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The curious incident of the dog in night time essay
The curious incident of the dog in night time essay
The curious incident of the dog in night time essay
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Good morning teachers and fellow students, today I’ll be discussing how Mark Haddon uses characters in his novel to highlight the role of truth. This author helps to picture the world in a different light, allowing the audience to have a further understanding of the world they are in. In his novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time he emphasises the role of truth through the use of the characters themselves and the relationships they hold with one another. In this book, protagonist Christopher, a young boy comprehends emotions and situations in a very mathematical way. This means that he does not like metaphors and abstract themes simply because they are “lies”. In addition to that, he struggles with trusting his father due to the fact that he had lied to him about his mother’s death. Furthermore, trust plays a significant role in his relationships and a paradox is demonstrated within his relationship with his father, Ed. This is supported by a quote by Christopher himself, “loving someone is […] looking after them and telling them the truth, and Father […] always tells me the truth and that means that he loves me”. His father lied to Christopher, out of love, in order to protect him from being hurt by the fact that his mother had left him. However, …show more content…
To conclude, by understanding the protagonists and their relationships with one another it is quite clear how the role of truth is explored all throughout the novel. It goes into depth in exploring the paradox of contrasting views upon the truth. Therefore displaying the diversity between individuals and how the characters within the text have differentiating opinions on themes and concepts which links to the idea that everybody in our society is unique. Thank you for listening to my
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.
Christopher is a fifteen-year old boy with Aspergers Autism whose life is full of uncanny surprises. His main focus is on school, and his ability to take the maths A level exams. Unfortunately, that was his focus until he finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ lawn. Christopher wants to know who killed Wellington and why. He investigates and finds out not only who killed Wellington, but he discovers secrets about his mother and father. In the book “The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time”, the author, Mark Haddon, shows us how courageous Christopher is throughout his journey. According to Aristotle, a man is courageous when he sets himself free from his fears, pain, and poverty instead of running away from it. According to Aristotle’s theory, Christopher profusely shows courage when he investigates Wellington’s murder and travels to London to find his mom.
Haddon’s use of chapter digression allows the reader a shift between recounts of Christopher’s experiences and facts given by Christopher. The use of digressions and prime numbers used to number chapters amplify the novel’s distinctiveness, differing it from any other regular novel. Whilst the digressions in the novel correspond with prior or upcoming chapters, elements of Christopher’s character is revealed.
Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by a loved one, Christopher’s father has no trust in Christopher and tells him that his “Mother died 2 years ago”(22) and Christopher thinks his mother died of a heart attack. When Christopher finds out his father lied, he runs away to live with his mother and his father despritally looks for him and while looking for him realizes the importance of telling the truth. When someone betrays one’s trust, they can feel morally violated. Once Christopher finds his mother, she begins to realize how unfit her living conditions are for Christopher and brings him back to his father, bring him “[..] home in Swindon”(207) Christopher feels incredibly hurt and distressed he does not want to see his father. Whether a relationship can be repaired depends entirely on whether trust can or cannot be restored. Christopher’s father works very hard to regain his trust, he tells his son “[..] I don’t know about you, but this...this just hurts too much”, Christopher’s father is dealing with the result of being dishonest with his son and himself.
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.
As for the truth and the lies present in the novel, the reader would have to carefully analyze both and associate them with the type of people the characters symbolize. In doing so, one would realize that the rich, the poor and the climbing, struggling class, are all based on a lot of lies and very little truth. Then how does one know how to look at life if one cannot distinguish the truth form the lies and vice versa? The answer is simple: One must learn how to take the truth with what lies between and make something of the life and world one lives in.
Mark Haddon, the author of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, explores that perspicacity does not hinge upon logical interpretation of one’s surroundings for an autist. He shows this through Christopher’s, the autistic first person narrator, keen interest in science, behavior towards social interaction, and attitude towards external events.
