In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon is able to have Christopher Boone, the main character of the book, narrate the story through the unique style of him writing a book of his own. Writing the book is an assignment for him at school. The irony is that Christopher is a mathematical and scientific scholar. He is the first student at his school to ever be preparing to take the A-level math exam. Writing is not as logical as math and science, and for Christopher to be so engrossed in this task is atypical for him. This is of critical importance for a character that finds it difficult to interact with and relate to others.
The story begins as Christopher begins to write a murder mystery to fulfill a school writing assignment. He chooses this topic after he is arrested for murdering a dog in the neighborhood. Wellington, Mrs. Shear’s beloved poodle, is murdered one night. As Christopher goes ‘detecting’ about the incident, his father, Ed Boone, tells him to mind his own business. Leave well enough alone. The charges have been dropped, he is not in trouble, there is no need to investigate, and he orders Christopher to investigating the incident. A typical teenager, this only encourages Christopher to keep inquiring and begin to write the book.
Ed Boone has been raising Christopher alone for the last two years. Christopher’s mother had passed away from a heart attack, and he thought of her frequently, missing the manner in which she spoke, the way she dressed, and her temperament. He is able to quickly accept that she is gone. Physical attachment was not an issue between Christopher and his mother, nor was an emotional bond. With Christopher, these are not issues, ever.
Haddon is able to develop, through different symbolisms and metaphors used in his writings, that Christopher does not express his feelings or emotions. In fact, it does not ever appear that he has any. As Christopher’s character continues to develop, it becomes clear that Christopher can demonstrate empathy and concern with animals, but not people. This is a confusing concept for many readers to understand.
This fact is why Christopher becomes so upset when he is falsely accused of killing Wellington. He cares too much for animals to impose pain on them. He is upset and confused that the police could believe that he would be capable of such actions. The police are confused by Christopher’s actions of not wanting to be touched, odd facial expressions, inability to make eye contact, and other social difficulties that the police misinterpret as guilt.
Instead, it is a way in which the police are able to demonstrate to the reader how society needs to be made more aware of the social deficiencies of individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome and learn how to help accommodate their special needs. Christopher’s father, Ed, was able to eventually help the situation. Before that, however, the police essentially traumatized Christopher because of their ignorance about his situation and his handicap. This was a good example of how public servants and society at large need to be made more aware of peoples’ differences and more accepting of how to treat people who are different than them. If the police had handled Christopher different, it may have been less traumatic an experience for him and he may never have been arrested.
Some of the idiosyncrasies that are uncovered in this novel through Christopher’s behavior are true of many people with Asperger’s syndrome. Haddon uses this opportunity to help capture an audience of readers and educate them about this special population, explaining their special needs, and explaining how their differences can actually be beneficial and positive to society. This is quite an accomplishment, and Haddon masters the challenge well through the entertaining well.
Some of the struggles of many people with Asperger’s Syndrome are their socially ineptness. Communication is a skill where many of these people struggle. Metaphors frequently have no meaning since their context makes no sense. They tend to think in a concrete manner. In the same manner, ambiguous use of phrases about time is also almost impossible to understand as anything of a vague nature is almost impossible to grasp. Body language, such as facial expressions, also has little or no meaning to many people with Asperger’s. Often there specialists try to teach them to read body language and understand vague expressions, but few are able to pick up such skills. Conversations that do not have any direct impact on the individual also bore the person unless they are deeply interested in the subject matter. There is often an area or two of particular subject matter where the individual has insatiable interest.
Even as infants, people with Asperger’s Syndrome usually do not want to be touched. This is often an early indicator that there is a neurological issue that should be explored. Often difficult on the family, this is one of the areas that find it most frustrating for loved ones to accept. These children do not want to be touched and do not demonstrate love or affection to others. It can actually be a trigger to push away family members who love the individual but are hurt that any sign of that love is never expressed or returned by the individual with Asperger’s Syndrome. Haddon is able to demonstrate this through Christopher in a manner that the reader can understand while still empathizing with him.
Indeed, without the trauma, Christopher may never have had the drive to write the book for his assignment. His detecting work to uncover what really happened to Wellington really did uncover much of what had really happened in his own life. Christopher is intent on finding out what happened to Wellington that he decides to speak to people in the neighborhood, which is difficult for him to do. Mrs. Alexander, a woman in the neighborhood, tells Christopher that his mother, Judy, had an affair with Roger Shears, Mrs. Shear’s former husband, Wellington’s former owner.
