Life is full of turning points, and how we respond to them can lead to significant growth and transformation. Mark Hadden's mystery novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, describes the life experience of Christopher John Francis Boone, a young man from Swindon who encounters obstacles that influence his decision making. Through his experiences, he unravels the truth surrounding his family, the murder of his neighbor’s dog, and himself. In order to unravel this truth, Christopher travels to London where he faces social and sensory issues that impact how he deals with his journey. Christopher's personal development occurs as he attempts to comprehend the challenging world, exceeds his boundaries, and ambitions as an independent …show more content…
Prior to Christopher’s journey to London, he faced difficulties trusting his father. He learned that his father, Ed, had killed Wellington, the neighbor's dog and concealed letters sent to Christopher by his mother. According to these letters, his mother, who had not been seen for two years and was believed dead, was alive and living with Mr. Shears, also known as Roger. As a result of discovering this, Christopher fears for his life, believing he is living with a murderer and a liar. Christopher reached a turning point in his life when he learned of the revelations and began his journey to London in search of his mother. However, as Christopher embarks on his journey to London and confronts numerous challenges, he gains a new perspective on the world. He arrives in London but returns shortly back to Swindon as his mother and Roger have constant arguments, causing Christopher to confront his father. Despite his hesitant attitude at first, their communication leads to them resolving their past issues and regaining trust. He is able to empathize and forgive. His newfound emotional maturity is highlighted in his willingness to communicate with his father upon his return to Swindon. This marks a significant step towards understanding the people with whom he had trouble at the beginning of the novel. Through this behavior change, Christopher gains a deeper understanding of the complexity of human …show more content…
At the beginning, Christopher sees himself as an outsider in the world, struggling with social interactions and unable to comprehend the complex emotions of others. However, through his investigation into Wellington's death and his trip to London, Christopher gains new social skills and a better understanding of the world around him. Additionally, his discovery that his mother is alive and living in London marked a significant turning point in his life changing the way he eventually views his future. This experience forced Christopher to reconsider his preconceived notions about his world and his place in it, ultimately leading to a change in his personality. Furthermore, Christopher's determination to achieve his goals is presented by this quote, "And then, when I've done that, I am going to go to university in another town...And I can take Sandy and my books and my computer" (Haddon 220). His newfound confidence is evident as he is eager to attend university and take control of his future. By the end of the novel, Christopher has become more self-aware, confident, and independent. Christopher's journey throughout the novel represents a significant change in his vision of himself in the world, from feeling like an outsider to gaining a sense of direction and purpose in his
When his father gets home and walks into Christopher's room after Christopher has read the letters, he sees the state that his son is in and starts to freak out. His father started to caress Christopher “but it didn't hurt when he touched him, like it normally does” (Haddon 114). This reveals that when Christopher is put in a situation like this, he becomes numb to reality and what would normally affect him does not. While his father is trying to justify his actions, Christopher does not respond and remains silent as he is talking. Learning all this new information about his mother takes longer for Christopher to process and has more of a substantial effect on him since he has autism.
which unfortunately led him to reject and avoid any type of close relationships that he had made on his journey as Christopher did not want them to interfere with his decision to travel to Alaska on his own terms, as well as becoming completely concerned for his safety and welfare, which he almost failed to do so when he met an older man named Ron who deeply cared and loved Chrisopher as he wanted to adopt him into his family. Along the way Christopher starts to show his hatred towards authority as he goes on and shows multiple ways on how he avoided having to follow the law by breaking a lot of safety awareness laws which makes him an idiot as he risked his entire life and made it very difficult for others to come to his aid incase of an
He says, "And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own and because I solved the mystery of Who killed Wellington? And I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I could do anything. As a result of Christopher overcoming his fears and solving his internal conflict Christopher develops into a much more confident and capable version of himself.
That started the summer he graduated from high school. His parents explained, “He could be generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years (120).” The event that created Christopher to become more isolated was the father keeping a secret of having another family. After finding out about his father secret family Christopher started containing a dark side that wanted no part of human contact. He wanted ultimate freedom from individuals and society that led him not wanting to have any long-term intimacy relationships with the individuals he met throughout his journey.
Raising a child like Christopher is very difficult. Christopher often disappears in the middle of the night to go out for walks and quickly becomes overwhelmed in new environments. For the better well-being of Christopher, Ed tends to be very overprotective of him. An example of this is shown when Christopher wants to do detective work to find out who killed Wellington. This idea suggests that Christopher has to talk to strangers which he is not comfortable with.
Born of the ashes from his father’s legacy, Christopher matures into a world that perceives him as nothing more than his father’s offspring. From the moment after his seventh year, he bears the people’s anger, not for his crimes, but for his father’s. In his home, he
When he leaves for Alaska, the man that has been helping him, Franz, asks to adopt him as a grandson. Christopher tells him that he needs to travel to Alaska alone first and when he gets back they can talk about it. This proves that Christopher needed to do things on his own to truly understand the world. Finally, he realized that nature can be harsh and uncaring as well. When he started running out of supplies to survive he came to that conclusion because he was soon not going to have anything.
He is our protagonist and as we come to learn he isn't the nicest one out there, but this is mainly for his autism coming into play during most of his adventures. Near the end of the book christopher is forced to learn how to get over his fears to be able to go to his mothers but in his own unique way, “And it was like counting and saying, ‘Left, right, left, right, left, right. . .’ which Siobhan taught me to do to make myself calm. And I was saying in my head, ‘Train coming. Train stopped.
In conclusion, Christopher likes being by himself. Haddon makes us look through Christopher’s eyes in the book. We learn a lot about ourselves because of this. I realized that everyone is different and has a different point of view on everything. In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time it says “‘Special needs!
But it was ok because Sandy slept on my bed and he would bark if anyone came into the room during the night. And Father made a vegetable patch in the garden and I helped him" (220 Haddon). This quote is significant because it shows the trust issues that Christopher has with his father, and how they begin to be definitively resolved at the end of this book. This atonement that Christopher achieves with his father supports the idea that he
He gains a deeper understanding of the world around him thanks to his keen observation of people's behaviors and outward appearances. Christopher is portrayed by the author as being observant through the use of physical description and visual imagery. Christopher’s subconsciousness allows him to often doze off into his own mind and perceive every small detail around him. “My memory is like a film. That is why I am really good at remembering things, like the conversations I have written down in the book, and what people were wearing, and what they smelled like” (76).
So his emotions prove the theme that when trust is lost, people can behave out of the ordinary. Christopher’s characterization is then built upon as he tries to rationalize the letters: “I tried really hard to think if there was any other explanation but I couldn’t think of one. And then I couldn’t think of anything at all because my brain wasn’t working” (Haddon 112). The effect on the text overall when Christopher explains how he can't think properly and can’t figure out a reason illustrates a drastic change in Christopher’s character. In the beginning, Christopher is always trying to solve a problem or mystery but because he is unable to figure out the reason behind this mystery he is left feeling lost
Christopher grew up without knowing much about the world and life it self. He acts as what many would say a child. This is due to his Aspergers. In the beginning of the novel Christopher explains what he thinks of life.
(Mark Haddon 203). This is a coping skill that Siobhan taught Christopher and this helped him stay calm and not get into huge trouble. This is one of the examples of Siobhan teaching coping skills to Christopher. Christopher has many issues of freaking out and hitting people. For example, he hit a policeman because he was touching Christopher.
Chapter 229 • He is having a dream about a virus that kills you if you look at someone who has it • He can go anywhere because no one is looking at him. • And he goes home to his dads accept his dad isn’t there. Chapter 233 • Christopher ends at home again