Christopher Boone Perspective

Christopher Boone: Enlarging His Perspective in Life
“Sometimes, all a parent needs is to know the impossible is actually possible.” Mark Haddon’s story The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time explains how there are all sorts of people in the world and none of their lives are the same. The central character, Christopher Boone has autism. People in his society do not truly accept autistic people, they always come to a conclusion that he is a disabled fifteen-year-old. One person who helped Christopher Boone when he was going through several peaks and valleys throughout the story is Siobhan, one of the few people that Christopher can understand.
Siobhan is one of Christopher’s teachers at his school. She shows that autistic people

deserve a chance. It is as if Christopher can actually understand what Siobhan says to him. Siobhan draws facial expressions which Christopher recognizes. “I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant. I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn’t understand what someone was saying...And now if I don’t know what someone is saying, I ask them what they mean or I walk away” (3). This makes Christopher quite fond of Siobhan meaning that a nice connection was made in which she worked to enlarge Christopher’s perspective of things. He learns what to do and what not to do in situations like this which led to a slow development throughout the story. For this reason, Christopher trusts Siobhan as both a friend and a teacher.
As I said before, Christopher trusts Siobhan and because of this, he trusts her advice and speaks to her. “So I took lots of deep breaths like Siobhan says I have to do if someone hits me at school, and I counted 50 breaths and I concentrated very hard on the numbers and did their cubes as I said them. And that made the hurt less painful” (137). This proves that he keeps Siobhan's words of advice in his head and he will refer back to them in situations like this. Christopher refers to Siobhan's advice to stay calm when he is boarding the train to London. Siobhan tells Christopher some words which were honest when Christopher makes the decision to take the A level exam after he comes back from London. “You don’t have to do it, Christopher. If you say you don’t want to do it no one is going to be angry with you...It will just be what you want and that will be fine” (212). This shows that Siobhan supports Christopher's decisions as well and that he shouldn’t be afraid to do things that he wants to do. His parents did not give Christopher the advice that he needed as a fifteen year old, Siobhan did. That makes Siobhan critical to his development.
Christopher is open to Siobhan and he does not hide what bothers him or what he is curious about. Christopher's father, Mr. Boone, told him to stop investigating the death of Wellington. As a result, this then caused Christopher to go and talk to Siobhan about it.
I told Siobhan that Father had told me I couldn’t do anymore detecting...And she said that was like life, and not all murderers were caught...Then I said, “Father said I was never to mention Mr. Shears’s name in our house again and that he was an evil man and maybe that meant he was the person who killed Wellington”… And she said, “Perhaps your father just doesn’t like Mr. Shears very much” (52).
Siobhan simply told him possibilities of why Mr. Boone does not like Mr. Shears at that time.
Siobhan helps Christopher get through tough times.

His mother left him and during that time Siobhan was there for Christopher, supporting him when he was in doubt or stressed. While Christopher was detecting the death of Wellington, his father finds out, which causes him to be outraged. “When I went to school on Monday, Siobhan asked me why I had a bruise on the side of my face. I said that Father was angry and he had grabbed me so I had hit him and then we had a fight” (90). Siobhan clearly is concerned when she hears this. She asks Christopher if his father had grabbed him hard and if he was frightened to go home. In a situation like this, you would typically talk to your mother or a relative but Christopher, luckily, has Siobhan. Generally, Siobhan’s name came up several times in the book proving that she is a crucial character in the story. Like I had stated before, Christopher keeps Siobhan's words in mind. Christopher tends to panic quickly when there are a lot of people in an area and so it is hard for him to concentrate as he is scared. “And I kept my eyes close and I didn’t look at my watch at all. And the trains coming in and out of the station were in a rhythm, like music or drumming. And it was like counting and saying “Left, right, left, right, left, right…” which Siobhan taught me to do to make myself calm” (179). From this, you can see the Christopher is learning how to handle situations in which he is not comfortable in which made Christopher feel safe eventually on the train. Siobhan told Christopher that people would go on holidays to discover new things and to relax. She says this to Christopher to explain how people de-stress. Siobhan also told Christopher how she felt happy. “And Siobhan once said that when she felt depressed or sad she would close her eyes and she would imagine that she was staying in a house on Cape Cod with her friend Elly, and they would take a trip on a boat from Provincetown and go out into the bay… and that made her

feel calm and peaceful and happy” (79) Hence, Siobhan helped him through situations like this.
Siobhan allows Christopher to not change himself and to make his own decisions if someone doesn’t necessarily agree with him or sees things from another perspective. “Mrs. Forbes said that hating yellow and brown is just being silly. And Siobhan said that she shouldn’t say things like that and everyone has favorite colors. And Siobhan was right” (85). Christopher also did a little explaining on decisions; “But in life you have to take lots of decisions and if you don’t take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do” (85). This allows Christopher to think that everyone has their own opinions about certain things which led to a development to be simply himself and that you can’t go anywhere in life without making your own decisions about things.
There are many different kinds of people on Earth and everyone has a different way of living it. Christopher Boone, an autistic fifteen-year-old was able to have a fairly happy approach. This is because of Siobhan, who guided Christopher in the right direction when he was in doubt or in his happiest state and that everyone deserves a chance to excel in life with support.

Works Cited

Becker, Liz. “8 Inspirational Autism Quotes.” AndNextComesL, CBC Parents,
www.andnextcomesl.com/2015/03/autism-quotes.html. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. UK, Jonathan Cape, 2003.