The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is a narrative that can be viewed through the eyes of Christopher. Christopher is a fifteen-year-old genius within the narrative, and he is explained to suffer for Asperger’s syndrome. Through his remarkable mind, he processes all the events, which makes us more and more tuned into the way he views the world.

In the book, Autism language and communication is a theme. Christopher seems to have autistic spectrums. It takes a lot of time for him to communicate, understand the facial expression, or explain his views and feelings to others. Christopher said to the Police Officer, “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” (Haddon, 2003). In this quote, Christopher refers to his mind to be like a machine; his mind needs to take time to process what’s going on.

Lying and hiding the truth is a theme in the book. Christopher’s father had hidden the letters from his mother and lied about the death of his mother. Also, he had been involved in killing Willington. Christopher’s father told him, “OK, maybe I don’t tell the truth all the time. God knows I try, Christopher, God knows I do, but… Life is difficult, you know” (Haddon, 2003). In this quote, Christopher’s father accepts he lied to him a lot of times, but he tries to tell him the truth.

In the book, several times are lying was the theme because Christopher’s father had lied to him about many things saying it’s good for him. Detective is a theme in the book where Christopher keeps mentioning Sherlock Holmes. Christopher did some detective work to find out who had killed Willington. Despite his father’s objections, he tried to find who killed Willington. In that process he also finds out his mother is alive. Christopher explained “Except I had to keep listening really hard all the time so I would hear his van when he pulled up outside the house so he wouldn’t catch me being a detective” (Haddon, 2003) In the quote he refers to himself being a detective. Christopher wanted to be like Sherlock Holmes and find out who killed Wellington and where his mother was.

Reference

Haddon, M. (2003). The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. National Geographic Books. Jonathan Cape (UK), Doubleday (US), Random House of Canada (Canada) Publishers.