Christopher Boone Lies

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Samantha Gonzalez Mrs. Dou / Mrs. Benaderet CSU Expos Rdg & Wtg 14 March 2024 Lies and Love A single lie can unravel the bonds of trust. “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon is a novel investigating the mystery behind a dog’s death. Christopher Boone, an autistic 15-year-old, discovers the body of a recently murdered Wellington, Mrs. Shear’s dog. After being falsely arrested and released for the murder, Christopher is determined to solve Wellington’s murder while documenting his findings for a school project novel. Ed, the widow of Judy Boone, takes the novel and demands that Christopher stop his investigation; However, Christopher decides not to listen to his father. While searching for the novel his father took, …show more content…

Christopher himself claims that his values on lying are based on logic, it is only that of an opinion. Christopher does not abide by his own rules at times. After his father tells him to stop investigating the death of Wellington, Christopher decides to lie to his father about his whereabouts to continue his goals, “This is called a white lie. A white lie is not a lie at all. It is where you tell the truth, but you do not tell all of the truth” (Haddon 48). However, what Christopher describes is more akin to a lie of omission, by “telling most of the truth minus one or two key facts whose absence changes the story,” Christopher withholds the specifics of where he was while he was out, or what he was doing (Ericsson 17). If he had said this, it would have changed the story completely other than just being “out”. But he did not want him to know because it would have angered him, so he lied by omission. This also shows that Christopher’s’beliefs on lying are not widely shared, so others have a difference in understanding what he sees as wrong. Because of his strong belief systems, which are hypocritical, this will cause conflict later on. One of the main instances of lying depriving trust in relationships is between Christopher and his father. Christopher has always held extreme values in what it means to tell the truth, and what a liar is. When he discovers his father has lied to him, Christopher’s

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