He also mentioned a list of metaphors such as “people do not have skeletons in their cupboards”. I found these observations particularly humorous because for the life of me I can’t remember when I was ever taught what metaphor are but I can somehow understand them. I found myself thinking that I look at metaphors in the same way as parables in a bible, they make complicated things make sense! In a way Christopher makes us question the need for such a thing when we can just be direct when the metaphor can be confusing if you don’t understand it. Knowing that humor was lost on him and metaphor seem unnecessary I was surprised that he was accepting of the concept of white lies.
Marquis Barnes Mrs. Wolfe Brit. Literature 15 September 2013 How Curious is the Curious Incident In The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time, autism seemingly is the cause of action and hinders Christopher’s growth development. Christopher to often times misunderstands and misinterprets other people's intentions, especially those of his father. Consequently, he strongly shies away from public relations and evades it whenever possible. Yet as the story continues, he steps out of his comfort-zone in order to find his mother which allows him to develop a stronger sense of independence.
In the book, from the very start Christopher’s father does not want him to try and solve the mystery of the dead dog. This hints that he doesn’t want Christopher to find out who killed the dog because it was him, Christopher’s father. He also says many times throughout the book that he does not like Mr. Shears. Even though Mr. Shears is gone now, killing his old dog could be a way to try to emotionally hurt him. Another literary device in this book is symbolism.
And yet, he still continued to solve for this murder of Wellington no matter what the blockades were in his life, especially with his communication skills because of his disorder of Autism which blocks him from socializing with people around him and many more issues such as behavioral issues because he cannot understand people at times very fully like normal people can. Not only did he discover the hidden truth about who actually killed Wellington, and by figuring this out, he also discovered secret truths about his mother which his father had been lying to him about which made his life a lie these fifteen years. He traveled to London and all by himself with his Autistic Disability dealing with many hardships, discoveries, escaping’s from the police and his dad, and betrayal at times. Although, throughout this wonderful journey of Christophers, he has realized what a brave job he has done and solved all the mysteries of his life
For example; there are some questions that test Christopher’s mathematics skills and identifies that he’s good at maths. Other questions test and identify his emotional understanding. For this question is asked to name the emotion for the above face. Christopher manages to identify the happy and sad face, but struggles to identify the emotions of the other faces. Christopher suffers from a mental condition and I believed this was a unique way of indentifying what kind of person Christopher is and how this disability brings pros and cons to his life.
Christopher showed courage in many ways throughout the novel. When he found Wellington, a neighbourhood dog, dead in the front yard, Christopher spend time ʺdetectingʺ, or talking to people on his street. This was a difficulty for him, because he did not enjoy talking to people he had never met before. To him, people were hard to understand (Haddon p. 34). Although he knew it would be difficult, he faced it, and got
He was then arrested, and released on the condition, that he does not continue his investigation of the crime. Christopher ignores the caution and continues his search for the murderer. After questioning a few of the neighbors he discovers that his father and Mrs. Shears were having an affair. Meanwhile, the young man is preparing for an A-level Math Test, which upon receiving an A will make him eligible to attend university. He also is still continuing to write this book, a dairy of his documentations exploring the murder of Mrs. Shears’ dog.
Christopher changes into a stronger person mentally throughout the book. He is first represented as a boy with Asperger Syndrome, who is very blunt and does not understand the rules of socialism. He reacts quickly to situations he doesn’t understand or like by folding himself up into a ball and groaning, he also hates skin-ship with others as it makes him feel uneasy. “If a strange man touched me I would hit him, and I can hit people very hard.” As the book progresses Christopher finds himself in unfamiliar situations that make him have to face his issues, such as talking to strangers on his way to London, and allowing to be touched by his mother (even though he did not like it too much.) His sentences are always blunt and factual, there are never long describing words as Christopher thinks that it is far more logical to just say what you want to say without putting fancy adjectives in there.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is the story of Christopher, an autistic boy whose social inability causes misunderstandings between him and the world. Throughout the novel, as he searches for the reason behind Wellington, a dog’s death, he discovers a way to bridge the gap between him and other people, to have the courage to face his problems, the world, and his own identity. Christopher is unable to communicate with other people very well due to his autism, some of his problems, such as “Not talking to people for a long time; Not liking being touched; Screaming when I am angry or confused; Smashing things when I am angry or confused; Groaning;” (73). When the police arrive after he discovers Wellington’s dead body, they ask him a flood of questions, causing Christopher to be confused, “He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly…I rolled back onto the lawn and pressed my forehead to the ground…” (8). While Christopher has many problems, he also has many unique abilities, described on page 3, I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507.” (3).
He has difficulty socialising with others and has a specific daily routine. One day he discovered his neighbour’s dog, Wellington stabbed with a garden fork and was initially blamed for the murder. Despite his father’s order he decides to unravel the case getting his inspiration from his favourite fictional character Sherlock Holmes. The investigation becomes a challenge leading to the dissolution of his parent’s marriage. As Christopher deals with the crisis we see how his mind perceives things.