In "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," Mark Haddon gives his narrative as the protagonist, Christopher Boone. Christopher's style can best be described as simplistic, but complex in meaning. The author did not use big complex words in the novel. By him using the simple words which are easier for the reader to understand, the book was just overall more powerful that way. The effect of his style gives the reader a more in-depth perspective of Christopher's formulaic logic that he applies to his everyday life that impacts his decisions throughout the book. This forces you to empathize with an eccentric character that you may not normally be able to connect with. He achieves his purpose through syntax and diction, the way he organizes …show more content…
If it was just “I love you” it would not have been as powerful. Talking to Christopher directly like that is what made Christopher stop and think. It made him stop and think deeply about him and his father.
This next one isn’t a question but more of an important quote. In the novel, Christopher says “I am going to prove that I'm not stupid. Next month I'm going to take my A level in math and I'm going to get an A grade." I like this so much because of how confident he is. He is determined to get that A grade and prove to everyone he not stupid. It is always a great thing to be confident, it is extremely great if you are confident to prove something you believe in that other people do not believe in. “Sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don't know why we are sad, so we say we aren't sad but we really are.” That is one the most truthful quotes I have ever read. It really makes me think why we do that. Why do we like to keep it a secret? Personally I do not like to talk about my feelings, I like to keep it a secret. In the end, keeping it a secret only builds up into a big pile of emotions that can cause us to unleash something we didn’t want to unleash. This quote is something that will stick with me throughout my life because of how powerful it is. It relates to everyone. We all like to keep it a secret but why? I thought that was very interesting and I was not expecting something that powerful to be in this
The relationship between Christopher and his father is extremely sensitive. One moment Christopher’s father lashes out towards him, and the next moment they visit the zoo together, enjoying each other’s company. Because of the Asperger’s, Christopher prefers to do his own thing without interaction from other people. He especially disgusts anyone telling him what to do. Christopher thinks his father interferes in his life while his father tries to be involved in it as much as possible, causing agony to Christopher. The article The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time states, “Eventually, his father comes to get him, and tells Christopher to not investigate the dog’s death any further.” One could debate that Christopher’s father does
He uses the details to describe his prison cell and paint a picture of the situation he’s in. He declares, “It had a small window with bars and, on the opposite side, a metal door with a long, thin hatch near the floor for sliding trays of food into the cell and a sliding hatch higher up…” By specifically describing his prison cell and giving the audience an image of it, Haddon again reveals Christopher’s meticulous aura. He also uses imagery to describe the sergeant at the police station. He states, “The sergeant behind the desk had very hairy hands and he had bitten his nails so much that they had bled.” This quote once again qualifies the meticulous behavior. Finally, Haddon uses imagery to explain his escape plan if he were to be in a story. He expresses, “…use my glasses to focus the sunlight on a piece of clothing and start a fire. I would then make my escape when they saw the smoke and took me out of the cell.” With this quote, Christopher paints his escape plan and reveals to the audience his creativity. By using imagery, Haddon develops Christopher’s character as meticulous to his surroundings and creative
With every decision one makes. There will always be consequences. In Haddon’s, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the character Christopher and his parents find that their bad decisions could lead to a negative outcome. Mrs. Boone’s choice to leave home and Mr. Boone’s choice to lie to Christopher lead to him leaving home to search for his mother. A common theme of the actions of the characters is acting before thinking. The theme of decisions and consequences reveals the imperfections of each character, ultimately demonstrating the quintessential impatient need for growth.
An author’s style of words, sentence structure, and use of figurative language gives an author their own unique style of writing. Although, how an author writes can cause confusion due to connotative use of words and sentence. The author’s style-words, sentence structure, and figurative language can give a reader a description that forms imagery. Also it affects the tone, mood, and theme of the story.
Christopher during the course of the text of the novel learns to disregard other people’s judgments.
In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, we are met with a question can truth change. In the book the protagonist is Christopher, an autistic child living with his father. Throughout the book, many things that he thought to be true change. Firstly, Christopher thought that his father would never hurt anything, but he did. Secondly, he was not allowed to take the A-Level Maths because he went to a special school. Lastly, he thought that his dad would never lie to him and that changed as well. He had to fight through both the school and his mother to be able to take the test. Christopher had to go through much change throughout the novel.
