Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time Analysis

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What distinctive ideas are explored in your prescribed text? Explain how these ideas are developed throughout the text.
Mark Haddon explores the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, to purvey distinctive ideas such as the importance of truth, dysfunctional family, and the search for order and stability which are conveyed through the use of language conventions and a non-traditional structure. The novel is told through the first- hand narration of Christopher Boone a fifteen-year-old boy who deals with the tribulation of living with Asperger’, an autism spectrum disorder. Haddon’s portrayal of the protagonist perspective of how he views the world is prominent throughout the novel, as the writer makes sense of Christopher’s …show more content…

Haddon utilises the protagonist’s interactions and experiences to convey how his world is upended by chaos - the death of a favourite dog, the discovery of a deception about his parents - and how he restores order. For Christopher, the desire for order and stability is actually a necessity of living: as he suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, he needs an ordered and stable life to be happy and safe. Anything that jeopardises this not only damages his mental state but also brings him physical pain. Christopher attends a special needs school and feels the need to overcome his disability and prove his not “stupid” that the other kids call him. Haddon uses diction and tone that is colloquial and matter-of-fact, about content that is extreme and antisocial. The rhyme “Sticks and stones can break my bone and I have a Swiss army knife and if they hit me and if I kill them it will be self-defence and I won’t go to prison” demonstrates Christopher’s view upon what other people say about him. Furthermore, Haddon conducts the sentence in a poetry sense, although it is alarming when Christopher admits he is not afraid to become violence and kill the person as he considers it as self-defence. In effect, it gains insight the readers a better understanding of Christopher’s feeling due to his condition and his behavioural problems of him not liking to be touched which can lead to violence approach. As a result 'order and stability', and its importance is developed through the aspects of Christopher's behaviour. Haddon conveys an ability to overcome the limitations implanted in his life in order to dissuade the predictable opinions towards people who suffer from autism. As we see things from within his perspective, readers gain an insight of his personal challenges and his will to overcome

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