The Nighttime Autism

In the mystery novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, the main conflict is how autism affects ones' life, specifically when a friend has been killed. Christopher Boone struggles with autism, and he must cope once he decided to solve the mystery of who killed his friend Wellington, the dog. Christopher recalls why he writes about Wellington's death when he says,"So I am writing a murder mystery novel. In a murder mystery novel someone has to work out who the murderer is and then catch them...I also started with the dog because it happened to me and I find it hard to imagine things which did not happen to me." Christopher's limited mind causes him to fall short in his interpretation and imagination skills while

His mind finds order to be soothing and he allows it to control his daily lifestyle. He detests touching, for it brings him to a state of panic, and Christopher relies on the order of colors and numbers to rule his life. Christopher describes the moment when he goes to jail when he says,"The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn't like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him." Christopher, like many autistic people, loath touching, so when the policeman accidentally committed this act, Christopher assaults him landing him in jail. Autism causes trouble when people are unaware of it, and Christopher lands in trouble during the beginning of the novel. Christopher explains his system when he says,"...why 4 red cars in a row made it a Good Day, and 3 red cars in a row made it a Quite Good Day, and 5 red cars in a row made it a Super Good Day, and why 4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don't speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch...I said that I liked things to be in a nice order." Christopher likes things in order because it is logical to him, specifically numbers. He lets the order of the number and colors of the cars he sees on his way to school determine whether the day will be good or bad day spent alone. Autism affects Christopher's daily life, lands him in trouble, and his determination