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CuriousIncidentDogNightTime — Mark Haddon - Interview - Video

<H3> <div style="text-align: center"> The book "'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' is not a novel about disability, but a novel about difference", <a href="#video" style="text-decoration: none;"> Mark Haddon</a>.</div></H3>

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<div class="citajbm"> A fantastically unusual detective story written from the perspective of a 15-year-old autistic boy, who is obsessed with maths, science and Sherlock Holmes but finds it hard to understand other people. When he discovers a dead dog on a neighbour’s lawn he decides to solve the mystery; as in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets.</div>

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CuriousIncidentDogNightTime — Mark Haddon - Interview - Video

The book "'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' is not a novel about disability, but a novel about differenc...

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Analysis — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - Mark Haddon

<div style="text-align: center"> • ✔ <a href="#analysis" style="text-decoration: none;"> Literary Analysis — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime</a>, <a href="#pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"> Literary Analysis about the novel by Mark Haddon </a> </div>

<center>University studies | Mark Haddon, Literature | <a href="https://plus.google.com/111394417792438554096/about" rel="author" target="_blank"> — Madeirinha — </a> 
<a href="https://plus.google.com/111394417792438554096/posts" rel="publisher" target="_blank"> Benjamin Madeira — </a></CENTER>

<div style="text-align: center"> LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THIS BOOK, <a href="http://www.rojadirecta.me/goto/www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/analysis-haddon-mark.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> »The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time« </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/analysis-haddon-mark.html?m=0" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Mark Haddon: English Literature </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/analysis-haddon-mark.html?m=1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Critical Essay </a> - On the surface, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is a story about a unique young man setting out to solve an unusual crime and record his progress in a novel. «« </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" name="analysis" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> Research: Michelle Campbell, Nicodemus Ford, Sarah Genik, Tamara C. Nott, Tracie Richardson. Permissions: Mary Ann Bahr, Margaret Chamberlain, Kim Davis, Debra Freitas, Lori Hines, Jackie Jones, Jacqueline Key, Shalice Shah-Caldwell</a> :

Chapter 2 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Chapter 2 is only one page long, but within that short space Mark Haddon establishes
himself as an innovative writer. Why, for example, would a writer begin his book with
Chapter 2, instead of Chapter 1? The answer to that question is not revealed for
several more chapters, but it is a powerful and integral component of the development
of the narrator's character. Although the narrator's name is not revealed until the
following chapter, it immediately becomes clear that this is no common teller of tales.
Who, for example, recalls the precise time that an unexpected event occurs? The
narrator does not saya bout midnight or just past midnight, but at precisely seven minutes past midnight. Within the first few words of the novel, Haddon has already deeply engraved this character's persona in the reader's mind. He uses very few adjectives, and those he does use are simply descriptive--never gratuitous or emotionally charged. Yet, even without words describing feelings, the reader senses deep feelings of pathos and grief as the narrator picks up the dead dog with "blood leaking out" and strokes the corpse.

Chapter 3 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

As with Chapter 2, Chapter 3 is only one page long, and it is nothing short of
masterful. The astute reader will already have a deep empathetic understanding of
Christopher Boone. He states that he knows every prime number up to 7,057, and
since two and three are the first prime numbers, it seems reasonable to assume that
Christopher is using prime numbers to identify his chapters. A glance forward in the
book confirms that, since the next chapter numbers are 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17. This
chapter also hints that Christopher attends a special school or some sort of workshop
and that Siobhan is one of his instructors or counselors. Christopher seems to
experience a disconnect between the emotions he feels and the socially appropriate
behaviors associated with those emotions. When Siobhan laughs at him about his chart
of human expressions, he responds by tearing up the paper. Clearly, Christopher's feelings are hurt, and Siobhan senses this deeply enough to apologize. It seems that
Christopher can view the world only in black and white, logical terms. This suggests a
knowledgeable insight into the autistic mind--an area of Haddon's expertise--and that
his character is indeed autistic. This sets up the delightful prospect of a detective who is capable only of logical, non-emotional thought. At least, those are the only thoughts he can actually express as the narrator of the tale of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time--interpreting the actions of normal people, who are often driven by emotion and bereft of logic.

