How Does Christopher Boone Overcome Autism
Many of the most brilliant and prestigious people in this world have reportedly suffered form the insidious disease of Autism. Some of whom are Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, and Andy Warhol. What may you ask do the following people have in common? They have all single handily made some of the most advanced contributions and theories of our time, allowing us a basis for more advanced studies today. The novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, tells a story of the main protagonist Christopher Boone as he battles many of the presenting challenges of a child diagnosed with autism. The probing novel explores many of the daily challenges Christopher faces, how he overcomes these challenges and who his accomplices are while facing these issues. Author Mark Haddon allows readers to see into the tainted mind of an extraordinary child with this disease and how he overcomes his inability to adapt to the challenges bestowed upon him.
The obstacles Chris encounters are not that of your typical 15 year old boy. Chris’s problems to the …show more content…
normal eye would not matter and be considered trivial, however because of Chris’ excessive need for everything in his life to be organized and structured he does not allows himself to eat food that touches on his plate. Christopher explains to readers the inner workings of the complexity of his mind:
“He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage” (Haddon, page: 7).
This presents many challenges in the Boone family when raising a child who has a vast need for everything to be so structured. Lack of structure causes a blockage as Christopher previously explained followed by a melt down consisting of; banging his head against various objects, groaning, and maintaining diversions and distractions by reciting the prime numbers he has memorized. The novel in itself also creatively explains the way in which Christopher views life. Mark Haddon having written the book in the rarely used third person omniscient perspective compels readers to relate their minds to the brain of a boy with autism. Moreover descriptions in most books are usually vivid with a mixture of similes and metaphors to give it depth and feel, but in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the descriptions are solely phrases and clear cut words. Haddon’s lack of literary devices again allows readers to understand the working of Chris’s mind and how the lack of these devices means he is not able to comprehend the meanings to most metaphors. Furthermore Chris reveals his feelings towards the meaning of a metaphor:
“I think it should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards. And when I try and make a picture of the phrase in my head it just confuses me because imagining and apple in someone's eye doesn't have anything to do with liking someone a lot” (Haddon pg, 64).
Christopher’s obstructed view of the world prevents him from seeing the world as the average being would. Christopher’s life revolves around the necessity of clarity and organization. Many of the problems he faces are due to not understanding common conversation or comprehending the emotions of others. These daily challenges prevent him from being relatable to other teenage boys his age.
Christopher throughout the novel is developed as a character stricken with an array of issues. However the main problems that were pertained throughout the novel were his newly broken family, behavioural issues, as well as many of the stereotypical coming of age issues many teenage boys are presented with. Christopher’s character thoroughly develops while he inspects the case of a mysterious murder of the neighbour hood dog. While ignoring his father’s pleas to stop investigating the incident, Chris finds himself in what seems to him as compromising situations, forcing him to trust strangers and be social with his neighbours. As the novel progresses Chris finds himself to be more dependant. The following quote is evidence of Christopher’s common way of thinking, logically and how he strives to unravel the mystery. "Most murders are committed by someone who is known to the victim. In fact, you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas day." (Haddon, pg 52) This example illustrates how Chris revels about the possible murderers. Venturing out of his comfort zone is a stressful and very difficult task for Christopher to accomplish, so when he comes to the realization that his mother is supposedly alive and did not endure a threatening heart attack as his father told him he becomes very distressed. For two years Chris was left mother-less, he accepts this without ever thinking to validate this fact until the day he stumbles upon a variety of letters addressed to him from his mother 18 months after her death. Christopher then makes a conscious decision to run away to London to live with his mother. The colourful pages preceding reveals in depth Christopher’s constant struggles to maintain his composure while in the train station. Christopher encounters and outsmarts many police men while copping with his fear of strangers becoming to close or having others touch him. Furthermore he successfully completes him journey and reaches him Mother’s flat and concludes by saying. “I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything" (Haddon, pg 208). Christopher’s realization allows him to recognize his greatness and come to terms with his disease.
Although the novel never fully states the details of Christopher’s disease it becomes more and more apparent that he would fall under the higher functioning side of the Autism Spectrum.
Christopher, with the help of both his father and Siobhan, his special needs teacher, slowly overcomes some of the major downfalls of his disease while understanding his greatness and remarkable gift. This in the end ultimately allows him to achieve greatness and receive an ‘A’ result on his mathematic exams. Christopher looks to Siobhan for a great deal of support and guidance. She is one of, if not ultimately the most, trusted figure in Christopher’s life. She assists Christopher when he has difficulties understanding the nuances of the world around. Siobhan in some cases acts as an interpreter to translate Christopher’s tainted understanding of the world into one that Christopher is more able to
comprehend.
“I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant. I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn’t understand what someone was saying” (Haddon, pg 3)
I believe this quote is able to depict how substantially Christopher relies on Siobhan. Furthermore with her help, he is able to strive and conquer some of the symptoms he faces on a daily bases and deal with them in a less destructive way. Christopher’s father also plays a significant role in his life. He provides Christopher with a stable home to feel safe while abiding by Christopher’s rules.
