The Curious Incident

By Ally Dunlap -
In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Haddon portrays what it is like for an adolescent with autism through the main character, Christopher. One thing that I find interesting is the character development of Christopher's parents throughout the novel. With this being the third book, I sometimes find myself comparing the parents in the different novels. Christopher's mom and dad both had their own idea of what they thought was best for Christopher.

Christopher's dad thought he was doing what was best for Christopher when he told Christopher that his mom had passed away. This was an in the moment decision. However, I think this caused a lot of confusion for Christopher especially when he was reading the letters from his mom. It took him a few letters to realize that it was his mom writing the letters. The shock that Christopher felt, caused him to get sick. This is something that is seen throughout the novel. When something upset Christopher, it caused him physical pain/sickness. Haddon writes, "I don't know what happened then because there is a gap in my memory, like a bit of the tape had been erased... And I had been sick because there was sick all over the bed and on my hands and arms and face (113). This shows that constants in Christopher's life are very important. This kind of surprise/shock threw Christopher off and caused an instant upset.

In the letters, Christopher's mom explained why she left and that she was not the best mother. This was very shocking to me because it was as if his mom gave up on him. Christopher's mom thought that it was best to leave. I think that Haddon does a great job of showing the reality of parenting a child with a special need. His mom struggled to understand Christopher at times. It does not help that it seems like Christopher's mom had expectations on how Christopher should act. This made it so much worse when Christopher would get upset or not react the way she wanted/expected. Evidence of this is further seen towards the end of the novel when his mom wants to hold his hand. His mom says, "Christopher, let me hold your hand. Just for once. Just for me. Will you? I won't hold it hard" (194). This part of the novel is a little sad to me because I know that Christopher's mom deeply loves him, but I think she struggles some times with how to show that love or make Christopher feel better.

I do believe that Christopher's mom and dad both love him. However, their ways of parenting and personalities are very different. Haddon allows the audience to see two different parental sides of an adolescent with autism through Christopher's parents.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C
Read more