Chapter 5 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Chapter 5 ends before the bottom of page 4 of this 226-page novel, and the central
character is almost fully developed, a remarkable feat. Haddon continues to flesh out
Christopher's autism (more specifically Asperger Syndrome) through Christopher's
own voice, describing the events of the night Wellington is murdered. While many
writers have displayed great sympathy and compassion for children with disabilities
from the omniscient perspective, Haddon brings a sense of nobility--indeed
superiority--to his character by letting him define his condition and behaviors in his
own terms. This is an immensely complex creative process that can flow smoothly and
credibly only from the pen of a truly gifted writer. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapters 7, 11, 13 and 17 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

This spate of four chapters adds even more layers to the increasing intricacy of the
complex--yet somehow refreshingly simple--personality of Christopher, a
fifteen-year-old autistic genius. Looking at the Milky Way and figuring out the Big
Bang Theory without anyone having to tell you about it is just the sort of thing every
teenaged boy does in the back of a police car delivering him into bondage for
assaulting a police officer, isn't it? What else would someone be thinking about in
those circumstances? To the clinician, this inability to connect the proper emotions to
the events and behave accordingly--that is to say, emotionally--might be viewed as a
symptom of Christopher's disorder. When viewed through Christopher's eyes,
however, this lunacy is endearing and, well, logical.

Christopher also reveals his penchant of quickly identifying people and things with the
first, or most startling, stimuli to enter his sensory processing system. Siobhan has
blond hair and green plastic glasses, while Mr. Jeavons wears brown shoes, each with
sixty holes. The cop car smells of plastic, aftershave and French fries. How might this
eye for detail serve a budding detective? Also consider Christopher's angle of focus.
When he sizes up Siobhan, Christopher is looking at her hair and her eyes, and yet he
stares at Mr. Jeavons' shoes. Does this imply that he trusts Siobhan more than
Jeavons?

Chapter 19 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Is Chapter 19 simply a diversion intended to expand our awareness of Christopher's
genius and eccentric way of thinking, or is it a key clue that relates to the murder of
Wellington that only he can see? It is doubtful that Haddon felt a need to educate his
readers on the rudiments of prime number, but can this be a red herring that his
character waves under our noses?

Chapters 23, 29, 31 and 37 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

There is nothing particularly revealing in these chapters, with the exception of the
foreshadowing involving Christopher's mother. The two simple statements, "She was a
small person who smelled sweet," and, "She said I didn't lie because I was a nice
person," say much about Christopher's relationship with his mom. The use of the past
tense hints of tragedy, and although Christopher is incapable of feeling and expressing
emotions as so-called normal people do, these statements speak volumes about
tenderness and love. While there's not much new information in the rest of the chapter,
Haddon continues to weave the masterful tapestry that is Christopher.</div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapters 41 and 43 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher's father emerges as a caring, loving parent, dealing valiantly with the
stress of raising a child with many special needs. He owns a blue-collar business,
installing and repairing boilers and heating systems. There is something obviously
amiss with the death of Christopher's mother, however. What sort of sudden illness
would take her away from home for an extended stay in an environment where she could not visit with her son? Why does Christopher suspect that it might be a mental
institution? This appears to foreshadow something more complex, perhaps a mental
collapse or some sort of domestic separation.

Chapter 47 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Readers gain deeper insights here both to Christopher's disability and his genius. More
importantly, we are exposed to the cruelty with which disabled children must contend
on a daily basis. We saw some evidence of this in the previous behavior of Mrs.
Shears and the police officer, but it is brought to the surface here as a full-fledged
theme. What begins to emerge here is the notion that, although Christopher may not
know the appropriate way to express his emotions, he doesfeelthem. Obviously,
being called a spazzer and being told he will never be able to do anything other than
menial jobs hurts him. Since his world exists largely in his own mind, he really slams
Terry with his sophisticated response. The question arises, then, whether he feels the
same sweet revenge with this internal, cranial comeback as a normal person might feel
in crafting such a devastating retort in verbal human interaction.

Chapter 53 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher's matter-of-fact way of dealing with his mother's death underscores his
disassociation of his emotions from the actual event. Christopher clearly loves his
mother, and surely, he must feel something akin to remorse at her death. Still, he is
unable to express it in any deeper way than a mere observation of the fact. Mrs. Shears
introduces another interesting dynamic here as well. She is immediately on the spot as
comforter and nurturer when they get the news of Mother's death. It is as if she is
trying to move into the nest to replace Mother. This is inconsistent with her behavior
on the night Wellington is killed, when she treats Christopher as some sort of frightful freak. It is possible that Christopher's mother hasn't really died, obviating the need for Mrs. Shears to observe a respectable mourning period before moving in.

Chapters 59 and 61 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Chapter 59 provides further insight into the curious dynamics of Christopher's mind. It
also highlights questions about his family's relationship with Mrs. Shears. This is the
same woman who came over to love and nurture Christopher when Mother died, and
now she treats him as if he were an alien from a hostile planet.

