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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Novels

   CAPTION: Title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

     Author   Mark Haddon
    Country   United Kingdom
    Language  English
    Genre(s)  Mystery novel
   Publisher  Jonathan Cape
    Released  2004
   Media type Print ( Hardback & Paperback)
      ISBN    ISBN 0-09-945025-9

   The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a novel written by
   Mark Haddon that won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and the 2004
   Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. Its title is a
   quotation of a remark made by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes
   in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1893 short story, " Silver Blaze".

   The story is written in the first-person narrative of Christopher
   Boone, a 15-year-old boy living in Swindon, Wiltshire in 1998, who has
   Asperger syndrome.
   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Protagonist

   Christopher Boone goes to a school for students with special needs
   because he has a form of autism. Although it is never definitively
   stated within the story which autistic spectrum condition Christopher
   has, the summary on the book's inside cover states it to be Asperger
   syndrome. Christopher is a mathematical savant, has a photographic
   memory, and is extremely observant. However, he has difficulty
   understanding human behaviour, gestures and relationships. He dreams of
   being an astronaut and takes a deep interest in mathematics. He owns a
   pet rat named Toby, which he feeds with food pellets.

   Christopher has many traits that set him apart from others because of
   his perception of life. He is unable to recognise and comprehend facial
   expressions besides 'happy' and 'sad' and also has difficulty in
   understanding metaphors. He likes lists and facts, has a fear of
   strangers and new places, and his favourite dream is one in which
   everyone except people similar to him dies. In addition, he is
   over-sensitive to information and stimuli. For this reason, he screams
   and reacts violently to people who touch him. However, he doesn't mind
   pressing his fingers against those of his parents' as a gesture of
   love. He curls up and groans to protect himself against overwhelming
   noise or information.

   Christopher hates the colours yellow and brown, but loves red. This
   extends to adding red food dye to brown- or yellow-coloured food (and
   being unable to eat two different kinds of food that are touching), and
   also his belief that seeing three, four or five red cars in a row means
   it's a "good", "quite good", or "super good" day respectively, while
   four yellow cars signify a "black" day. Finally, he dislikes eating
   food from new places and the furniture being moved.

Other characters

     * Ed Boone: Christopher's father, who is a boiler maker. He looks
       after Christopher on his own after the death of his wife. He is
       usually very patient and understanding with Christopher.

     * Judy Boone: Christopher's mother, who dies of a heart attack before
       the start of the book. Not much of an initial description is given,
       but Christopher describes more about her as the story proceeds.

     * Siobhan (pronounced "Shi-VON"): A staff member at Christopher's
       school.

     * Roger Shears (Mr Shears): He lived near the Boones but has left his
       wife before the story begins.

     * Eileen Shears (Mrs Shears): One of the neighbours, who attempts to
       console Ed for a time after Christopher learns of his mother's
       death. At the start of the novel, Christopher finds Mrs Shears'
       dog, Wellington, has been murdered with a garden fork and decides
       to investigate like his hero, Sherlock Holmes.

     * Mrs Alexander: One of Christopher's neighbours, who tries to help
       Christopher.

     * Rhodri: One of Ed's colleagues.

     * Mrs Gascoyne: Headteacher at Christopher's school who (reluctantly)
       allows Christopher to take A-level mathematics.

     * Reverend Peters: The invigilator for the A-level maths exam. He
       becomes involved in a discussion with Christopher regarding the
       existence of God.

     * Mrs Peters: Christopher's art teacher.

Plot

   Christopher discovers the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour's
   poodle, speared by a garden fork. Having been blamed for it, he decides
   to investigate to clear his name. However, he is severely limited by
   his own fears and difficulties when interpreting the world around him.
   Throughout his adventures, Christopher records his experiences in the
   form of a book, entitled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
   Night-time.
   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   During his investigation into Wellington's demise, Christopher meets
   people whom he has never before encountered (even though they live on
   the same street). Christopher chronicles his discoveries in his book.

   Ed, his father, discovers the book and confiscates it from Christopher,
   after a brief fight between them. In his search for the hidden book,
   Christopher uncovers a trove of letters to himself from his mother,
   dated after she allegedly died — which his father had also concealed.
   Christopher had been told by Ed that she died of a heart attack.
   Christopher concludes that she is still alive and that his father has
   lied to him. He is so thoroughly shocked by this fact that he is unable
   to move, curls up on the bed, vomits, and groans for several hours till
   his father returns home.