The world is plagued with an inseparable mix of good and evil. People make mistakes, but often start out with good intentions. Often times actions live in the grey zone, a combination of good intentions but bad outcomes. In Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time there are many decisions that could be considered morally ambiguous. The story is told from the perspective of an autistic fifteen-year-old, Christopher Boone, who is investigating the death of his neighbor’s dog. His mother, Judy Boone supposedly died two years back, when in actuality she ran off to London with another man and, in turn, has been shut out of Christopher’s life. His father, Ed Boone hides the truth involving Christopher’s mother, pretending
Robert Louis Stevenson in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is telling people that they fear the knowledge of their duality so they keep silent. That everyday people are silent they fight a "war" within their bodies and minds. People are afraid of the truth, about themselves, so they stay quiet. Everybody has a part of himself or herself that they don't reveal to anyone. People are afraid to show it, but when it comes out they would rather not talk about it. People cannot do this, it is essential that one be capable of good and evil to be in existence.
Point of view can greatly affect the way a reader feel about a novel. Point of view affects how the characters are perceived and how well the readers know them. It also provides a means for readers to feel connected with characters, or to better understand what a character is going through. The author’s way of thinking also has a very large impact on the point of view based on how they themselves see a situation. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is narrated in a very diverse way, by being narrated by a boy with a disorder, it could be very different if told by a different character, and it would change drastically if narrated by someone without autism.
What screws us up most in life is the picture in our head of what it's supposed to be.
Whilst the concept of autism and what it means to be autistic is still widely unrecognised by many, Mark Haddon’s use of conventions of prose fiction and language amplifies the distinctive qualities of the text. Haddon exemplifies key themes such as the struggle to become independent, the nature of difference and the disorder of life through the strategic placement of literary devices.
Anger is one of the hardest emotions to control. Often, people hold it in, allowing it to build until it bursts, causing damage. In Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the parents of a child with autism struggle to keep their cool around their son. Christopher’s mother fails to mask her emotions around her son, leaving his father to take care of him. Although his father tries to maintain calm, he often yells at Christopher as his son watches on in careful concentration. Haddon’s authorial choice of making Christopher’s parents lash out reveals irony in that Christopher is the one with the disorder yet is calm, analyzing situations objectively.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher has a highly-functioning form of autism which allows him to understand complex mathematical problems, but also leaves him unable to comprehend many simple human emotions. His inability to understand metaphors, distinguish emotions, and his lack of imagination makes it possible to consider Christopher as functioning like a computer rather than functioning as a human being. Throughout the story, Christopher is faced with many challenges which he conquers using the stable and never changing system of mathematics. All of these factors suggest that Christopher does, in fact, function like a computer, but it is apparent early in the story that Christopher, regardless of anything else, is capable of independent thought which separates him from the programmed, dependent world of computers.
The biggest reconnection Christopher encounters is with his mother. It begins when he finds a series of letters addressed to him in his father’s closet. Upon reading the letters, he makes the shocking discovery that his mother is alive, not dead, as his father previously tells him. Later, in trying to explain why he hides the truth, his father confesses he kills Wellington. As Christopher comes to these revelations, he immediately decides, “‘I had to go to London to live with Mother.’” (Haddon 131). This is a very powerful example of adapting. Christopher decides on the spot to go live with his mom despite not seeing her for years. The attitude of ‘sudden decisions’ without thinking long and hard about the full outcome is uncommon for him, and yet he comes to this solution in almost no time at all. Also, the wording of the sentence is very specific. He uses the word 'had' instead of 'can', which proves the idea is already set in his mind. As a result, this proves he already trusts his mother and is willing to adjust to go to her. Besides Christopher, his mother also expresses a likewise characteristic of adaptation to renew
In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a Marxist critic would be interested in the socioeconomic power that Christopher lacks in comparison to the people he encounters on the train and at the train station. This results in him being oppressed by those encounters.