Chapter 61 delves further into Christopher's psyche, this time skirting on the spiritual, which is a realm that his logical mind rejects out of hand. This is to be expected in light of what readers have seen of his character so far. What is more revealing, however, are his thoughts about the cremation of Mother. Why would a son be denied a final opportunity to pay his respects at his mother's funeral, unless there was no funeral? </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapter 67 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

If one were to use a visual metaphor to describe the character of Christopher that
Haddon has drawn so far, it might be seen as a stark outline in India ink, filled with
fading shades of pastel watercolor. The obvious parts of Christopher's persona are
precise and rigid--logic, fear and insight. His emotional side, except when he becomes
violent, is muted and subdued. Such feelings as love, humiliation and kindness are
there in abundance, but they are only hinted at in his ruminations as he recalls events. Having thus conjured a masterful portrait of Christopher as he is, in Chapter 67 Haddon begins to actually develop his character, which is to say that Haddon will now cause Christopher to grow before our eyes. It is a huge step for Christopher--presumably a positive one--when he balls up the courage to begin interviewing his neighbors. To the normal reader this might seem trivial, but to Christopher it is huge. Christopher's father is fleshed out here a bit as well. Readers learn, for example, that he generally spends his Saturdays on outings with his son, although on this particular Saturday he chooses to watch a soccer match. This, of course, provides a perfect opportunity for Christopher to scour the neighborhood for clues to Wellington's death.

A theme that has been evident since Chapter 2 comes into full blossom in Chapter 67
as Christopher interviews his neighbors. That theme is the way that normal people
treat those with afflictions such as Christopher's. With the exceptions of Mrs. Shears
and Mrs. Alexander, the neighbors are at first sarcastic about this strange young man,
becoming condescending as they realize he is different. The encounter with Mrs. Alexander illustrates the tragic side of this relationship Christopher has with the world outside his own thoughts. Mrs. Alexander seems somewhat lonely in her dotage, and
she is genuinely grateful for Christopher's company. Rather than benefit from her
proffered friendship, however, Christopher becomes paranoid when she takes too long
and abandons the potential warmth, security and camaraderie of a budding relationship.

A whole bunch of plot questions pop up in this chapter. What, for instance, is the
reason for Mrs. Shears' overnight visits with Christopher and Father, and what does
this have to do with Mother's supposed death and Mr. Shears' absence? Why is Mr. Shears so angry? Why has Mrs. Shears gone from trying to ingratiate herself with
Christopher to being downright rude and aggressive? Finally, what does any of this
have to do with a dead dog and a pitchfork?

Chapter 71 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Some good British humor is found in this chapter--the children being taunted with
special needs instead of the old epithets and the irony of the notion that Christopher's genuine special needs are subordinate to bureaucratic order. Still, it is dark humor. It underscores the tragedy that Christopher is smarter than the world that controls, limits and manages his entire existence. Christopher shares this common dilemma with another classic character from modern British literature, the Savage in Huxley'sBrave New World. Christopher's summary of his options, either hiring someone to care for him or getting some girl to marry him, tugs sharply at the reader's heartstrings.

Chapter 73 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

It is clear by now that the mystery of Wellington and the garden fork is purely
tangential to the real story of what life is like in the family, the neighborhood and the cranium of a genius adolescent with autism.

Chapter 79 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

The plot thickens vis a vis Mr. Shears. Why does Father see him as evil? Why is
Father so angry? What's going on with Mrs. Shears that now makes her unwelcome in
Christopher's household? The plot is beginning to take on the aroma of a love triangle
or, more accurately perhaps, a quadrangle.

Chapter 83 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

The timing of this diversionary chapter may be more revealing than its content. It
comes in the midst of confusing revelations about Christopher's family life and
mysterious new emotions voiced by his father concerning the Shears. Confused by the
goings-on of adult humans, Christopher seeks refuge in something more easily
understood, such as rocket science. Although he would prefer the comfortable and
predictable camaraderie of his pet rat, he would even forego that simple relationship in favor of adventure.

Chapter 89 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Curiously, when Christopher wants to do something he has been told not to do, he can
create some very colorful and complex rationalizations to justify breaking the rules.
Yet, when Siobhan offers a simple rationalization for not continuing with his book, he
rejects it out of hand. His elaborate system for deciding good days and bad days based
on the colors of the cars he sees on his way to school--and the permission he gives
himself to close his eyes when things are consistently bad--seems irrational when
viewed from afar. Still, his behavior makes an odd sort of sense when seen through Christopher's eyes and mind. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapter 97 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

What the astute reader may have already surmised is revealed as fact in this pivotal
chapter. Christopher's mother ran off with Mr. Shears, a banker, and Father sees Mr.
Shears as an evil man because he is having an affair with Father's wife. It is not yet
clear why Mrs. Shears, who was apparently ministering to Father, has also fallen from
grace. It may be that Mrs. Shears wanted Father to make other arrangements for his
son so that she could move into the nest without competition, but given Father's love
of Christopher, he balked at the idea. More will be revealed.

Chapter 101 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

The author's point in this chapter is not entirely clear. Perhaps the lesson is that, as with numbers, life is not always clear. This chapter also highlights the fact that, while Christopher has no problem solving difficult math problems, he has trouble discerning simple human emotional issues.

