LITERARY CRITICISM: THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN

THE NIGHT TIME

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is an award-winning book written by Mark
Haddon. It is one of the international bestsellers and has won many prestigious prizes for both
childrens and adult literature. Mark Haddon intrigued his reader by the use of narrative
conventions, such as character and language. Written from Christopher Boones perspective,
he narrates how he finds a dead dog in his front yard and his desperation of finding out the
murderer.
Christopher is a 15-year old boy that is born with a medical condition called Aspergers
Syndrome and he also has photographic memory. Due to his mental disability, Christopher is
emotionally detached and he has behavioral problems. He has difficulty with reading peoples
emotions and hates lies as he feels that it threatens his sense of security. Christopher also
doesnt like to be touched because he has difficulty interpreting whether someone is nice or
wants to be violent with him. Due to Christophers photographic memory, he struggles with
controlling his thoughts, which results to him often getting stressed out with information
overload. In the book, Christopher sees that a human mind is like a complicated machine but his
mind is pure logic. His world is so orderly that he makes up coloured car systems, timetables
and daily routines for his life. His world is carefully constructed and he hates the complexity and
unpredictable chaos that other people bring, Christopher often implies that he longs to live in
peace and alone. Christopher Boones logical mind highlights the emotive and illogical world we
live in. we realise how complex our world is like, the many different emotions people have and
the many facial expressions well come across in one day.
As Christopher begins his investigation on the murder of Wellington, he assures us that
everything he tells in his book is true. I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that it was because I
was a good person. But it is not because I am a good person, it is because I cant tell lies.
Christopher Boone also indicates that he cant tell lies because it will threaten his sense of
security; it creates a reaction in his brain of thoughts stacking up. Christopher particularly has
a liking for dogs because he says that dogs cannot lie, that is why he has a lot of concern for
Wellingtons murder as he feels that he can relate to animals. Because he has an even less
understanding of the society than most 15 year-old teenagers, he cannot understand emotions,
lies and the intriguing adult world. Mark Haddon has made us feel guilty, as we seem to take
advantage of this social skill. Christophers orderly world becomes
all too real as soon as we start to read this book. Although Christophers world is so structured
and non-emotional, he explains his world in a way that makes perfect sense to us.
The entire novel is based on Christopher Boone, so the search for stability is a crucial theme.
The novel is about how his world is overturned by chaos- the death of Wellington and the
deterioration of trust between him and his father. For someone like Christopher who has a
mental condition, trust and stability is an important necessity in his life. Stability helps
Christopher to cope with the society and it makes him feel calm that everything goes to plan.
Christopher feels safe and happy with an ordered and stable life. If something doesnt go
according to his plan, Christopher will feel uncomfortable and it will threaten his mental state
and not only will it be a mental problem, but he will also feel physical pain. The author tries to
convey that our lives are lived flexibly; we can change things that go wrong and learn to cope
with it whereas some people like those with mental disorders will have difficulties doing this.
The central drama in this text is about the deterioration and the restoration of the relationship
Christopher has with his family. The main value that Christopher has with his father is trust.
Christopher trusts his father as he has always been like a mentor to Christopher. They share a
special relationship in this novel and his father has a unique method of communicating with
Christopher. When they show that they love each other and care for each other, they will use a
special hand gesture. Christopher uses this hand gesture because he feels threatened when he
is being hugged.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is written in a two-part structure, the mystery
and the quest. The quest is the most crucial part of Christophers journey as it changes his
response towards his perspective of life. The Quest to London makes Christopher into more
Independent person. When Christopher Boone realise that his father has lied to him, he feels
unsafe and there is a breakdown in his trust towards his father. When he runs away to London
as he finds out his mother is not dead but living with another man, Christopher has to step out of
his comfort zone to achieve his goal. To reach his destination, Christopher has to go by train
and he has to overcome many hurdles and obstacles such as interaction (when he buys a train
ticket). Christophers coming of age through his journey makes him want to be part of the adult
world and he realise the difficulty of the society. Christopher has to cope with interaction and the
judgment of others on the train as they dont understand him. Despite the entire trauma,
Christopher eventually gets there. After this journey, Christopher accepts that his father still
loves him despite being lied to. Realising the complexity of people and the society, Christopher
comes to a degree of acceptance and flexibility.
With the power of simple language and sentence structure, Haddon has created a complex
portrait of life. In the novel, Christopher may not be able to comprehend emotions but he can
observe them. Mark Haddon has made it so that Christophers inability to apprehend emotions
with those around him enables us to experience his world directly, without intervention. The
simple language used, contributes to the portrayal of Christophers simple observation of his
surroundings and to provide a feeling for what actually happens inside Christophers head. We
are enabled to easily step into Christophers position and it is very clear what is happening. In
this novel, similes, metaphors and jokes were hardly used. This is because of Christophers
literal personality, although there wasnt much complex and descriptive language we could
clearly make out what Christopher was experiencing. An example of this language would be the
constant use of then this and this and he also often says, then he said . This is very useful
in showing how Christopher is dependant on systems. Mark Haddons language use let us see
the whole perspective of the novel clearly.
After reading this novel, the meaning of the whole book becomes clear, Mark Haddon has raised
questions in our minds concerning the issues of misunderstanding and disability in our society by
portraying it through Christophers point of view. Although it is a fast read, the touching journey of
Christopher will linger in our mind for a long time. Even though Mark Haddon uses simple language to
depict Christopher, behind all the short, simple sentences, there are complex meanings. In the end, it
makes us question the complexity and balance of emotion and reasons that we face everyday.