“Explore the techniques used by Mark Haddon to convey the main character’s autism in ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'”
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an interesting and meaningful story full of betrayal, swindles, hatred and truth. Mark Haddon begins the story with a boy called Christopher who you would think that is ordinary and he discovers that his next door neighbor’s dead and has been killed intentionally due to the way that it has been murdered. The clue was that a fork was stabbed into the dog which meant it was premeditated. For this reason the story becomes a murder novel as well as a story of his life. As the story follows on Mark Haddon depicts in an unusual but understanding way that Christopher suffers from Aspergers Syndrome and Autism due to the way he socializes with others and his emotional well being. He is never ebullient and does not understand one’s feelings or their character. Mark Haddon shows that the reader would think that Christopher is eccentric however you will find out that he suffers from Aspergers Syndrome and Autism. While Christopher tries to investigate he reveals the truth about his mother, the dog and his life is never how it was before. The story unravels itself to nothing but the whole truth.
In the story Mark Haddon has used first person narration and this is extremely effective as you can see in the mind of Christopher and as well as it being effective; the main character who is Christopher is Autistic and is a victim of Aspergers Syndrome. For this reason you can see through the eyes of Christopher and you feel what he is feeling and the reader can feel as if he is behaving in a way that he suffers from Aspergers and Autism. Nevertheless, Mark Haddon gives the reader a feeling that they are unable of communicating or transorting with others in a humorous or sarcastic manner. Christopher also does not understand simple things such as metaphors and he relates his conversations verbatim without interpretation or commentary other than how they make him feel. The reader then ends up filling in the blank spaces and feeling the slightest emotion for Christopher due to the first person narrative in the story. The sentimental subtext is such a wide space that the reader fills it and this is the effect of the narrative style. In these parts the author Mark Haddon gives the most effective part of each person’s viewpoint. The narrative style of the story makes the reader have a place dissimilar to any other characters in the book.
Christopher, a 15 year old boy is quite a intellectual thinker, and he needs to have distinct motivation to understand a hard situation. For example, Christopher cannot understand facial expressions for the fact that they move too fast for him to comprehend. As a result of this, visualizations, charts, graphs, pictures and diagrams are used during the period of this book when Christopher is trying to imply something to the reader. The maps and diagrams which Christopher uses inn the story aids himself in identifying his place on earth so that he does not act in an unusual or irritating way which he is nit aware of. This part of the story shows the reader that Christopher is Autistic, suffers from Aspergers Syndrome and has a difficult in coping with everyday things.
The topic of mathematics is one thing in which Christopher likes to his heart and makes him settled and steady in his disastrous life. Moreover, the first person is both immovable and adamant with his desire for mathematics. Christopher makes attempts of apprehending the confusing chaos which surrounds him by doing mathematical calculations in his mind to keep him relaxed. For example, on page 100 Christopher shows how little but hard looking dilemmas can sometimes be depicted with an easy mathematical solution. He shows as an example for readers a simple description of the ways in which arises from a logistic equation that shows the population of a system of animals as Nnew = KNold (1 – Nold). This pictures Christopher’s liking for mathematics and how it keeps him calm and steady when solving mathematical equations.
Christopher needs truth in his life due to his Autism and Aspergers Syndrome. The reason for this is because he cant tell if anyone is lying or telling a joke and this world is very confusing to him. He is not either an optimistic person as he judges how the days will be due to the colors of cars. Moreover, Christopher needs the truth due to the cause that he is trying to solve a murder mystery and if he does not get important or major facts of the murder then his investigation will be a fail and he wont be able to proceed. Even though Christopher is a boy always willing to know the truth he doesn’t have the courage at times to tell the whole truth in which he states are “white lies”. This shows that Christopher has an idea of what he is doing most of the time and can be truthful but not quite at times.
Wellington, who is the next door neighbor’s dog died and Christopher had discovered it. Christopher, who is illiterate of simple things picked up the dog and got himself into trouble. This is when his mind gives him the urge to solve the murder mystery about this dog Wellington which is mainly what the book is about. Christopher reveals the truth about Wellington and discovers that his own dad had murdered the dog. Lies, lack of trust and betrayal enter these two characters and Christopher’s life turns upside down for the journey of truth and faith.
Christopher then finds the truth about his mother and for the first time his emotions start to really come out. He becomes dizzy and confused with this tragic moment and he visualizes his mother’s handwriting everywhere. He did not even mind when his father touched him but normally he screams or used physical violence. The moment Christopher finds out that his mum did not die from a heart attack; he hated his dad for all he could imagine. There is a twist in the story after these moments and the intent in Christopher’s mind now in to look for and find his mum. Sympathy is shown to Christopher by the sorrowfulness depicted for him but the hatred shown to his dad.
In conclusion, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a great and indefinable story which gives you a describable way that the reader can understand how a 15 year old boy who suffers from Aspergers Syndrome thinks daily and his special needs. This is a story has everything in it; from happiness, trust and joy to the dark depths of betrayal, hatred and deceitful tales. This book has taught me how life is hard, how one suffers ad how simple things for us are complicated to an Autistic 15 year old boy. In the events that have occurred in the story; they have enlightened me about what an advantage normal people have then one that is Autistic or suffers from Aspergers Syndrome. Overall, I think that Mark Haddon has produced a story like no other including both sorrow and happiness into one book that touches your heart.