Chapter 103 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Is the conversation about Parky and the ancient circuits relevant to the story of
Christopher and Wellington, or is it just a clever device to slip in the double entendre about the sleeping dog? The cloud dreaming that Christopher does in this chapter tends to underscore the notion that he is, in many ways, just like other boys his age. What teenaged boy has not, at one bored time or another, lain on his back, creating fantasies from the clouds forming in a sunny sky?

Chapter 107 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

This chapter may be full of clues as to who killed Wellington, or it may be one huge
red herring. More will be revealed.

Chapter 109 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher has now alerted the bureaucracy that he knows about his mother's
dalliance, even though he has not told his father. The school becomes a
co-conspirator--in the persona of Siobhan, along with Mrs. Alexander--in the
deception of Christopher's father. Clearly, Father is the one person who has the most
genuine love for Christopher, and one might wonder at these other adults urging
Christopher to deceive him. This is understandable in the case of Mrs. Alexander,
perhaps, because she unintentionally reveals the secret, but it seems somewhat sinister
in Siobhan's case, since she works under an official mandate. There is also further
insight in this chapter into the workings of Christopher's mind, since he does not feel
sad because it would be illogical. This begs the question of how Christopher might
react if he discovers that his mother is not dead.

Chapter 113 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher's DVD-like memory is consistent with what we have learned about the
inner-workings of his mind. The revelation of his mother's daydream, however, is out
of the blue--sort of a foreshadowing in retrospect. It is a precursor, perhaps, to her
affair with Mr. Shears.

Chapter 127 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher and his father have apparently reached a new level of negative emotion.
More significantly, perhaps, Christopher's narrative has become an object of conflict
in the bigger, less defined, story of the demise of Christopher's family.
Self-reflexively, Christopher's writings, which in actuality are fictional, become a real and literal part of the story, the subject of the dispute between Christopher and his father. This sort of labyrinthine path between the real and the imagined has a long and ancient tradition in English literature. Shakespeare, perhaps, perfected the technique when he included plays within his plays. Readers also gain a deeper insight into the workings of Christopher's usually precise mind when he says that he had no memory for a short while during the pique of emotion during his fight with Father. "It was like someone had switched me off, then switched me back on again. And when they
switched me back on again I was sitting on the carpet with my back against the wall
and there was blood on my hand." </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapter 131 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

At an emotional low point for Christopher, he ruminates on the things he dislikes. He
rationalizes his hatred of yellow and brown, revealing again his need to impose logic
on all things that are emotional.

Chapter 137 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Readers gain two insights here, one into Father and the other into Christopher. This
chapter brings out the frustration, anger, grief and remorse that are a part of the cycle caregivers go through when dealing with special-needs children who just don't react the way they are supposed to in the "normal" world. Readers also learn that, while the abstract values and properties of "caring for" are a bit too imprecise for Christopher, he does grasp the rudiments of love.

Chapter 139 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

There is a seeming incongruity here. How is it that Christopher can look at the clouds
and envision alien spacecraft and other imaginary forms but is so totally closed off to
the notion of anything that is not observable in the real universe? Much as Christopher
sees metaphors as lies, he sees the supernatural also as lies.

Chapter 149 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

In this blockbuster chapter the reader learns for certain that Christopher's mother is not dead, although he does still not accept that he has been lied to these past two years. Unable to lie himself, the thought doesn't even cross his mind. His reaction to the purloined letters, rather, is excitement at the additional mystery they create. Clearly, Father is conspiring to keep the truth from his son. Is his motivation to save
Christopher's feelings or to punish his unfaithful wife? We are likely to find out--albeit circuitously--now that Christopher is on the case.

Chapter 151 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

This is a short segue chapter, which moves the character along in time without
actually advancing the plot. The novel is a mystery, however, so some of the many
digressions Christopher takes into seemingly irrelevant topics may in fact be clues that will come to light later as he deduces the solution. On the other hand, they may just be red herrings.

Chapter 157 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

At precisely the mid-point in this novel, everything changes. Up until now, almost all
of the author's work has been devoted to a masterful development of the character
Christopher. Now the pace of events--the forward motion of the plot--increases at an
almost alarming rate. The mystery of Christopher's mother, which has been niggling at
the back of readers' minds for a hundred pages, but which has not even crossed
Christopher's unique mind because of a pure, albeit naïve, faith in the truth of
Father's words, is suddenly solved. The impact on Christopher of this truth, however,
is devastating, propelling him, at least temporarily, into a new reality. Even his most
prominent phobia, that of being touched by others, has been erased by this new
awareness. It will be intriguing to see what happens as Christopher adjusts to this new
truth. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapter 163 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

In the timeline of the plot, Christopher has just suffered a huge trauma. His whole
world, his entire belief system, has been stood on its head. He has woken up from a
complete emotional retreat from the ugliness of the reality of his father's lies about his mother. Clearly, Christopher writes this chapter well after the trauma, apparently
laying the groundwork for something that will occur in succeeding chapters--or not.

