Any type of stress is said to have a powerful effect on some individuals. The effects can then result in a disruption of their instinctive judgment or performance of actions. In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, the idea of stress is shown occasionally throughout the novel. Another book that expresses this specific idea in a similar manner is J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Although Chris subsists in finding contentment in being aware of events prior to its occurrence or expressing himself through violent behavior, Holden’s method of dealing with stressful situations by speaking his mind and smoking would be a more appropriate approach when the two are compared. The duration of Haddon’s book demonstrates stress in many ways, whether it be internally or externally. An example of this …show more content…
One example of an internal way that supports the topic is when Holden goes out with Sally Hayes and ends up calling her “a pain in the ass” (148). The quote implies that Holden finds the satisfaction he craves in insulting other people to boost his ego. It also emphasizes the idea that he remains open-minded and ignorant to emotions that he causes an individual to be affected by. An example of an external problem involves the part in the book where Holden is smoking in the hotel room and admits that he “must’ve smoked around two packs since [he] left Pencey” (112). This specific quote indicates the amount of stress Holden has been under and how he seems to find smoking as a way to calm his nerves and provide him with a form of isolation from his surroundings and a temporary getaway. It also suggests that Holden is trying to avoid every aspect of reality and attempt to live in a life that ideally has no care in the world. Overall, Holden holds a strong stand of how he handles stress in a more sensible