Exploring Autism in Haddon's Novel: A Unique Perspective

To understand the difficulties of an autistic individual is like finding two snowflakes with identical lattices. Only 1% of the entire world population is diagnosed with a variation of autism according to Autism Society, and Mark Haddon strives to replicate the perspective of an autistic Christopher Boone in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Haddon’s writing style in this novel is quite unique and different to other contemporary novels of the 21st century. The pictures, use of prime numbers as chapters, and interruption of stream of consciousness display the true adversity that autistic people face daily.
Mark Haddon writes the novel as a result of taking care of mentally and physically disabled people in Scotland, and from

firsthand experiences, he learns how more autistic people encompasses a natural talent. Christopher states, “My memory is like a film…That is why I am really good at remembering things, like the conversations I have written down in this book, and what people were wearing, and what they smelled like, because my memory has a smelltrack which is like a soundtrack” (76). His photographic memory allows him to recreate the pictures in the novel for the readers to visualize what he sees. Siobhan explains, “When you are writing a book you have to include some descriptions of things…The idea of a book was to describe things using words so that people could read them and make a picture in their own head” (67). By recreating the pictures with actual pictures in the novel symbolizes one of his impressive feats, an indicator for autism. Christopher understands how to incorporate pictures which helps the readers, but he is unable to understand nonliteral phrases. Some metaphors he does not understand are “I laughed my socks off. He was the apple of her eye” (15). After being taught to apply imagery while writing a book, he is confused how “Imagining an apple in someone’s eye…have anything to do with liking someone a lot” (15). Throughout the novel, the use of pictures and the absence of metaphors and jokes are clues for the readers to infer that Christopher has some sort of disorder.
One of Christopher Boone’s amazing talents is his adroit skills in mathematics. According to Change the Equation, 63% of Americans report that they have some sort of difficulty in some sort of mathematics subcategories. For the other 37%, as William Paul Thorsten quotes, “Mathematics is about understanding.” Mr. Jeavons, a psychologist at Christopher’s school, says, “I liked maths because it meant solving problems, and these problems were difficult and interesting but there was always a straightforward answer at the end. And what he meant was that maths wasn’t like life because in life there are no straightforward answers at the end” (62). This explains why Christopher has such a fascination with prime numbers. “Chapters in books are usually given the cardinal numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on. But I have decided to give my chapters prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and so on because I like prime numbers” (11). Even though Christopher explains maths was not like life, “Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them” (12). Autism is associated with unique gifts and intelligence, and these excerpts from the book support this disability. In addition, Christopher says, “I did some more quadratic equations like 0 = 437x2 + 103x + 11 and 0 = 79x2 + 43x + 2089 and I made some of the coefficients large so that they were hard to solve” (163). By comparison mathematics with life and using prime numbers as the chapter numbers instead of ordinal numbers, Haddon emphasizes his dexterous skill in mathematics as a way to portray his disability.
The last way Mark Haddon tells the readers about Christopher’s autism is the interrupted stream of consciousness.

Two more signs of autism are difficulty with social interactions and ability to exhibit a range of interests or behaviors. In addition to adding pictures and using prime numbers as chapters, Haddon interrupts the storyline with a quick side note before returning to the plot. Between chapters 149 and 151, Christopher explains, “I folded the letter and hid it under my mattress in case Father found it and got cross. Then I went downstairs and watched the television. Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an answer to them. It’s just that scientists haven’t found the answer yet” (99-100). He talks about finding his mother’s letters and then transitioning to the mystery of why some years there are more frogs at the pond at the school. Similarly, Haddon writes the same way between chapters 103 and 107. Christopher explains, “Then I sniffed the air to see if I could see what the air in the garden smelled like. But I couldn’t smell anything. It smelled of nothing. And this was interesting, too. Then I went inside and fed Toby. The Hound of the Baskervilles is my favorite book” (69). Christopher describes his garden and the fresh outdoor air after he learns about the affair and then explains his love for mystery novels. Furthermore, he explains, “The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him” (8). The periodic interruptions and behaviors display his wide range of thoughts and his difficulty in social interactions. By this irregular stream of consciousness, the readers can infer that Christopher has some sort of high-functioning

autism.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mark Haddon explains how this novel alludes to how every individual who experiences with autism learns about a surprising and revealing quality in both the autistic individual and the person himself or herself. The pictures, the math, and the interruption in the plot line are symptoms to Asperger’s syndrome, and Haddon did not write The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in order to spread awareness. Haddon’s writing style is unique compared to other contemporary novels, and the readers are able to learn about the perspective of an autistic victim from Haddon’s experiences as a caretaker.