Chapter 167 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

The mystery is solved. Readers know who killed Wellington, so why isn't the novel
over? The mystery was never about who killed the dog. The whole scenario of
Wellington's death, and Christopher's efforts to unmask the culprit, is nothing more
than a giant red herring. It was a big fish, though, with an astute literary motive. The scenario provides Haddon with a broad canvas upon which to artfully evoke intense
images of the curious and dynamic mind and personality of his character, through
Christopher's own special perceptions. There are many cases in good literature in
which an author's character is so vivid that the writer disappears. The character takes
over and begins directing the author in how to proceed. To some, when this happens, it
is thought to be the pinnacle of the novel form--an almost spiritual realm where only
the best authors dwell. Christopher appears to be one of those creations, and Haddon
seems to be one of those writers. Readers will now no doubt learn how Christopher,
the curious boy genius, will fare in the world that other, less gifted creatures, tend to think of as the real world.

Chapter 173 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

This chapter is pure symbolism, representing what is happening in Christopher's
world. Things are not always what you are told they are. They are what you perceive.

Chapter 179 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

The hero, who has led a life so sheltered that the farthest he's ever been on his own is down to the corner store, is now on his own, armed with the knowledge gained by
playing with his electric train and on his way to London. Suddenly, of necessity, he is
being forced out of his individual world into the one inhabited by so many others. He
is adapting and succeeding, too. The boy who just a few chapters ago could barely
screw up the courage to quiz his neighbors about Wellington can now accost total
strangers to ask directions to the train station. When he gets lost, he can use his special ability to visualize spatial problems to develop a successful search grid. The smart money, it would seem, is on Christopher reaching London and his mother without
much outside help, except perhaps his father's bankcard. The question remains,
however, what sort of reception awaits him there?

Chapter 181 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

This chapter does not move the plot along but sets the stage for Christopher's
adventures in the train station. It is also, perhaps, one of the most instructive chapters into the workings of an autistic mind, as perceived by author Haddon.

Chapter 191 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher's explanation in the previous chapter of how he sees everything is played
out on a real-life stage in the train station. The thing that is most remarkable here
about Christopher's behavior is that he is growing bolder and bolder with each
encounter, and he begins to take more and more control over his own life. He is also
leaving a colorful trail of tales that will no doubt amaze his father and others who are by now probably in hot pursuit.

Chapter 193 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher is on a train by himself, a huge accomplishment. Trains are things that
travel through space in time. What could be more logical and practical, from
Christopher's perspective, than a scientific discourse on time? His discourse is
especially appropriate, concluding that there is no real answer. Again, the nature of
mystery is broached. To some questions, there is no solution.

Chapter 197 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

The adventure on the train is proving to be a great growth experience for Christopher.
Although he has been sheltered and protected all of his life, he is readily
demonstrating his ability to encounter new situations and adapt to change. In this
chapter, out of public necessity, he overcomes his phobia about yucky toilets, albeit to a small degree, that previously Siobhan to get permission for him to use the staff
bathroom at school. He's also doing a bang-up job of evading those who would
interfere with his plans to go live with his mother.

Chapter 199 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

This chapter is fairly didactic and seems to be purporting an agenda. Whether this is
an expression of Haddon's voice or more character development of Christopher is not
clear. The discussion of adaptation fits with the story line, as Christopher adapts to a world outside of his mind, and to some extent mutation does as well, considering
Christopher's condition. It is curious, however, that this brainy young man spouts a
rather archaic notion of evolution, omitting recent developments in evolutionary
theory regarding the inherent organizational dynamic demonstrated in chaos theory
and illustrated by fractal geometry. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Chapter 223 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Chapter 223 serves to underscore the extent of Christopher's stress. The most poignant
comment is, "I thought I was going to die."

Chapter 227 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Christopher slowly brings internal order to the external chaos in which he finds
himself. He breaks the frightening train sounds down into manageable components
with rhythmic mantras and then orders the arrival, boarding and leaving sequence into
an understandable pattern. This process isn't exactly new to his character, but certainly this is the most intense and severe example readers have seen so far. With this exercise, Christopher gains a great deal of self-confidence and bolsters his courage for further adventures. While down by the train tracks, for example, he is aware that the train is bearing down on him and threatening his life, but he chooses to continue his efforts to rescue Toby. Perhaps this is not the wisest thing he's done, but it is certainly courageous.

