Curious Incident

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Mark Haddon’s adolescent approach to autism is a moving piece that makes you think about the realities of everyday life for students who are on the spectrum. As readers we are taken on a journey that enhances our ability to understand the reasoning behind Haddon’s idea to create a character that has a unique perspective on life. Christopher is a character that makes you think twice about deciding rather or not if something is considered “normal”. In the novel an interaction between Christopher and his father is described as "He held up his right hand and spread his fingers out in a fan. I held up my left hand and spread my fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other." (Christopher Boone, Chapter 31, p. 16). Knowing that Christopher is sensitive to touch, me as a reader I focus on the situation which it derives from. Haddon uses this to clarify that normal for me, is and can be opposite from those on the spectrum. If put in a situation involving police gruffness, my immediate reaction would be to not further antagonize the situation but instead to remain docile. The uniqueness of Christopher is that he is a character that struggles to become independent but the violence he shows towards the officer discredits that because of his inability to handle an overload of new information at one time. This conflict further represents the growth that Christopher must go through to feel confident enough to escape his comfort zone to solve the murder. Haddon also makes it clear that Christopher's subjective views on life is only a layer of his character development that transform his story from one that I had little to no connection with to one that made me realize that there is a purpose of his behavior when responding to “normal” situations.  

Comments

  1. Logan FowlerSeptember 27, 2019 at 7:42 AM

    I'm sorry for responding late to your post, but I was under the impression that our responses weren't due until two days after the due date of our blog posts and I've been sick. Anyway, I found it interesting that you brought up how the dad opens his hand to embrace his son because that's what he needs. At the daycare I work at, a four year old boy doesn't like to be touched or hugged. When he is screaming and crying I will play with his hair. It tends to calm him down but any other touch has to be invited by him. He invites touch by placing his hand on my thigh or arm most times and then I know that he needs comforting. I also enjoyed all of the personal setbacks that Christopher had to overcome as well. Though this was my least favorite book, I really enjoyed his character growth.

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