Analysis Of Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time By Mark Haddon
The character of Christopher, and his mental condition alters the storyline drastically, this whole story practically would not happen if the character of Christopher is not on the autism spectrum. In the novel, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, Christopher is holding his neighbors dead dog, stabbed by a pitchfork. He then spends the majority of the book trying to find out who the killer is. He eventually digs too deep and finds the lies about his mother and his father, leading to drama between them and the Shears’. Christopher changes this book drastically and furthers the plot by having awkward tendencies, being close incredibly close minded, and his inability to grasp complex situations. Christopher has
a tendency to hit people when they scare him or when he wants them to go away. A police officer approaches Christopher to investigate him holding a dead dog, Wellington, near the beginning of the book. When the police officer pulls him up to his feet from on the ground, Christopher does not like this, and “this is when [he] hit him”(Haddon 8). This shows that Christopher does not react as people who are not on the autism spectrum would, Haddon does this so that it furthers the plot bringing Christopher to the police station, and father finding out what he was doing before, and so on. Christopher hates people that believe in God, supernatural beings, or a higher power. Christopher hates people who believe in God and heaven and he thinks that they are stupid, because the idea of heaven and an afterlife lacks evidence and science to prove their existences. Christopher also changes the novel by not being able to grasp complex situations on the emotional dimension. Christopher mentions to Mother that Father said that she died from a heart problem, and Mother “made a loud wailing noise. . . [Christopher] didn’t like this because it was a loud noise”(Haddon 193). This is showing the readers that Christopher is not capable of properly understanding complex situations on an emotional level. He does not like Mother’s scream that he says sounds like an animal noise, not because she is sad, but because it is loud. To conclude, Christopher is a main factor in this novel’s plotline because he changes it in several major ways. His mental condition changes how he acts around people or his reactions to others’ actions, how his thinking process works, and how he perceives events differently from other people. This plays an important role in the story because it plays a major role in how things play out for him.
a tendency to hit people when they scare him or when he wants them to go away. A police officer approaches Christopher to investigate him holding a dead dog, Wellington, near the beginning of the book. When the police officer pulls him up to his feet from on the ground, Christopher does not like this, and “this is when [he] hit him”(Haddon 8). This shows that Christopher does not react as people who are not on the autism spectrum would, Haddon does this so that it furthers the plot bringing Christopher to the police station, and father finding out what he was doing before, and so on. Christopher hates people that believe in God, supernatural beings, or a higher power. Christopher hates people who believe in God and heaven and he thinks that they are stupid, because the idea of heaven and an afterlife lacks evidence and science to prove their existences. Christopher also changes the novel by not being able to grasp complex situations on the emotional dimension. Christopher mentions to Mother that Father said that she died from a heart problem, and Mother “made a loud wailing noise. . . [Christopher] didn’t like this because it was a loud noise”(Haddon 193). This is showing the readers that Christopher is not capable of properly understanding complex situations on an emotional level. He does not like Mother’s scream that he says sounds like an animal noise, not because she is sad, but because it is loud. To conclude, Christopher is a main factor in this novel’s plotline because he changes it in several major ways. His mental condition changes how he acts around people or his reactions to others’ actions, how his thinking process works, and how he perceives events differently from other people. This plays an important role in the story because it plays a major role in how things play out for him.