The interchanges and conflicts that occur at Mother's new flat are pretty much what
might be expected. Clearly, the novel is beginning to wind down to a close, as all of
the characters begin to come together in time and space. It is clear by the chapter's end that all is not going to be a bowl of cherries in Christopher's new situation. When
Christopher first hears his mother coming home, she is already in an argument with
Mr. Shears. That already strained relationship is about to be sorely tested by the
addition of Christopher to the domestic mix.

Chapter 229 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

Rage has reared its ugly head throughout this novel. Christopher expresses it when he
is touched. His father kills Wellington in a fit of pique. Mother becomes livid when
she learns of her husband's deception. Mr. Shears becomes outraged when Father
intrudes into his home. Christopher's dream, however, may be the ultimate expression
of everyone's rage: everybody who is not like me dies.

Chapter 233 <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> — Analysis

After a somewhat plodding but entertaining trip, <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> winds up quickly and perhaps a little too neatly in this concluding chapter. Within the span of a single chapter, Mother loses her job in England but gets another one in Swindon. Christopher fears his father one moment and begins reconciliation with him the next. He can't take his A-level exams, but then he does and aces them. His rat dies, but he gets a new dog. Everybody lives happily--sort of--ever after, at least in Christopher's head. </div>

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Analysis — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - Mark Haddon

• ✔ Literary Analysis — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime , Literary Analysis about the novel by Mark Haddon University studies |...

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CriticalEssay — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - Mark Haddon

<div style="text-align: center"> • ✔ <a href="#essay" style="text-decoration: none;"> Essays — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime</a>, <a href="#pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"> A murder mystery novel by Mark Haddon </a> </div>

<div style="text-align: center"> ESSAY ABOUT THIS BOOK, <a href="http://www.rojadirecta.me/goto/www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/essay-haddon-mark.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> »The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time« </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/essay-haddon-mark.html?m=0" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Mark Haddon: English Literature </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/essay-haddon-mark.html?m=1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Critical Essay </a> - In the following essay, Mullan discusses the plainness of the narrator's prose in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time". «« </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" name="essay" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> Source: John Mullan, "Letters Patent," in the Guardian (U.K.), May 8, 2004, p. 32. </a> :

Many readers will have their experience of Mark Haddon's novel shaped by a
technical peculiarity of which they might not be conscious. <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> uses a sans serif font: that is, a simple kind of print in which letters lack the little tails and plinths that printers call serifs. This is highly unusual in any published book; the conventional wisdom is that serifs help the brain's visual apparatus as a line of print is scanned. The tiny thickenings and thinnings of the limbs of every letter give the eye something to catch on to. Sans serif fonts may be used in advertisements, headlines and the like, but their simplicity is almost physically uncomfortable in any lengthy text.

The font's discomfiting simplicity is perfectly suited to Haddon's narrator,
Christopher, in all his pedantic veracity. He narrates plainly (sometimes just
cataloguing or enumerating) and the plainness is even there in the lettering. Reading a
page printed like this is, I think, visually disconcerting. Graphically speaking, we are in Christopher's nuance-free world from the start. We are unsettled by its lack of
variation, just as we will become conscious of his flat-voiced failure to sense the
emotions and tones of the novel's other characters.

Christopher himself hardly has a tone except plainness. One of several reasons why
this is intriguing in a novel (as it would not be in life) is that it comes close to
parodying what the novel as a genre originally set out to achieve. In his hugely
influential The Rise of the Novel, the critic Ian Watt described one of the distinctive features of the novel form, in its first 18th-century experiments, as "a prose which restricts itself almost entirely to a descriptive and denotative use of language." Its "realism" committed the novelist to a plain style, avoiding ornamentation and figurative extravagance. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> The pioneers of whom Watt writes, Defoe and Richardson, were both mocked for their failures of elegance. Yet plainness in prose is as artificial and as difficult to achieve as figurative-ness. Haddon must have made great efforts to keep figures of speech out of his narrative. He has created a narrator for whom they are bewildering. Christopher complains about how people insist on using metaphors. "They had a skeleton in the cupboard"; "We had a real pig of a day." "I think it should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards." When Christopher tries to picture such phrases "it just confuses me." He is disturbed when Mrs Shears, a neighbour who—we infer—is having a somewhat desperate affair with his father, says things like "I'm going to hit the hay" or "It's brass monkeys out there." "And I didn't like it when she said things like that because I didn't know what she meant."

For Christopher, all language's indirectness (metaphor, irony, understatement) is
mysterious. His narrative is prose reduced to its most literal patterns, accuracy its only standard. It allows for some similes, but only, as Christopher himself tells us, to show us some literal resemblance. When he says that a policeman with a very hairy nose "looked as if there were two very small mice hiding in his nostrils," it is because "it really did look like there were two very small mice hiding in his nostrils." A simile is not a lie, "unless it is a bad simile.".

