the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon is a story about a fifteen year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome who wants to discover who killed his neighbor’s dog, but ends up finding out about his family during the investigations. The novel is appropriate for teenagers as well as adults. The story, told from the point of view from Christopher Boone, is very informative and gives the reader an idea of what is going on inside of Christopher’s head. The book is a good representation of diverse literature because Christopher and his characteristics of autism are shown in a positive light. The book gives the reader a sense of what it would be like to have autism and the book does not say that there is anything wrong with this. We never feel that Christopher wishes he was someone else, does not like who he is because of his autism. We begin to understand that Christopher is simply different and the book explains why and what Chris struggles with, giving us an interesting perspective on Aspergers. Some things that give us a better sense of what life is like for Christopher who has autism are these. He takes things very literally, which is shown through his observations and thoughts. He says, “This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them.” He also does not like the colors yellow or brown, which is why he has red food coloring so he does not have to eat food that are these colors. He also does not like people touching him or lying. He hits people and screams when they touch him and while others may not understand why he does this, the reader gets a sense of why he does this because the book is told from his point of view. He does math problems in his head to calm him down and he groans to drown out the noise of others. He cannot understand emotions, facial expressions, or what is going on inside other people’s minds outside of what his teacher has taught him. He can only make sense of the world around him by having things in order, such as time tables for the day, and by making patterns out of things. “Four red cars in a row make it a good day. Four yellow cars in a row makes it a Black Day, which is a day when I don’t speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don’t eat my lunch and take no risks.” When he goes to find his mother, he is able to overcome many of his fears, showing that this book does not portray Christopher’s autism to be hopeless or tragic. He is able to grow and change throughout the novel despite his fears. He also ends up being a great detective and the first one in his school to pass his A levels. The author, Mark Haddon, is an insider to this topic. He has worked with people with autism during his lifetime, which is how he became knowledgeable about the topic.
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. New York, New York: Vintage by Random House , 2003.