Mahatma Gandhi, known as one of the great peacemakers of all time, previously said "As human beings, our greatness lays not so much in being able to remake the world… as in being able to remake ourselves."* This quote's inspiring message of self improvement can be taken to heart and applied to any individual's life. This statement holds true in the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, in which several of its characters follow this idea. Christopher had autism but, other than being some of the most brilliant people in human history, Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Andy Warhol, and Bill Gates have all been speculated to have some sort of autism. So Christopher’s condition is not a huge barrier to his success.
When a neighbor’s dog is killed, fifteen year old Christopher sets out to investigate, persisting even when his father tries to stop him. But detection leads to extra challenges for Christopher, because he is autistic. As unbelievable as it seems, I was captivated by this novel, especially because it is not "just another story". As I read through the first chapters in prime numbers, I had lack of entertainment towards his character obviously for the reason that he was hard to comprehend, but as I kept up with my reading I became attached to him. I have heard and studied along with researched, Autism cases for several classes in earlier years of my life, but I had never read a novel so deep and straight forward as "The incident of the dog in the night time". Christopher john Francis Boone is a fifteen year old teenager, that even though he is generously intelligent, at least in the making. He is unable to understand emotions normally, he finds many everyday eve...
... middle of paper ...
...e, that elevates this literary debut to fantastic heights".*
The Author might have thought the project wasn’t amazing when he was working on it. But it turned out to be one of the most incredible novels that I have read, Captivating, understanding, and at the same time puzzling. It acquired my full attention, I am glad that I had the chance to experience it and learn things I never had imagined nor did they cross my mind. Until I picked up the orange awkward looking book and opened up my imagination and let the book take me away.
Resources:
1. * www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mahatma_Gandhi/
2. * Quote taken from the book; last sentences of chapter 67
3. * Quote taken from the book; first sentence of chapter; 71
4. * Dictionary definition
5. * Yahoo facts on "The curious incident of the dog in the night time".
6. * http://www.powells.com/authors/haddon.html
How far would a parent go to ensure the comfort of their child? What if the child had a mental disability? Children with autism can be difficult to deal with and it can be easy to misconstrue a parent’s intentions toward their disabled child. According to Petra Kuppers’s essay “Dancing Autism: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Bedlam,” an autistic child has a, “distanced view of the rules that make up love, relationships, need, and care,” and therefore can be more challenging to raise (Kuppers 193). Christopher is one such example of an autistic child. In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher’s father is portrayed in a negative light, but actually proves himself to be an outstanding father.
The novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time explores the concept of truth and lies through the eyes of Christopher, the main character, who has autism. His narrative perspective only allows the reader to understand what his own mind is capable of understanding such as his views on lying, facial
Christopher is a fifteen-year old boy with Aspergers Autism whose life is full of uncanny surprises. His main focus is on school, and his ability to take the maths A level exams. Unfortunately, that was his focus until he finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ lawn. Christopher wants to know who killed Wellington and why. He investigates and finds out not only who killed Wellington, but he discovers secrets about his mother and father. In the book “The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time”, the author, Mark Haddon, shows us how courageous Christopher is throughout his journey. According to Aristotle, a man is courageous when he sets himself free from his fears, pain, and poverty instead of running away from it. According to Aristotle’s theory, Christopher profusely shows courage when he investigates Wellington’s murder and travels to London to find his mom.
Anger is one of the hardest emotions to control. Often, people hold it in, allowing it to build until it bursts, causing damage. In Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the parents of a child with autism struggle to keep their cool around their son. Christopher’s mother fails to mask her emotions around her son, leaving his father to take care of him. Although his father tries to maintain calm, he often yells at Christopher as his son watches on in careful concentration. Haddon’s authorial choice of making Christopher’s parents lash out reveals irony in that Christopher is the one with the disorder yet is calm, analyzing situations objectively.
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.
“You can either allow the obstacles in your life to be the excuse for your failure or make them the reason behind your success.” Although the quote’s author is unknown, anyone can connect to this quote in some way about how you can let obstacles stop you from doing what you want to do or you can use them as a reason for success. This holds true for Christopher, the main protagonist in the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Christopher is a 15-year-old in the autism spectrum, and although gifted in mathematics, he struggles with communicating and has extreme likes and dislikes. These obstacles definitely make it seem as if his goals are far from reach and as secrets come out his success seems almost unattainable, but because of these hardships he learns many lessons about human nature and himself, including that deciphering facial expressions to find the emotions connected to them and that he is capable of doing anything regardless of the obstacles thrown at him.
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time will take you on a ride of emotions as Christopher John Francis Boone fights through his autism to prove his innocence to everyone and himself as well. A story of a young boy on a mission to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, but while on the journey he reveals secrets about his family that was kept from him all these years. Mark Haddon did an amazing job on showing how the truth can affect someone in the text, not only the main character Christopher, but the others as well utilizing Characterization.
Autism is a developmental disorder that damages the ability to communicate and socialize. For Christopher Boone, the math genius, a factor that ties in with his
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
The world is plagued with an inseparable mix of good and evil. People make mistakes, but often start out with good intentions. Often times actions live in the grey zone, a combination of good intentions but bad outcomes. In Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time there are many decisions that could be considered morally ambiguous. The story is told from the perspective of an autistic fifteen-year-old, Christopher Boone, who is investigating the death of his neighbor’s dog. His mother, Judy Boone supposedly died two years back, when in actuality she ran off to London with another man and, in turn, has been shut out of Christopher’s life. His father, Ed Boone hides the truth involving Christopher’s mother, pretending
What is Autism? It’s a developmental disorder that impairs one’s ability to communicate and interact with others. Christopher Boone from the novel A Curious Incident in the Nighttime and Temple Grandin, who has become one of the top scientists in the humane livestock handling industry both fall on the high-functioning spectrum of autism. Even so, they do not display the exact same traits and behaviors. Whereas Grandin thinks in pictures and employs this unique gift for practical use, Christopher thinks in patterns and fails communicate his talents with others. However, they both speak their mind and have trouble understanding facial expressions and emotions.
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.
Christopher Boone is an autistic teenager who is coping with depression. Some people think depression is when someone is feeling melancholy, or gloomy, but depression is a long-term illness that affects someone and the people around them by obstructing that person to live a normal life (“Depression” 1). Christopher cannot live an everyday life because of his condition. He has the inability to comprehend what people tell him. This is exhibited when he does not understand his father’s joke (Haddon 8). In addition to not being able to comprehend, he also feels trapped when he is around a crowd of people. This is revealed when he is on the train and he states, “There were lots of people on the train and I didn’t like that because I don’t like lots of people I don't know and I hate it even more if I am ...
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.