He reports things. He collects observations and strings together statements. Never can
there have been a novel in which so many sentences, indeed so many paragraphs,
begin with the word "And." Doggedly, he pursues a founding ambition of the novel: to
be true to the world of circumstantial facts. "I see everything." Travelling on his own
to London for the first time, he must describe exactly the condition of the lavatory on
the train. His descriptions are collections of "things I noticed," unsorted by
significance or priority. Sometimes he provides diagrams, as if these fulfilled the
purposes of narrative in a more satisfactory way. He tells us things because they are
true, and we begin to realise what a strange standard the plain truth truly is. </div>

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<div class="JBMCode"> <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" name="pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> A novel by ✔ Mark Haddon: </a> : Topics for Discussion "<a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.rtlibrary.org/curiousincident.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time">The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a>"

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CriticalEssay — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - Mark Haddon

• ✔ Essays — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime , A murder mystery novel by Mark Haddon University studies | Mark Haddon, Literatu...

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Essay — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - Mark Haddon

<div style="text-align: center"> • ✔ <a href="#essay" style="text-decoration: none;"> Essay — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime</a>, <a href="#pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"> A murder mystery novel by Mark Haddon </a> </div>

<div style="text-align: center"> ESSAY ABOUT THIS BOOK, <a href="http://www.rojadirecta.me/goto/www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/essay-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> »The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time« </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/essay-mark-haddon.html?m=0" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Mark Haddon: English Literature </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/essay-mark-haddon.html?m=1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Critical Essay </a> - In the following essay, Mullan examines the humor in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" as relayed by a narrator who does not perceive it. «« </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" name="essay" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> Source: John Mullan, "Funny Old World," in Guardian (U.K.), May 15, 2004, p. 32. </a> :

I am told that a teenager with Asperger's syndrome might very well have a sense of
humour, even if it might seem odd to most of us. But clinical accuracy takes second
place to narrative intent in <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> Mark Haddon's novel</a>, whose autistic narrator, Christopher, is taken to have no such sense. "This will not be a funny book," he tells us. The statement is not made ironically: Christopher means exactly what he says. Yet there is irony here, for this is a very funny book.

It is presumed that Christopher cannot understand humour because it consists in the
disparity between pretension and reality. Christopher either does not see such a gap, or registers it with bafflement. "I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them." So jokes become funny by not being seen as jokes. Christopher is surrounded by grimly jovial adults, whose jests he uncomprehendingly records (and inadvertently satirises). Here he calls on a neighbour.

Mr Thompson answered the door. He was wearing a T-shirt which said

Beer.

Helping ugly people

Have sex for

2,000 years.

Mr Thompson said, "Can I help you?"

Mr Thompson, whose conversation is undistinguished by humour, bears his printed
fragment of wit as a kind of blazon. Christopher cannot understand, but duly
transcribes the message. In his blank recording, the declaration of the T-shirt wearer's drollness really does become funny, and just as nonsensical as it must seem to
Christopher.

But then many a joke is unfunny. Arriving in London, Christopher asks a shopkeeper
the directions to his mother's flat, and is told to buy an A-Z.

And I said, "Is that the A to Z?" and I pointed at the book.

And he said, "No, it's a sodding crocodile."

And I said, "Is that the A to Z?" because it wasn't a crocodile and I
thought I had heard wrongly because of his accent.

And he said, "Yes, it's the A to Z."

The retailer's sarcasm is no match for his customer's pertinacity. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> There is a special humour to be gained from all exchanges with life's functionaries. Pedantically rational, Christopher sends ordinary exchanges off into strange directions. When he tries to buy a train ticket from Swindon to London, the man behind the window asks him if he wants single or return, and then has to explain these mysterious terms.

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 there when I get there."

And he said, "For how long?"

And I said, "Until I go to university."

And he said, "Single, then."

The ticket-salesman's wit is perfume on the desert air.

Haddon's is an unusual variation on a known technique. Think of Charles Pooter, the
unconsciously absurd narrator of George and Weedon Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody.
To hilarious effect, his authors gifted him with an utter earnestness in his genteel
pretensions. In <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident</a>, the narrator's humourlessness is the sine qua non of the humour. We all know the peculiar effect of deadpan humour, where our laughter is caused by the refusal of another person to acknowledge that what is said is funny. This is deadpan without the intent.

Christopher has found a neighbour's dog dead on the lawn, impaled on a garden fork.
"I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could not see any
other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog
after it had died for some other reason, like cancer for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this." From any other narrator, the long sentence here
would be self-consciously, irritatingly fantastic. From Christopher, it is an earnest
approximation to logic. It is funny because many of the world's incidents are
mysterious, and he is just trying to cover the possible angles. You never know. And
we will indeed find that the normal adults in the story are capable of the funniest
(peculiar and ha-ha) actions. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" name="pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> A novel by ✔ Mark Haddon: </a> : Topics for Discussion "<a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.rtlibrary.org/curiousincident.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time">The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a>"

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Essay — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - Mark Haddon

• ✔ Essay — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime , A murder mystery novel by Mark Haddon University studies | Mark Haddon, Literatur...

