There are many novels that have been written where the author may be very mendacious and trick his/her readers with lies or different ideas that could have happened but nobody knows. In the novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, The author portrays himself as the narrator Christopher Boone who is an autistic 15 year-old trying to figure out who killed a neighbor’s dog. When a reader thinks an autistic 15 year-old, they already have an image in their mind and some know exactly how they are supposed to act and speak, so this essay is going to cover an evaluation of how accurate the author is, the narrator is, and also the narrator’s father.
Mark Haddon has a history of working with students with special needs
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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
The two stories “War” and “About Effie” from Timothy Findley’s Dinner Along the Amazon are both told by the same child narrator, Neil. In each of the stories Neil attempts to make sense of a mystery of the adult world. In “War” Neil tries to understand the adult world of war, and explain why it seems that his father has betrayed him, and in “About Effie” Neil tries to understand the mystery of Effie’s strange need to wait for a man in a thunderstorm. Neil reaches an understanding of each of these mysteries in a similar way: through observation of non-verbal clues from adults. However, Neil’s own attempts to communicate non-verbally through his behaviour are unsuccessful. Taken as a whole, these two stories show how very important non-verbal communication is in child-adult relationships.
In the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, I claim that Ed Boone, Christopher's father, was justified in lying to him about the death of his mother. Despite the fact that he lied to him about something critical, he did so with the best intentions.
In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon, English novelist, delivers a murder-mystery of Wellington, Mrs. Shears’ dog through an autistic view. Haddon uses the murder-mystery and other incidents during his lifetime to unwrap specifics of his disorder. He encounters specific situations, such as arriving at the train station, to explain how it takes groaning to calm him down and how he does not allow strangers to lay a hand on him. In his unraveling of his disorder and his quest to solve the murder-mystery, Haddon uses rhetorical devices such as details, metaphors, and imagery to develop his character.
His reasoning for leaving was justifiable being, “[he] thought [his mom] was dead, but she was still alive. And [his] father lied to [him].And he also killed Wellington,” (Haddon). Christopher's reasoning is definitely valid. But although his reasoning for leaving is valid, his trip was very dangerous and could have ended very badly. Christopher is a minor and has a very young, impressionable mind. Along with him being a young boy, he also has mental disabilities that make it hard for him to communicate with others. This communication barrier is extremely harmful when interacting with strangers. This is very apparent when Christopher is arrested. If someone was there to explain to the policeman why Christopher needs to be handled with care instead of using violent tactics, then Christopher would not have gone to jail. If this could happen on his walk home, then imagine what trouble Christopher could face traveling all the way to
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
At first glance, Ed seems very protective of Christopher, claiming to his son, “I did it for your own good, Christopher. Honestly I did. I never meant to lie. I just thought . . . I just thought it was better if you didn’t know” (Haddon 114). Ed doesn’t want his son to have to live with the feeling of his mother leaving him; he doesn’t want his son to feel like it is his fault. Furthermore, Ed is trying to protect his son from the negative influence of Christopher’s mother. In the letters to Christopher, Judy confesses that “I’m not like your father. Your father is a much more pacient [sic] person. He just gets on with things and if things upset him he doesn’t let it show. But that’s not the way I am and there's nothing I can do to change that” (Haddon 106). Because of his autism, Christopher needs to be treated the best he can be. However, Judy admits that she cannot handle troublesome situations as well as Ed. Therefore, it is best for Christopher if he is shielded from his mother's hurtful behaviors, showing the positive motivation. By first accepting that the action is based on good intentions, it allows Ed’s lie to be seen as morally
Unreliable narrators provide insight into the way they see the world by limiting the reader to one viewpoint. By providing a new set of eyes for the reader to see through, the author can give insight into the narrators mind and the way he or she perceives the world. Whether it is William Faulkner who gives every side of the story except the main character’s, J.D. Salinger who provides insight into the narrator through his criticism of others, or Suzanne Collins who has the reader make realizations about the narrator as she makes them about herself, authors use unreliable narrators to explore new depths of character understanding and growth.