   Ed realises that Christopher has read the letters and cleans
   Christopher up. He then confesses that he had indeed lied about Judy's
   death and also that it was he who killed Wellington, stating that it
   was a mistake due to his anger after a heated argument with Mrs Shears.

   Christopher, having lost all trust in his father and fearing that he
   may also try to kill him, decides to escape from home and live with his
   mother. Guided by his mother's address from the letters, he embarks on
   an adventurous trip to London, where his mother lives with Mr Shears.

   After a long and confusing journey, evading policemen who have been
   dispatched to find him (due to Ed, who called the police about his
   disappearance), and feeling ill due to the overwhelming information
   from the crowds and the signs in the trains, he finally finds his way
   to his mother and Mr Shears' home, and waits outside until they arrive.

   His mother is happy at his appearance and tries to keep him with her,
   despite the objections of both Mr Shears and Ed, the latter having
   tracked Christopher down with the aid of the police. His mother
   eventually leaves Mr Shears, their relationship apparently broken down
   because of the conflict over Christopher.

   She then moves into a rented room in Swindon and, after an argument
   with Ed, agrees to let Ed meet with Christopher daily for a little
   while. However, at this stage, Christopher remains terrified of his
   father; he hopes Ed will be imprisoned for killing Wellington. The
   story ends with Ed getting Christopher a new pet dog, and promising
   that he will rebuild trust with Christopher slowly, "no matter how long
   it takes" in his daily brief sessions, and Christopher asserting that
   he will take further A-level exams and attend university. He had
   completed his first mathematics A-level with top grades, plans to take
   futher tests in the years to come, and wants to become a scientist.
   Spoilers end here.

Literary techniques

   The book's autistic narrator, Christopher, is gifted at and focused on
   mathematics: this is reflected by his inclusion of several famous
   puzzles of maths and logic. The book's appendix is a reproduction of a
   question from Christopher's A-level examination, with annotated
   answers. The book also includes the unlikely incident of seeing four
   yellow cars in a row which is bad, an event which holds significance to
   the narrator, who has an aversion to the colour yellow.

   Christopher's mathematical interests are reflected in his numbering his
   chapters strictly with prime numbers, ignoring composite numbers such
   as 4 and 6. So the first is Chapter 2, followed by 3, then 5, 7, 11,
   and so on. In addition, the contents in consecutive chapters alternate:
   Chapter 2 is about the unfolding story; Chapter 3 explores some aspects
   of the narrator's inner life not necessarily directly relevant to the
   immediate action; Chapter 5 returns to the narrative. This alternation
   continues throughout the book with the story often digressing into
   seeming unconnected subjects such as Christopher's atheism and the
   Cottingley Fairies.

   Another technique used to emphasise the different perceptions of the
   world experienced by people with autism, is the switching of fonts and
   use of long, run-on sentences when describing the surroundings. Thus
   the book's overall structure as well as its content supports the
   literary device that what we are reading is a novel penned by the
   autistic narrator, Christopher, rather than the author. This general
   technique of fictional autobiography was exploited by Daniel Defoe in
   what is regarded as the first novel in English, Robinson Crusoe. But it
   really follows the Sherlock Holmes structure.

   Christopher's narration is very precise and reliable with regard to
   objective facts but his view of the events of the story is often very
   different from what might be expected. For example, in one scene,
   Christopher is nearly killed by an oncoming train as he retrieves his
   pet rat, who has scampered onto the tracks of the London Underground.
   Through his narration, we see the scene unfold completely, but he
   himself remains unaware of the danger he is in, and of the closeness of
   his brush with death. This is also an example of dramatic irony, in
   which the reader understands more about a situation than the character
   does. Christopher also represents (what would not necessarily be
   obvious to all readers prior to reading the book) the fact that not
   every child will think in the same way — another thing that the book
   has been praised for. Nevertheless, some readers on the autistic
   spectrum have criticised it for giving an inaccurate portrayal of their
   identity.
   Spoilers end here.
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