The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Christopher Boone’s life is filled with mystery after mystery. First, his neighbor’s passive dog, Wellington, is impaled with a garden fork. Next, he discovers his mother never died of a heart attack, but is alive and well and living in another city. How curious! In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Christopher is an austistic teenager who resides in the town of Swindon, in England. Although he is uncomfortable in social situations, he is greatly interested in maths and science, and dreams of becoming a scientist. He lives alone with his father, and believes that his mother died of a heart attack. The story begins with Christopher discovering his neighbor’s dog murdered by garden fork, and follows his quest to uncover the culprit. In an unexpected turn of events, his investigation leads him to unearth the true whereabouts of his mother; she has been living in London, and her death was faked by Christopher’s father in an

Although it is unclear whether Christopher is still planning to live with his father, he prioritizes indicating his desire for “a garden and a proper toilet” and bringing his dog rather than that of living with somebody. This displays Christopher’s newfound confidence and maturity, since he is focusing more living independently. While this is an example of indirect characterization, Christopher is completely direct when he says “And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and 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 can do anything” (221). In the beginning, Christopher said he was being brave to question his neighbors because he had no choice (35). Now, however, he knows he is brave and specifically says so, showing a considerable change in