Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

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Recommended: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time character essay

Society has labelled mothers with autistic or schizophrenic children as a ‘refrigerator mother’ or a ‘refrigerator parent’. In ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” written by Mark Haddon, Christopher’s mother, can easily fall into the ‘refrigerator mother’ stereotype because she is not able to cope with the responsibility of having a son with Asperger syndrome. Haddon also focuses on the every day struggles that people with Asperger’s or Autism face. However, disabilities come in many forms, and are partly genetic, they can also have a significant environmental aspect like mother care.

Asperger’s and Autism are hardly ever portrayed correctly in literature, especially in novels. The author guides his novel into a direction that, ultimately, must be enjoyable and of interest to the reader. This makes it common for the author to deviate from what is ‘real’ or scientifically and psychologically correct. Christopher is described to be a young, very bright 15-year-old boy, who is utterly confused by how he should act in social interactions with other people in his community and his family. He feels content when he does math problems, especially if they include prime numbers. When Christopher says: “Prime number are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spend all your time thinking about them.” (Haddon, 12) In some ways Christopher sees himself as a prime number. He has grown up to believe that he is different that the others. Prime numbers don’t mix, they are singular, and cannot be factored. A similar understanding has developed with the view on autism. Haddon’s portrayal of Asperger’s Christoph...

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...rs too. Haddon allowed the reader to form his or her own opinion as to why the family dynamic is the way it is, and why Christopher behaves the way he does. This is a critical for a novel, especially if it is written about such a controversial topic like Autism and Asperger’s.

Works Cited

Haddon, Mark. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2003.

McGowan, Patrick O., et al. "Broad Epigenetic Signature Of Maternal Care In The Brain Of Adult Rats." Plos ONE 6.2 (2011): 1-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

Champagne, Frances, Josie Diorio, and Michael J. Meaney. "Naturally Occurring Variations in Maternal Behavior in the Rat Are Associated with Differences in Estrogen inducible Central Oxytocin Receptors." PNAS, 23 Oct. 2011. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. .

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