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.
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.
Narration has a profound, formative influence in conveying the complex nature of human communication. This in turn, effects the ways in which the reader responds to the text. In ‘The curious incident of the dog in the night time’ Christopher’s father Ed understands his sons inability to interpret human emotion and reasoning and thus, has developed alternate ways in which he can communicate with his son which are accepted by Christopher. This is evident in chapter 31 where Christopher describes “ He held up his right hand.. we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. i do not like hugging people so we do this instead. It means he loves me”. Through the simple sentences used in the first person narration, the intricate nature o...
Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by a loved one, Christopher’s father has no trust in Christopher and tells him that his “Mother died 2 years ago”(22) and Christopher thinks his mother died of a heart attack. When Christopher finds out his father lied, he runs away to live with his mother and his father despritally looks for him and while looking for him realizes the importance of telling the truth. When someone betrays one’s trust, they can feel morally violated. Once Christopher finds his mother, she begins to realize how unfit her living conditions are for Christopher and brings him back to his father, bring him “[..] home in Swindon”(207) Christopher feels incredibly hurt and distressed he does not want to see his father. Whether a relationship can be repaired depends entirely on whether trust can or cannot be restored. Christopher’s father works very hard to regain his trust, he tells his son “[..] I don’t know about you, but this...this just hurts too much”, Christopher’s father is dealing with the result of being dishonest with his son and himself.
A narrative is constructed to elicit a particular response from its audience. In the form of a written story, authors use specific narrative strategies to position the ‘ideal reader’ to attain the intended understanding of the meanings in the text. Oliver Sacks’ short story The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an unusual short story because it does not display conventional plot development; the story does not contain conflict or resolution of conflict. The genre of the story is also difficult to define because it reads as an autobiographical account of an experience Sacks had with a patient while working as a neurologist. Although it is arguable that the narrative is a work of non-fiction, it is nevertheless a representation, distinct from a reflection of the real events. It is a construction, Sacks chose the elements that were included and omitted in the narrative and used narrative strategies to position readers to process the signs in the text and produce reach the dominant understanding. This blurring of truth and fiction is similar to that in the genre of ‘new journalism’. Although, rather than being a journalist writing a fictional piece of journalism, Sacks is a doctor writing a fictional medical analysis. To influence readers’ comprehension of the narrative, Sacks utilised the point of view strategy of subjective narration, atypical in this short story in that a characterisation or representation of Oliver Sacks is the narrator and Oliver Sacks the person is the real author. The story is character-driven rather than plot-driven and regardless of how accurate a depiction of the real people the characters are, they are constructions. Sacks gave the characters of Doctor P. and his namesake admirable and sympathetic trait...
When Christopher finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ front lawn, he picks up the dog and strokes it. Christopher is determine to find out who killed Wellington because he likes dogs. Father tells Christopher to leave the dog alone and do not poke into other people’s business. But Christopher has to find out who killed him, thus he decides not to listen to father and go find out and investigate Wellington’s murder. Christopher’s courage began to show when one Saturday, he decides to go around his block and ask questions. Christopher does not like to be around people he does not know and he is scared of some of the people on his block, but he faces his fears--not out of fear, but because he knew it was something he had to do. Christopher mentions that talking to people on his block was brave. He knows what courage is and he knows that he has to be brave. Notice how Ch...
Whilst the concept of autism and what it means to be autistic is still widely unrecognised by many, Mark Haddon’s use of conventions of prose fiction and language amplifies the distinctive qualities of the text. Haddon exemplifies key themes such as the struggle to become independent, the nature of difference and the disorder of life through the strategic placement of literary devices.
The curious incident of the dog in the night time was narrated in first person by Christopher Boone however If it was narrated in third person the audience would not have understood the way Christopher was feeling. Communication, Social Interactions, Relationship’s and Christopher’s Autism spectrum disorder were some of the main areas expressed in the novel.