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Discussion — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime - MP3 - Online

<div style="text-align: center"> • ✔ <a href="#discussion" style="text-decoration: none;"> Topics for Discussion — The Curious Incident Dog NightTime</a>, <a href="#pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"> A murder mystery novel by Mark Haddon </a> </div>

<div style="text-align: center"> DISCUSSING THIS BOOK, <a href="http://www.rojadirecta.me/goto/www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/discussion-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> »The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time« </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/discussion-mark-haddon.html?m=0" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> Mark Haddon: English Literature </a> , <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/discussion-mark-haddon.html?m=1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> English Writer, illustrator </a> - Here is a novel about a novelist who is incapable telling a lie, while a novel, by its nature, is fiction--a big bundle of lies. «« </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" name="discussion" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> Pathos and logos--emotion and logic--are in apparent and constant conflict throughout The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, on many different levels. </a> :

In Christopher's mind, for example, he identifies simple, stark emotions such as fear, sadness, happiness and anger, but he tends to observe these emotions as logical realities within his mood rather than actually feeling them. Can you find other examples of pathos in conflict with logos in other parts of the book?

There seems to be a tendency among the adults with whom Christopher comes in
contact to judge him solely on the basis of his aberrant behavior. They often overlook
the fact that he is incredibly bright, looking down on him rather than meeting his own
level. Can you find examples of condescension and exploitation?

Euphemasia is a recently invented word, emerging from the modern fad of inventing euphemisms for every unpleasant or misunderstood aspect of life. The word
"euphemasia" means the willful destruction of the English language through
euphemisms. The high point of pathetic humor in <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</a> may be the scene in which normal students taunt Christopher and his classmates with the chant, "special needs, special needs, special needs," a euphemism for the students' varying conditions, mental and physical. It is true the bullies are no longer taunting with chants of "spaz," "crip" and "mong," but has changing the sound of the taunt actually changed anything?

What other examples of euphemasia or euphemism can you find in Haddon's book? How does this relate to real life? Can you find real examples in your own world where more socially acceptable words may soften the label but have little to do with actual usage and meaning?

After reading <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> Curious Incident</a>, there can be little doubt that Mark Haddon has a sense of humor. Perhaps the most poignant bit of wit is in the structure of the novel itself. </div>

<div class="JBMCode"> Christopher, Haddon's novelist character, has a rich and fertile imagination, and he doesn't hesitate for a moment to take his readers on fantastic adventures in which Christopher becomes an astronaut or clouds become alien spaceships. Still, Christopher is not telling lies in this. He is simply reporting objectively on the images and thoughts that are, in fact, occurring in his mind. What could be more truthful? Discuss the relationship of truth and untruth in this unique novel.

Christopher is a champion manipulator, although he is apparently unaware of it, and his victims haven't a clue. What are some specific examples of how Christopher manipulates "normal" adults into doing his wishes?

Christopher Boone notices every detail of the world around him. Though
Christopher's autism inspires his attentiveness, every reader can learn from his
approach to life. Using Christopher's keen senses as inspiration, write an essay describing your bedroom, your classroom, or your favorite place to a friend.

Throughout <a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time</a>, Christopher learns how to define and tell white lies. Early in the story, he says he "is a good person" because he "can't tell lies." Christopher defines a white lie as "not a lie at all," but "where you tell the truth but you do not tell all of the truth." Discuss the difference between white lies and regular lies with a friend or small group. Afterward, write an essay that summarizes your thoughts regarding white lies and regular lies. Include a personal experience to illustrate your thoughts.

<a alt="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/2014/09/audio-mark-haddon.html" style="text-decoration: none;" title="The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"> The entire novel</a> is written from Christopher's point of view. Think about how this story would be different if it included Siobhan's, Ed Boone's, or even Mrs. Alexander's point of view. Write an essay answering one or more of the following questions: 1. How would having the point of view of other characters in the novel alter the story's credibility? 2. How would having their point of view change a reader's perception of Christopher? 3. How would a different narrative style modify the mystery elements? </div>

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<div style="text-align: center"> <a alt="BenjaminMadeira - Videos, Documentales, Literatura, Idiomas, Fotografia, Musica, Online" href="http://www.benjaminmadeira.com/feeds/posts/default/-/university-studies?max-results=100" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> RT: Topics for Discussion #MarkHaddon ✔ Book — "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" #Novel #MurderMysteryNovel #ChristopherBoone #Asperger #Autism </a> #DogInTheNightTime #Literature #BritishLiterature #Books </div>