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.

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