matter what and just because he tells the truth does not make him a good person. His mom, however, understands that everyone else lies and she is trying to tell Christopher that he is a good person by not
Ed is the one that kills Wellington, he tells Christopher that his mom, Judy, died of a heart attack, and hides all the letters to him from his mom for two years. Because of his actions, the reader is to believe that Ed is a very sketchy character and that he is not to be trusted with what he says. He is consistent with his lies, even though the lies end up revealed, but he is an inaccurate character because the audience and Christopher believed he was telling the truth and he wasn’t. Ed tries consoling Christopher after all the lies are revealed and he quotes, “I’m sorry, Christopher. I promise you, I never meant for it to turn out like this,” (122). He admits that the reason he killed Wellington was because he had gotten into an intense argument with Mrs. Shears about her caring more about her dog rather than for Ed and Christopher, and in result, Ed took his anger out on the dog. However, he knew that Christopher liked Wellington so he never told him that he was the one that killed him because he didn’t want to hurt Christopher. He also says that he told Christopher that Judy died because Ed didn’t know how to deal with it himself, so he thought that if he couldn’t handle it, how would Christopher. That’s why he didn’t let Christopher know that his mom abandoned him. Given the situation, Ed’s lies are to a point reasonable, but not excusable and Christopher knows that. Ed is a character that we can’t always trust, he is too inaccurate during the
Also, because Christopher tells the story, Haddon has successfully pointed out the gap between Christopher 's view and the reader 's view when Christopher says, "I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me, because I couldn 't trust him, even though he had said "Trust me," because he had told a lie about a big thing" (55). It 's very clear to us that Christopher 's father won 't do anything that hurt him because we understand that his father loves him. But to Christopher, it 's a different story. He applies the logic in response to the problem because to him, "logic can help you work out the right answer" (30). The readers apprehend the reason his father has to lie to him, but Christopher doesn 't. Because of this, Christopher 's characteristics and his lack of understanding other 's emotional is
Readers first discover Christopher’s lack of understanding at the beginning of the novel, when he is told by his father to “stay out of other people’s business.” Christopher then states, “I don’t know what father means when he says, ‘stay out of other people’s business’ because I do not know what he means by ‘other people’s business’
Is there typical family drama, a hateful relationship, and trust given back? The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time expresses all of the points. Typical family drama can be described as parents fighting. A hateful relationship describes the relationship Ed begins to have with Christopher. Ed Boone tries to gain his son’s trust back.
In the beginning of the story, Christopher explains how close him and his father are as they only have each other. Christopher's dad has hidden things from him his whole life,
When Christopher reads his mother’s first letter, he concludes that”perhaps it was a letter to another person called Christopher, from that Christopher’s mother”(Haddon, 99). Even with having the same name and stories of childhood his mother is telling him in the letter, Christopher goes on the wrong track, thinking its some other Christopher. He gets happy knowing that now he has two mysteries in his hands to solve now. To the readers it was almost obvious that his mother isn’t dead and his father has been lying to him. It took him a few letters to get to the point later in the novel that his mother might still be alive and his father hid the truth from him. When he did sort of get to the point he started having his behavioral issues, he started groaning and screaming which he informed the readers in the beginning about when is gets confused or angry.Even at that time he still wasn’t sure until again his father explained him why he did such thing and also revealed another horrible mystery that Christopher was attempting to
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time exhibits real life situations experienced by an autistic, 15-year-old boy, from his own panorama. Christopher’s use of first person perspective ensures that his view on events are explained with accurate, detailed description, enhancing the responders understanding of how the mind of one with Asperger’s syndrome functions. This concept is elaborated on in Christopher’s struggle to become independent as the responder is able to grasp Christopher’s defensive mechanisms to dealing with stressful situations. Christopher narration “so I groaned to make the time pass quicker and not think” during a fit where his tendency to shut down and curl himself into a ball is essentially revealed substantiates his struggle to become independent as his
The book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” talks about a curious boy with autism whose name is Christopher John Francis Boone. Christopher tries to solve a case of Mrs. Shears,his neighbor, dogs skeptical death. Christopher lives only with his father. His father tells him that his mother died in the hospital, but she really didn't die. She is still alive and is living with Mrs. Shears ex-husband. The reason why Christopher’s mother isn’t living with him anymore is because she cheated on her husband with Mr. Shears. Christopher starts to slowly understand what was happening then he goes out trying to find his mom in London.
If the book were to be narrated in third person the reader wouldn’t understand how Christopher feels about certain situations. This is also an affect given in the book because the author wants to project Christopher’s autism spectrum disorder condition to the reader.