Curious incident, Standard
How does Haddon represent an unique individual to expand the reader’s perspective on human behaviour?
Mark Haddon’s text ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the nighttime’ effectively represents a unique individual through the lens of the protagonist diagnosed with Aspergers in order to encourage the audience to understand and empathise with his condition and its relation to human behaviour. Through the key themes of the Nature of Difference, the Need for Stability and the Complexity of Human Interaction, Haddon extensively explores this unique individual who views the world differently to expand the reader’s perspective on human behaviour.
Haddon explores the nature of difference through Christopher’s positive traits such as his conflict with himself in order to expand the reader’s perspective on human behaviour. This is initially seen through Christopher’s statement that ‘Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.’ This example symbolises Christopher’s thought process through his attempts at applying logical thinking to life and his paradoxical character which is both illogical and logical, depending on the context. This is a notable example of the Nature of Difference as Chirstopher intends for stability through logic and factuality, due to his aspergers condition, making him socially awkward in social situations, as well as expanding the reader’s perspective on human behaviour. Furthermore, through ‘My name is a metaphor. It means carrying Christ ...it was a name given to St Christopher because he carried Jesus Christ across a river. Mother used to say that it meant Christopher was a nice name because it was a story about being kind and helpful, but I do not want my name to mean a story about being kind and helpful. I want my name to mean me.’ this statement depicts Christopher’s atypical narrative voice. His biblical allusion suggests that he dislikes the idea of his name being characterised as a metaphor, reflecting his need for individuality. This is another example of the Nature of Difference as normal people wouldn’t display much care to the etymology behind their name generally, but Christopher is an anomaly in this situation, showing Haddon’s attempt to expand the reader’s perspective on human behaviour through this situation. Finally, through ‘But most people are lazy. They never look at everything. They do what is called glancing which is the same word for bumping off something carrying on in the same direction [...] But if I am standing in a field in the countryside I notice everything.’ where the truncated sentences point out his opinions on other people’s interactions with their surroundings, compared to that of himself. His pedantic nature is emphasised here and reflects a desire for a specific understanding of the environment, thus showing his difference from the rest of society due to this condition. As a result, this expands the reader’s perspective on human behaviour, due to Christopher’s Asperger’s condition influencing his everyday activities. Thus, Haddon explores the nature of difference through Christopher’s positive traits such as his conflict with himself in order to expand the reader’s perspective on human behaviour.
Another aspect of the nature of difference can be seen through Christopher’s need for stability, also reflected through his s conflict with self. Haddon explores the idea of Christopher’s factual thought processes, his need for truth and his solving of maths equations in his head… in order to make sense of his world. This is seen in ‘Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead.’ where Haddon’s use of truncated sentences emphasises the impactfulness of the dead dog. The atypical narrative voice portrayed by Christopher presents the events involving the dog from a factual perspective, instead of an emotional one, expanding the reader’s perspective on human behaviour due to this reason. Furthermore, through ‘Also Doctor Watson says about Sherlock Holmes...his mind… was busy in endeavouring to frame some scheme into which all of these strange and apparently disconnected episodes could be fitted’ And that is what I am trying to do by writing this book.’ This shows Christopher’s need for stability by Haddon’s use of intertextuality to Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’, encouraging him to ‘write this book’. Additionally, this relates to the hybridization of the novel’s genre, as Christopher intended to write a murder mystery novel, but instead wrote a bildungsroman (coming of age) novel. Finally, through ‘And when I was asleep I had one of my favourite dreams… And in the dream nearly everyone on the earth is dead, because they have caught a virus…And eventually there is no one left in the world except people who don’t look at other people’s faces and who don’t know what these pictures mean’ the use of internal focalisation into Christopher’s dreams show his need for stability, due to his dream depicting having a ‘perfect life’ where a virus wipes out the world population, leaving him alone, showing and expanding the reader’s perspective on human behaviour. Finally, the need for stability shows another aspect of the nature of difference, which is reflected through his conflict with himself.
The complexity of human interaction is explored through Christopher’s conflict with others in order to reflect his social awkwardness that creates misunderstandings and hostility from others. This is especially evident in ‘I felt giddy. It was like the room was swinging from side to side, as if it was at the top of a really tall building and the building was swinging backwards and forwards in a strong wind.’ This use of the depressive tone shows that Christopher is disappointed with this father and doesn’t trust him anymore, he believes that lies have destroyed their relationship due to his preoccupation with the truth. In his life, it is immensely more important for Christopher to have a good relationship with his father, especially considering his Aspergers condition. This fracture of trust between the two also reflects his social awkwardness, which creates misunderstandings between Christopher’s father and himself. Furthermore, this is also seen in “And the man said, ‘single or return? And I said, ‘What does single or return mean?’ And he said, ‘Do you want to go one way, or do you want to go and come back?’And I said, ‘I want to stay when I get there’. And he said, ‘For how long?’ And I said, ‘Until I go to university.’
And he said, ‘Single, then’...” In this example, it is clear that Christopher struggles to converse with the ticket inspector, indicating his clear weaknesses in social situations, such as this example mentioned earlier. Finally, through ‘And she said, "Are you telling the truth, Christopher?" And then I said, "I always tell the truth." And she said, "I know you do, Christopher. But sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them."’ where the atypical narrative voice portrays Christopher as dogmatic, repetitive and naive, showing his lack of understanding of normal human emotions and instead perceives his environment as ‘factual’. This is reflected through his Aspergers condition, due to his lack of understanding social cues, resulting in him struggling immensely with the mundane idea of human interaction, thus resting misunderstandings and hostility from others. Thus, the complexity of human interaction is explored through Christopher’s conflict with others in order to reflect his social awkwardness that creates misunderstandings and hostility from others.
Ultimately, Haddon’s novel ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime’, effectively represents a unique individual through the lens of the protagonist diagnosed with Aspergers in order to encourage the audience to understand and empathise with his condition and its relation to human behaviour. This is especially amplified with the key themes of the Nature of Difference, the Need for Stability and the Complexity of Human iNteraction. Thus, Haddon’s novel effectively represents a unique individual through the lens of the protagonist diagnosed with Aspergers in order to encourage the audience to understand and empathise with his condition and its relation to human behaviour.
All writing from all year levels of English (except Year 12 Extension 1 and 2) is accepted!
If the former, this really shows that you've read the play