Christopher ends up searching his father’s room for the book that his father has forbidden him to write, his detective work about what happened to Wellington, and when he finds his book he also finds letters from his mother dated after her death. Christopher learns that his father has lied to him about his mother. She is not dead. She ran off with Mr. Shear to London. She had found it too difficult to deal with Christopher any longer and she wanted to be with Mr. Shear. He also learns that his own father killed Wellington. His father was enraged that Mrs. Shear ended their affair. Christopher is afraid that his father then has the capacity to kill him and hides behind the shed overnight, fearing his father. Christopher decides to go to London to find his mother.
Christopher strives when there is routine and order. Similar to when he was on vacation with his parents as a child, with no routine to follow, he finds many difficulties during his trip to London by rail. Christopher attends a special school for children with special needs. He is used to having systems in place to help him adapt. There are no systems in place to help him navigate his travels. He also has to communicate with others to be able to accomplish this task.
Seldom is Christopher asked, or forced, to reach outside of his comfort zone. He does not like to deal with new environments, does not like to make decisions, and does not like to go places by himself. He accomplishes all three of these seemingly insurmountable tasks during his excursion to London. He also is forced to escape the authorities twice and save his pet rat, Toby, from death on the tracks. For an average teen with developed social skills, this would be a task that provides challenge, yet could be accomplished. For Christopher, its accomplishment is especially noteworthy.
When Christopher shows up on the doorstep of his mother, Judy, she is surprised to see him. She is fearful to hear how he made the trip on his own, but perhaps pleased that he has gained the abilities and confidence to try such an endeavor. Even though Christopher lacks the ability to demonstrate love and compassion through giving hugs and other conventional means, his mother is aware that Christopher’s determination in locating her is his means of expressing his feelings of love towards her.
Judy is amazed that Ed had told Christopher that she had died. Christopher stays with Judy and Roger in London for a while, but it is a stress on the relationship between Roger and Judy. In balancing the decision on how to handle Christopher and Roger, the love of a mother prevails, and Judy decides to return to Swindon with Christopher. When they return to Swindon, Judy and Christopher find a place to live and Christopher is pleased to finally take his long awaited A-level math exam.
Math, physics, and astrophysics, all have the common themes that Christopher finds comforting in their heavy sense of logic. Having the A-level math exam upon returning to Swindon helped settle Christopher from the chaos and disorder that he had experienced living in London’s urban environment as well as in the unsettling household of his mother and her lover. To Christopher, the clearly defined and logical rules of math and science gave comfort and understanding to the illogical world around him.
Doing well on the A-level math exam had another significant role in Christopher’s life. Like many other adolescents, it could open the door to college admission. Demonstrating that Christopher does share some characteristics with his peers, he is interested in attending college. There are, however, some inconsistencies with his views of the experience and how peers may see their college years. He has the same desires of being independent. Some of the limitations of Christopher understand the world come into play when he describes life after he leaves his school for students who have special needs. He wants to live by himself at college, which is not completely atypical. However, he also wants to be one of the few people left on Earth and wants there to be no authority figures.
There are deeper meanings to each of these desires that Christopher will need to try to realize and understand as a part of the maturity process. The number of people in Earth is likely not going to dramatically change. Christopher will probably live in the same relative geographic location for the rest of his life, as change is difficult. He needs to accept those surroundings. In turn, people need to respect his personal space and not touch him.
Christopher has had a major confrontation with his father, one of his two main authority figures. He usually deals with conflict by isolation, by alienation. Once again, Christopher does not want to communicate. He does not want to verbalize whet he is thinking and probably does not understand what he is feeling, if anything. He wants to visually isolate himself as well; he wants to retreat to a place that is out of sight, as that is how he copes and how he finds comfort.
As Christopher gets closer to his time at college, it is hard to grasp that it may be difficult to leave home and live at school. He is used to attending a school that knows how to adapt when he needs time alone, time to be by himself, and they understand his special communication needs, such as the unwillingness and difficulty with eye contact, and they accept him for who he is. When Christopher goes to college, the teachers are not special needs teachers; they are professors of their disciplines. For Christopher, many of his teachers will be mathematicians. They understand reason, logic, and order. They will not understand why it is difficult for Christopher to ask a question either in class or after a lecture.
Should colleges be more aware and understanding of students with special needs? Yes. In Christopher’s case, working with his communication and separation skills can help. His novel, his detecting, was an excellent step to get him to open up and inquire about neighborhood events, talk to strangers, leave his comfort zone, and it took him on an adventure. He learned he could face and overcome challenges, building up his confidence outside his comfort zone. Haddon creatively and effectively used the novel to educate readers about an interesting disorder.
