Character Analysis: Christopher's Father in 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'

Parenting means taking care of a child by providing food, water, and shelter along with giving them attention and love for no matter how they act, or how different he/she may be from others. In the book, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, by Mark Haddon, Christopher’s father shows better parenting skills than Christopher’s mother. Christopher’s father is the better parent to Christopher because he understands him, cares for him, and apologizes and makes up for what he does. Christopher’s father is the better parent because he understands Christopher. The quote, “‘I’m going to put those shelves up in the living room...I’ll make a bit of a racket...If you want to watch television, we’re going to have to shift it up stairs’” (96), shows that if Christopher’s father didn’t understand him, then Christopher’s father would have put up the shelves without telling Christopher.
“The next day Father said he was sorry that he had hit me and he didn’t mean to” (85), supports this reason because it shows that Christopher’s father is really sorry for making mistakes to him. In the quote, “...he was going to take me on an expedition to show me that he was properly sorry and we were going to Twycross Zoo” (85), Christopher’s father had hit him the day before because he was angry. But to apologize to him, Christopher’s father takes him to the zoo. A quote to support how Christopher’s father is the better parent by apologizing and making up for what he does, “‘...I’ve got you a present...to say sorry’...he bent down and put his hands inside the box and he took a little sandy-colored dog out” (219), shows that Christopher’s father is sorry for lying about his mother’s death, so he gives Christopher a puppy to prove that he is sorry. In this book, Christopher’s father shows that he is the better parent because he apologizes and makes up for what he