“You can either allow the obstacles in your life to be the excuse for your failure or make them the reason behind your success.” Although the quote’s author is unknown, anyone can connect to this quote in some way about how you can let obstacles stop you from doing what you want to do or you can use them as a reason for success. This holds true for Christopher, the main protagonist in the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Christopher is a 15-year-old in the autism spectrum, and although gifted in mathematics, he struggles with communicating and has extreme likes and dislikes. These obstacles definitely make it seem as if his goals are far from reach and as secrets come out his success seems almost unattainable, but because of these hardships he learns many lessons about human nature and himself, including that deciphering facial expressions to find the emotions connected to them and that he is capable of doing anything regardless of the obstacles thrown at him.
Relationships can only survive through adapting to constant change. Without that aspect, they would not last. In Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a boy with Aspergers goes through life surrounded by mystery, dishonesty, and dysfunctionality. Because of this, secrets are revealed, relationships are changed, and the connection between family is brought into a new light. Through these events, the boy and his family discover and rediscover their ties with each other. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the author demonstrates that the ability to adapt and change is the most essential characteristic in life because it strengthens relationships, as illustrated through Christopher, his mother
Christopher is a very special fifteen-year-old, as he has Autism and he, does not like to be touched. Christopher also and dislikes the color yellow very much. However he likes the color red, and he believes that if he sees a number or red cars in order, then it will probably be a good day. Christopher likes prime numbers so each chapter is a prime number instead of being numerically ordered. Christopher only lives with his father as his mother has died two years ago. After his mother died, his neighbor Mrs. Shears used to come over to cook for them. She would also clean and organize the house for them. Christopher and his father never hug as he does not like being touched, however sometimes they let their hands meet and touch each other’s thumbs and fingers. Christopher does not actually like proper novels; instead he likes novels and books on math, science, and mystery novels. Christopher also has a good teach...
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time chronicles of Christopher Boone of Swindon, England. The book is written by Mark Haddon, who formerly worked with autistic individuals, describes the world through the eyes of Christopher, who is self-proclaimed “special needs”. The novel never explicitly says what Christopher’s diagnosis is, but from the text it is apparent that he would fall on the higher functioning end of the Autism Spectrum.
In Mark Haddon's contemporary novel, "The curious incident of the dog in the Night-Time", the protagonist, Christopher Boone, does seem completely unsuited to narrating a novel, as he takes on his authorial voice, thus demonstrating symptoms of his disability, 'Asperger's Syndrome.' This is a syndrome that enables him to see the world only through his limited perspective, which is closed, frightened and disorientated - which results in his fear of, and inability to understand the perplexing world of people's emotions. His description of events can be somewhat unreliable as he is unable to see the real truths that lie before him. As he narrates, readers are confronted with his peculiarities - whether it is not liking to be touched, his fear of germs, strangers and crowds to his inability to eat foods with particular colors. However, through Christopher's authorial voice, his description of events in his life, and in particular, his description of his oddities those seem completely 'normal' to him, make him an interesting and fascinating narrator. As he can be proven to be an unreliable narrator as he is incapable of lying (and understanding lies) and this limits his ability to perceive the full reality of the world, thus providing him with a strange combination of credibility and unbelievability. Again, this is what makes him a wonderful narrator - at times readers can mistrust his interpretation of such events, or they can believe him.
Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.
When trying to understand these particular characters’ experiences, it is very important to consider their worldviews, which promote “[th...
The novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon comprises of, a mentally unbalanced juvenile named Christopher who is determined to find the person who murdered his neighbor's dog. The investigation drives him down some startling paths and eventually brings him eye to eye with the dissolution of his mother and father's marriage. As he tries to cope with the craziness of his family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher's mind. Furthermore, thus leads the way to the brilliance of Mark Haddon's decision of storytelling: The most emotional moments are brought to us by a kid who can't understand feelings. The impact is stunning, making for a novel that is profoundly entertaining, strong, and interesting in its