Dog In The Nighttime Isolation

We humans often wonder if human-beings are fundamentally good or bad? Frankly speaking, we all have the potential to be good or bad, which is, the possibility to turn evil as well as the chance to create goodness. While the majority believes that personality explains our behaviors, it is proved by evidence that our behaviors depend highly on the backgrounds and conditions we find ourselves in. In the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, written by Mark Haddon, Christopher Boone, a fifteen years old boy with an autism spectrum condition, is isolated by the society because of his extraordinary behaviors. He lives with his father, who he trusts the most; however, he loses all trust in his father when he discovered that

his father has lied to him. In comparison with the short story, Day of the Butterfly, written by Alice Munro, Myra Sayla, a quiet girl who lives in the stories made-up by others and gets judged on her appearance and social status, is an outsider in school. Although Myra treats a girl named Helen as her best friend, Helen shows a sense of betrayal at the end of the story. Despite the fact that the protagonists in both texts have different personality and circumstances, both of them experience the dark side of human nature.
To begin with, the protagonists in both story suffer from discrimination and prejudice. On one hand, Christopher Boone in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is labeled by the society with certain bias because of his social disability. This phenomenon is caused by stereotypes of disabled people in which their ability to work independently is doubted by the communities. For example, when Christopher said that he wants to become an astronaut, he was told by a boy named Terry that he would “only ever get a job collecting supermarket trollies or cleaning out donkey shit at an animal sanctuary and they didn’t let spazzers drive rockets that cost billions of pounds” (Haddon 47). In addition, Christopher mentioned, “people used to call children like the children at school spaz and crip and mong” just because they study in a learning disability school, where children who have learning difficulties or special needs go (Haddon 71). On the other hand, Myra Sayla in Day of the Butterfly is being excluded by other kids in school. Girls in school make comments on Myra based on her appearance, lifestyles and her family’s social status without even getting to know her; "And to tell the truth there was a smell about Myra, but it was a rotten-sweetish smell as of bad fruit. That was what the Saylas did, kept a little fruit store” (Munro). However, once a girl named Helen made up her mind to talk to Myra, she finds out that Myra is actually likable. Although Myra is classified as the weird kind by others, there is indeed not much difference between her and the other girls, in which she also likes pretty dresses and comics as same as them. Even though the two characters are in different conditions and are being discriminated based on different reasons, they are isolated and treated by the society in a similar way.
Surprisingly enough, Christopher does not give up on himself because of other people’s contempt, instead, he tries to prove people who discriminate him that they are wrong.

He indicated, “I am going to prove that I’m not stupid. Next month I’m going to take my A level in maths and I’m going to get an A grade. No one has ever taken an A level at our school before...” (Haddon 71). Still less, Christopher undertakes a difficult journey to London on his own. As an autistic patient, Christopher is afraid of any social interaction. Yet, he manages to face all the challenge on his trip. He tries to talk to strangers, which he had never done before, and also shows his resourcefulness by figuring out how to get to London by underground railway and streetcar. In this scenario, Christopher builds confidence in his own abilities as he struggles to become normal. Similarly, characters in Day of the Butterfly struggles to fit in the society as well. Myra struggles to become normal as other kids in school by trying to make friends. When Helen starts talking to her, she cherishes her friendship with Helen. She sees Helen as her best friend, sharing her gifts from her birthday party in the hospital with Helen and inviting Helen to play at her place after she gets well from her sickness. More examples can be found in Helen’s behaviors in the story, in which she struggles to blend in with the popular girls in school. Helen’s desire for fitting in the group is revealed when she gave Myra

her butterfly brooch but thought, “And I was glad she had not put it on. If someone asked her where she got it, and she told them, what would I say?” (Munro). She is afraid of being known by others that she is a friend of Myra because she does not want to ruin her reputation in school by being labeled as a friend of a weirdo. In this case, both works explore the dark side of human nature by showing how the characters struggle to reach the society’s expectation and find their own role.
On top of this, theme of betrayal is expressed in the form of lying in both texts.

Obviously, things are not always what they seem. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, each main character has an issue of being honest with each other. Christopher lies to his father, Ed Boone, about stopping the investigation of who killed Wellington the dog. He assumed, “This is called a white lie....And I said a white lie because I knew that Father didn’t want me to be a detective” (Haddon 79). Meanwhile, Ed lies to Christopher that his mother had died from an unexpected heart attack, trying to keep the truth about his mother’s leaving. Even though both of them claim that they are telling the lie unintentionally, they hurt each other and get the chance to lose each other’s trust when the underlying truth is revealed. In the same way, Day of the Butterfly introduces the theme of betrayal at the end of the story when Myra gives Helen a leather case as a gift and touches her hands. Helen, although seems thankful for the gift, is in fact unwilling to accept the gift. She thought in her mind, “I didn't want to take the case now but I could not think how to get out of it, what lie to tell. I'll give it away, I thought, I won't ever play with it. I would let my little brother pull it apart”. Helen also shows a sense of being prepared to forget Myra as she leaves her room in the hospital. Helen betrays her friendship with Myra because she cares more about her reputation among

the other children in school than developing a meaningful friendship with Myra. In this case, both stories explore the motif of betrayal as each character deceives another one.