The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon - Book Report/Review Example

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Thesis ment The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night- Time depicts a clear gap between the main protagonist Christopher and rest of the world. Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time explores the world of Christopher. Haddon explores Christopher’s behavioral problems along with the emotional and physical journey. His journey takes place in his life to discover the truth about the murder of Wellington. The novel unravels a lot more than the murder of Wellingston resulting in the novels mystery and deepness. The gulf which separates Christopher from everyone makes him exclusively unique as a result of his disability Jay Mclnerney analyzes thenovel ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Time’ to be a detective story. He argues that the novel leaves behind the conventions of genre and it does not meet the high- literary creativity thus leading the readers towards confusion and shocking effect. Where he comments that the novel is a mysterious and detective story he also makes a statement about the gulf , the gulf that is between the main protagonist ‘Christopher’ and his parents and rest of the world. He says that “The gulf between Christopher and his parents, between Christopher and the rest of us, remains immense and mysterious. And that gulf is ultimately the source of this novel’s haunting impact” (Mclnerney, 5) The article will state that how the gulf between Christopher and rest of the world remains mysterious and how this gulf proves to be the novel’s haunting impact. The story of the novel is told from Christopher’s perspective. Christopher is a fifteen year old boy gifted with a talented logical brain. He has a keen interest for the subject Mathematics. He is diagnosed with Asperger’s Sydrome which leads him to have a difficulty in socializing with others. He understands less of the world than most of the teenagers of his age. He sees the effect of emotions, lies and conspiracy of the world through his eyes more powerfully. His distinctive qualities make him unique. He sees things in a unique and unusual way from others. He has photographic memory and suffers from a high level of austism which makes this novel mysterious and unresolved. Aslaken digs out its different elements. He comments on the deliberations of the writer in the incorporation of the character like Christopher which explains that why there is the gulf between Christopher and the rest of the world. He says that the “main character of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- time has mental problems. He suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, or High – Functioning autism. The syndrome is named after Hans Asperger, a Vinnese pediatrician who described the condition in 1944. Aslaken notices that the unusual behavior of Christopher is due to the high – functioning autism, he says that people with mild autism excel in mathematics and science. Mathematicians are the people that have high autism level. The writer has incorporated the reason of Christopher’s intelligence with the biological reasons. He is of the view that the novel is also about the portrayal of the mathematicians. It shows the clear depictions of people that have keen interest in the field. They are distinctive and unique and they are this way because of the high autism level in their body. If this biological aspect is connected with the reason why there is the gulf between Christopher and rest of the world then it can be said that because of his medical reasons and his seeing things in a different way due to his logical brain is one of the reasons why the gulf is created. As his is not like a normal person he does not think in a normal way. A normal person would find it difficult to associate and relate to the main character Christopher, because high level of autism has problems with social interaction, verbal and non – verbal communication. ‘The problems of autisms are related to how the brain procedures, systematize and recover information’. (Mclnerney, 5) Christopher relates his own brain to a computer which is burdenedby multitasking. He possessesphotographic memory and holds the ability to work out the complicated issues in his head. He is so stunned with the unusual visual and verbal incentives that sometimes he breaks down. He holds his fingers over his eyes and ears when he moans and screams, it is clear in the lines of Christopher when he says: “I sometimes think of my mind as a machine…It makes it easier to explain to other people what is going on inside” (Haddon, 6) Christopher’s investigation into Wellington’s untimely death tends to reveal many hidden aspects about Christopher’s brain. He runs away from his small town. He runs to London, the trip seems to be bumpy and entertaining on the other hand it gives a glimpse into Christopher’s mind and the fact that how it functions in the world and how he makes sense of things. The narrative technique would be another element for the development of the gulf between Christopher and rest of the people. Christopher narrates in a voice unlike to be found in contemporary literature. The character seems to be sufficiently detached from his emotions and thoughts. The character totally understands that he is different from rest of the world (Talley, 236). Understanding Christopher’s Asperger’s syndrome from a medical perspective can deepen the insight into Christopher’s experiences of life. It clearly helps the audience to understand the difficulties more specifically the ones that his parents had to deal with. The story of the novel sometimes helps the audience to forget the character of Christopher as a real character. The audience perceives his character as a fictional creation. His responses, behavioral acts, his thinking and dealing of the things make him unusual and different. Mclnerney analyzes the Christopher’s character to be unique in a way that he is incapable of understanding the jokes that a normal human being does in his surrounding, he considers him to be an unpromising narrator of the novel, and he is termed as a curious hybrid of both reliable and unreliable characteristics because he is not a constant personality. He himself is incapable of reading any human facial expressions. He comments on the writer by saying that “Haddon manages to bring us deep inside Christopher’s mind and situates us comfortably within his limited, severely logical point of view, to the extent that we begin to question the common sense and the erratic emotionalism of the normal citizens who surround him, as well as our own intuitions and habits of perception,”. The novel is written in the sense that it gives the opportunity to the reader to question the common sense and unpredictable emotionalism of the normal citizens that surround him and their institutions and habits of perceptions. Thus, it can be concluded in the light of the Jay Mclnerney’s statement that he made in one of his reviews about the novel. It can be agreed upon the statements that yes the bridge and the gulf seems to be developed between Christopher and rest of the people because of the portrayal of the unusual character of Christopher. His brain works in an unusual manner as compared to his parents and rest of the people around him. For audience to the gulf seems to be formed because his character is un- relatable, his projection is not of a common human being and the fact cannot be ignored that it also proves to be a haunting impact of the novel. References Aslaksen, Helmer. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time."NOTICES OF THE AMS 53.3 (2004). Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Seal Books, 2007. Mclnerney, Jay. “The remains of the Dog” Rev. of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. The New York Times. 15th June 2003 Talley, Heather Laine. "Review Essay The Curious Incident of Disability in the Night-Time." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 34.2 (2005): 235-245. Read More