This brilliantly written novel gives readers insight into the mind of a one of a kind boy, who manoeuvres life’s greatest obstacles and overcomes his disease. Furthermore not allowing that aspect of his life to take control and dictate his life goals. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will remain to be an inspirational novel for students to read and understand how Christopher triumphs over what many would have originally considered to be his downfall, leaving many wondering could autism be considered a gift instead of a curse?
The obstacles Chris encounters are not that of your typical 15 year old boy. Chris’s problems to the …show more content…
normal eye would not matter and be considered trivial, however because of Chris’ excessive need for everything in his life to be organized and structured he does not allows himself to eat food that touches on his plate. Christopher explains to readers the inner workings of the complexity of his mind:
“He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage” (Haddon, page: 7).
This presents many challenges in the Boone family when raising a child who has a vast need for everything to be so structured. Lack of structure causes a blockage as Christopher previously explained followed by a melt down consisting of; banging his head against various objects, groaning, and maintaining diversions and distractions by reciting the prime numbers he has memorized. The novel in itself also creatively explains the way in which Christopher views life. Mark Haddon having written the book in the rarely used third person omniscient perspective compels readers to relate their minds to the brain of a boy with autism. Moreover descriptions in most books are usually vivid with a mixture of similes and metaphors to give it depth and feel, but in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the descriptions are solely phrases and clear cut words. Haddon’s lack of literary devices again allows readers to understand the working of Chris’s mind and how the lack of these devices means he is not able to comprehend the meanings to most metaphors. Furthermore Chris reveals his feelings towards the meaning of a metaphor:
“I think it should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards. And when I try and make a picture of the phrase in my head it just confuses me because imagining and apple in someone's eye doesn't have anything to do with liking someone a lot” (Haddon pg, 64).
Christopher’s obstructed view of the world prevents him from seeing the world as the average being would. Christopher’s life revolves around the necessity of clarity and organization. Many of the problems he faces are due to not understanding common conversation or comprehending the emotions of others. These daily challenges prevent him from being relatable to other teenage boys his age.
Christopher throughout the novel is developed as a character stricken with an array of issues. However the main problems that were pertained throughout the novel were his newly broken family, behavioural issues, as well as many of the stereotypical coming of age issues many teenage boys are presented with. Christopher’s character thoroughly develops while he inspects the case of a mysterious murder of the neighbour hood dog. While ignoring his father’s pleas to stop investigating the incident, Chris finds himself in what seems to him as compromising situations, forcing him to trust strangers and be social with his neighbours. As the novel progresses Chris finds himself to be more dependant. The following quote is evidence of Christopher’s common way of thinking, logically and how he strives to unravel the mystery. "Most murders are committed by someone who is known to the victim. In fact, you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas day." (Haddon, pg 52) This example illustrates how Chris revels about the possible murderers. Venturing out of his comfort zone is a stressful and very difficult task for Christopher to accomplish, so when he comes to the realization that his mother is supposedly alive and did not endure a threatening heart attack as his father told him he becomes very distressed. For two years Chris was left mother-less, he accepts this without ever thinking to validate this fact until the day he stumbles upon a variety of letters addressed to him from his mother 18 months after her death. Christopher then makes a conscious decision to run away to London to live with his mother. The colourful pages preceding reveals in depth Christopher’s constant struggles to maintain his composure while in the train station. Christopher encounters and outsmarts many police men while copping with his fear of strangers becoming to close or having others touch him. Furthermore he successfully completes him journey and reaches him Mother’s flat and concludes by saying. “I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything" (Haddon, pg 208). Christopher’s realization allows him to recognize his greatness and come to terms with his disease.
Although the novel never fully states the details of Christopher’s disease it becomes more and more apparent that he would fall under the higher functioning side of the Autism Spectrum.
Christopher, with the help of both his father and Siobhan, his special needs teacher, slowly overcomes some of the major downfalls of his disease while understanding his greatness and remarkable gift. This in the end ultimately allows him to achieve greatness and receive an ‘A’ result on his mathematic exams. Christopher looks to Siobhan for a great deal of support and guidance. She is one of, if not ultimately the most, trusted figure in Christopher’s life. She assists Christopher when he has difficulties understanding the nuances of the world around. Siobhan in some cases acts as an interpreter to translate Christopher’s tainted understanding of the world into one that Christopher is more able to
comprehend.
“I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant. I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn’t understand what someone was saying” (Haddon, pg 3)
I believe this quote is able to depict how substantially Christopher relies on Siobhan. Furthermore with her help, he is able to strive and conquer some of the symptoms he faces on a daily bases and deal with them in a less destructive way. Christopher’s father also plays a significant role in his life. He provides Christopher with a stable home to feel safe while abiding by Christopher’s rules.
This brilliantly written novel gives readers insight into the mind of a one of a kind boy, who manoeuvres life’s greatest obstacles and overcomes his disease. Furthermore not allowing that aspect of his life to take control and dictate his life goals. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will remain to be an inspirational novel for students to read and understand how Christopher triumphs over what many would have originally considered to be his downfall, leaving many wondering could autism be considered a gift instead of a curse?