What is love? There are endless possibilities for the way a word can be expressed. Love can be portrayed and defined in several ways whether it is communicated verbally or nonverbally. Mark Haddon’s novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is told from the perspective of a young teenage boy named Christopher Boone who has Asperger’s syndrome. As the storyline progresses, readers get an insight into Christopher’s obstacles that come to the forefront, beginning with the death of his neighbour’s dog. At times, readers may find Christopher as an unreliable storyteller as he sees the world in a different perspective compared to other people. He has a tendency to discriminate towards others who may not necessarily share the same …show more content…
“I held up my hand and spread my fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. We do this because sometimes Father wants to give me a hug, but I do not like hugging people so we do this instead, and it means that he loves me” (Haddon 16). As much as his father wants to hug him, Ed Boone is aware of what his son does not like and to respect his wishes, he finds an alternate way to express his affection. At the beginning of the novel, Christopher states “(...)loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father(...)always tell me the truth, which means that he loves me” (Haddon 87). To Christopher, love is honesty, where there are lies there is not love. The challenges between Christopher and his father come to the forefront when he learns that his mother, Judy Boone did not actually die as his father told him. He felt betrayed because someone that he had trusted to always tell the truth has lied to him for 2 years about something major in his life. Christopher’s dad then tells him that he does not want to lie anymore so he reveals that he was the one who murdered Wellington putting closure to the plot that was introduced at the beginning of the story. Telling him the truth was a bad choice because this news puts Christopher in a situation where he feels that he can no longer feel safe …show more content…
The main character decides to run away in the middle of the night when his dad was asleep. He lays out the options and he comes to the conclusion that the only safe and best option is to go to London where he can live with his mother. Before Christopher learns the truth about his mother’s absence, he expresses through indirect characterization that he feels responsible for his mother’s death even though he may not put it that way directly. He mentions in chapter 73 that his parents used to get into a lot of fights because of him. It is hard to have an autistic child whom you have to constantly take care of. Him stating that he witnessed the fights his parents got into proves his awareness of the stress he puts on them either intentionally or unintentionally. He recalls a memory of his mom where she states “You are going to drive me into an early grave” (Haddon 48). Considering that his mom also supposedly died young, he may think that she may have gotten a heart attack because of the stress Christopher put on her. For two years, Christopher has felt guilty for her death. He later learns after finding the letters in his father’s bedroom that his mom actually left to live another life with Mr.Shears because she couldn’t handle the responsibility of taking care of her autistic son. Christopher felt betrayed that his father never thought
is a murderer. When this occurs, Christopher begins to feel afraid, the only emotion he is capable of experiencing.
Half way through the book the murder is solved, the culprit owns up and confesses. “And he said, ‘I killed Wellington, Christopher.’” chapter one-hundred and sixty-seven, page one-hundred and fifty. The murder is solved just over half way through the book, the book is a total of two-hundred and sixty-eight pages long, and continues on to talk about Chris’ life and adventure beyond the murder. During the novel, Chris finds a new discovery, his mother, who died two years ago, is still alive. Chris finds letters from his mother which state she is alive and well and in fact did not pass away, she ran off with a new lover. “And I said, ‘i thought she was dead, but she was still alive. And Father lied to me. And also he said he killed Wellington.’” chapter one-hundred and ninety-seven, page one-hundred and sixty-six. In summary, the family mystery was not mentioned in the beginning of the novel although was still the main asset of the novel, inducing the murder to become a Red
Christopher abnormally obsesses over everything in his life. This is due to his severe OCD, which he struggles with throughout the novel. Likewise, Christopher’s OCD is depicted as a reaction to the lack of control over his environment. He copes with situations he cannot control by looking for various details within his life that bring him peace-of-mind him. For instance, before the policemen arrive at the crime scene of the murder of the Poodle, he felt tense and anxious caused by Mrs. Shears’s neurotic behavior in reaction to viewing Christopher peer over her dead dog. Later, when the police arrive to investigate the crime scene, Christopher feels a surge of comfort because the policeman is a representation (in Christopher’s mind) of order. When the police arrived Christopher thought: “Then the police arrived. I like the police. They have uniforms and
Christopher during the course of the text of the novel learns to disregard other people’s judgments.
