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Research Paper On The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime

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Jennie Nguyen ERWC Mrs. Jones 20 February 2023 Unjustifiable Lies Imagine living the majority of your life being lied to by the person you wholly depended on and trusted. How would you feel being in Christopher’s shoes? How would you react? The novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, portrays a true story of a young teenager named Christopher Boone. Christopher was born with a neurological disorder called Aspergers, a type of autism. He had a rough childhood: His parents argued and his mother had an affair, eventually abandoning Christopher and his father, Edd Boone. His father tries to prevent Christopher from knowing the truth about his mother, leaving Christopher clueless. I believe that his father …show more content…

Boone was Christopher’s father, it did not excuse him from dictating what his son should know or not know. An example of Mr. Boone deciding for Christopher was when he told him how his mother died, “I’m afraid you won’t be seeing your mother for a while.” (Haddon 11) Instead of telling the truth to his son, his father creates a huge lie about his mother dying which leads Christopher to be clueless about his mother’s whereabouts. For the majority of his life, he was deceived into thinking that his mother died, and when he discovered that she was alive, Christopher was completely overwhelmed. In chapter 157, after having a sensory overload from reading the hidden letters written by his mother, his father comes into Christopher’s room to justify himself, “But once I’d said that… I couldn’t… I couldn’t change it. Do you understand… Christopher…? Christopher…? It's just… It got out of control and I wish…” (Haddon 52) Mr. Boone knew what he did was wrong and stated that the lie had gotten “out of control” and yet he continued to lie to Christopher instead of being honest with him. Christopher’s sensory overload could’ve been prevented if his father had told him the truth about his mother. Although many say he lies to protect Christopher, what Mr. Boone does is create more pain. Trying to protect one’s innocence causes more harm than good. To be specific, in chapter 181, “I see everything. That is why I don’t like new places. If I am in a place I know. . . I have seen …show more content…

Throughout the book, it’s clear that Christopher’s father has not moved on from his ex-wife having an affair and abandoning them. Because of this grudge, his anger and frustration continue to grow into their home lives. For instance, “I had no memories for a short while . . . I was sitting on the carpet with my back against the wall and there was blood on my right hand and the side of my head was hurting.” (Haddon 37) His father’s bitterness towards the dog, Wellington, reminded him of the abandonment between the two romantic relationships he had. As a result of his anger, Mr. Boone hits Christopher and knocks him unconscious. As the lies continue to grow out of hand, the more bitter and abusive his father becomes. To illustrate, “I killed Wellington, Christopher. . . I think she cared more for that bloody dog than for me, for us. . .And it was like everything I’d been bottling up for two years just…” (Haddon 54) This quote shows the built-up bitterness Mr. Boone had collected over the years. These bottled-up emotions led him to irrationally lash out at an innocent dog and blame the animal for his fallout with Mrs. Shears. There have been two major events in which Christopher’s father result to violence to cope with his issues. Additionally, his violent tendencies create an unsafe environment for Christopher and

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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

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However Ed Boone was not the only individual Christopher was oppressed by. Judy Boone has further mistreated Christopher as she wrote to him, “And you were frightened because of all the people in the

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Though, when the killing of the neighbour's dog, Wellington occurs, Christopher's carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher's father, Ed Boone's temper is proven to have caused him to murder the dog and also lie to his son about his mother. When Ed confesses his crimes to Christopher, he refers to his temper metaphorically as "when that red mist comes down …". Haddon's realistic portrayal of family is shown to be destroyed as Ed's temper is what is undoing his relationship with Christopher. Haddon’s portrayal of Ed Boone allows him to represent interesting ideas about the family unit.

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The role of adults play a crucial role in Christopher’s life, and his father is no exception. Ed Boone has been seen as a negative influence,, as he forces Christopher to be secretive, is very unstable, and uses crude language and physical force on his son, as well as lying about crucial parts of Christopher’s life. Christopher’s father often goes to extremes when demonstrating his emotions, occasionally blowing up in anger, and he lacks the confidence to work through his problems verbally. When trying to explain himself he stutters and stops and often has trouble connecting sentences. Like Christopher, he has very few friends—Rhodri is the only one the novel mentions.

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This can distinctly be seen when Christopher divulges, during his conversation with his dad, “Then he came back with a golden retriever” (219). This demonstrates that Ed wants Christopher to stay positive and joyful, even after his pet rat, Toby, dies. Hence, he buys the puppy, as Christopher loves dogs. Overall, Ed Boone’s good parenting skills keep him constantly on the job of making Christopher feel and be

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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.

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When Christopher finds out that his father killed Wellington and hid the truth about his mom, Christopher's conscience tells him that he must leave to live with his mother. "I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me, because I couldn't trust him, even though he said, "Trust me," because he had told a lie about a big thing" (122 Haddon). This quote is significant because it shows that Christopher's journey begins as a result of a traumatic experience.

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Ed Boone, even though he does things that are uncaring or inconsiderate of Christopher, like lying about his mother dying or grabbing his arm even if he knows that's something Christopher finds upsetting, but Ed, regardless of what has done, does care for Christopher like an example is “Christopher is getting a crap enough deal already, don't you think, without you shitting on him from a great height as well. Jesus, this is the one thing he is really good at.” (Haddon 44). This shows how Ed Boone wants the best for Christopher and tries to advocate for him even if, in the end, he did say that math was the only thing Christopher excelled at. The quote also depicts how Christopher's father tries to make sure that Christopher has a good life and a life that is fulfilling for him.

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Self) to develop the coming-of-age theme to explain how Christopher becomes more independent as the novel continues. For example, when he plans on living with his mother when he thinks his father will kill him. “I looked up and saw him staring through the bars at me. I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington.

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So when he disobeyed, the original plan of Christopher’s maturing came to an unexpected turn of events. He should have grown naturally, learned quietly and at his own pace and not bit off more than he could chew. A lot of the secrets uncovered, especially with his mother, would have been better off left alone until Christopher was older, more mature to be able to understand them properly. When Christopher stated “He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works” it highlighted the heightened social anxiety that can be caused, both for someone who is autistic and for those who have general anxiety over social

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Christopher’s parents, Ed Boone and Judy Boone, are very important people in Christopher’s life, as well as important characters in this novel. They play a big part in his life, he wouldn’t be the kind of person he is without their constant lectures and care that they provide. Both, the mother and the father, love and care for Christopher. “She had sent me lots of love and had my Get Well card on the table beside her bed.” Before his mother passed away, and even during her slow death, Judy continued to send love to her son.

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So a big event in Christopher's life wouldn’t change

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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.

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Everyone argues that cheerleading isn't a sport, but to many individuals it is. Often times people tend to not realize the amount of effort, commitment, and time it takes to be a cheerleader. People refer to cheer as just “dancing on the sidelines”, “throwing girls into the air”, and “standing and looking pretty on the sidelines.” Yes, these are correct, but there is much more to the sport itself than these conceptions. Most people think of cheerleaders as bratty girls in cute outfits with pom poms in their hands attempting to encourage a crowd to cheer on a team.

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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.

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