A Study of Christopher John Francis Boone in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time of Mark Haddon: Classical Hero or Antihero?

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Nathamon Sunthikhunakorn 5680113322 MA English (Literature Track) Research Methodology Dr. Ingo Peters The Final Draft Submission (September 29, 2013) A Study of Christopher John Francis Boone in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time of Mark Haddon: Classical Hero or Antihero? In our society, there are often some people who hold bravery, sacrifice, and willingness to help or save other people. Those outstanding people are called as heroes or heroines. Their roles are different and various depending on values of each society and the period of time. According to Keith Cunningham, a hero is the main character in the myth. He is the one who goes on a quest and succeeds. He has to overcome all obstacles to help other people. He is also the one who saves lives and provides necessary things to the lives of people who are in need or danger (340). We can see some qualifications of heroic characteristics might be changed due to the time; however, a core of heroic characteristics remains the same: heroes must struggle and undergo challenges in order to accomplish a mission for the sakes of other people or themselves. Literature, as a mirror of society and physical evidence of our social values and history, can be used to view and explore the image of these people. In contemporary literature, heroes are categorized into two main kinds of heroes: classical heroes and antiheroes. This paper aims to examine classical heroic characteristics of Christopher John Francis Boone, a protagonist of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time of Mark Haddon in order to prove and verify that the protagonist is not an antihero; he can be classified as a classical hero. The term “classical heroes” is heard widely under an image of heroes who have a well-built figure and have supernatural power in mythology, such as Beowulf or King Arthur etc. However, classical

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