Not only did Chris not want to call his parents, he did not want to see, speak or even come in contact with them. After Chris discovered his father’s affair he had no desire to even have parents at all. He was so angry at everything they have done. In a letter to his sister, Chris explained that their parents were being irrational and he had passed his breaking point: ‘“’I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live’” (64). Chris believes his parents have caused so many thing to go wrong in his life that they do not even deserve to have him anymore. To come to this statement and the conclusion of divorcing his parents, Chris had to have been emotionally hurt to a crippling point. He cannot see that they are only trying to protect him and give him a happy, secure future. Chris lived thinking that his parents were horrible people and did not feel loved or cared for, and that led him to rebel. Not caring about what his parents’ feelings crippled Chris with anger and led him to, ultimately, his
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher has a highly-functioning form of autism which allows him to understand complex mathematical problems, but also leaves him unable to comprehend many simple human emotions. His inability to understand metaphors, distinguish emotions, and his lack of imagination makes it possible to consider Christopher as functioning like a computer rather than functioning as a human being. Throughout the story, Christopher is faced with many challenges which he conquers using the stable and never changing system of mathematics. All of these factors suggest that Christopher does, in fact, function like a computer, but it is apparent early in the story that Christopher, regardless of anything else, is capable of independent thought which separates him from the programmed, dependent world of computers.
It has become paramount that composers utilise various techniques in order to influence an individual’s perception of the world. As seen through the eyes of an Aspergers sufferer, Christopher Boone, Mark Haddon’s inventive novel entitle ‘The Curious incident of the Dog in the Night Time’, skilfully portrays how the decisions of significant characters and their relationships shape the overall message about the difficulties of living with a limiting social condition. This is challenged from the unique perspective of Christopher and explicitly seen through the relationship between the protagonist and both his parents. Haddon employs a myriad of techniques through the concepts of the conflicting nature of love, the desperation for a world of order and stability, and the value of truth. Along with the reoccurring allusions to mathematics and science in order to display the complexity of human interaction, as he skilfully depicts how both relationships attempt to deal with the issue in their day to day lives.
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
This is the kind of relationship Mr. Collins and Chris have. His dad trusts him 100 percent and knows his son is responsible and independent enough to do the right thing. Mr. Collins passed this trait down to his son. “I wondered what it would mean to tell my father about the postcards. What advice he might have for me.
Throughout the novel, the main character Christopher has shown to have many idiosyncrasies, such as loving the color red and judging days by the number of red or yellow cars in a row, with that he needs a parent who can accommodate for all of his needs. Mr. Boone accommodates for Christopher’s needs, while Mrs. Boone forgets to do so or thinks of herself rather than doing so. One of Christopher’s largest idiosyncrasies is that he hates to be touched. His parents have found a way past this since they want to touch their son, his parents spread out their fingers and Christopher will touch his fingers against his parents. When Christopher's dad wants to be close and touch his son “[he] came into [his]room…
He wants to achieve his goals and let nothing stand in his way when he does. In addition to Christopher's persistence inside the classroom, he also kept on with the investigation despite what his father said. After Christopher discovers the letters from his mom, he does not quite understand what it means because he believes his mom to be dead. But his father tells him not to look through the letters anymore and puts them in a cupboard in his room. "It was six days before I could go back into Father's room to look in the shirt box in the cupboard ." (102) Even though Christopher's father tells him to leave the letters alone, he directly disobeys him to look for the truth within the letters. With his persistence he builds up enough courage to go into the letters and find out the truth about his mother. Because of this he finds the truth and finds his mother in London. Through Christopher's persistence he disobeys his father to find the letters and find out what he has been hiding from
His relationship with his son grows progressively complicated due to a collection of events built from lies. Christopher equates truth with love and bases his trust in people on whether they lie to him. “He always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me.” But Christopher has trouble separating truth from fiction. When he discovers his father’s deception he says, “I couldn’t trust him… because he told me a lie about a big thing.”
While trust is a somewhat common theme in modern novels, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime manages to portray how it affects people in their day to day lifestyle. The book tells the story of Christopher Boone a young boy with autism and his murder mystery novel about the murder of his neighbor's dog. Why this novel is significant is because Mark Haddon tells the story that many young people with autism, like Christopher, live everyday and who’s view on life and the idea of trust and understanding of the world is drastically different than any teenager.
Every individual's mind functions in a different and unique way. We all have idiosyncratic behaviours and functions. These distinctive characteristics are what make us who we are. But not all neurological differences help us in our day -to-day lives. Every individual also possess some psychological defects. These issues are clearly portrayed in the novel, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon. In this story the protagonist is an autistic boy who faces many challenges in his life. Both his parents also face some complications in coping up with their son. Therefore the central theme in the novel, the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, delineated by Christopher (the autistic boy), the father, and the mother, is that everyone has psychological problems that they need to overcome.
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.