Christopher Boone Character Analysis

Within the text of The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time one can assume that the main protagonist, Christopher Boone, suffers from Autism. Identically, in the movie Rain Man, a supporting character, Raymond Babbitt suffers from a disability known as Autism. According to Oxford Dictionary, the term “autism” can be defined can be defined as “A condition which has its onset in childhood and is marked by severely limited responsiveness to other persons, restricted behaviour patterns, difficulty with abstract concepts, and usually abnormal speech development”. Throughout their respective stories, Christopher and Raymond establish their own methods of coping with their disabilities due to Autism. Each method is similar and possess contrast …show more content…
Following the subsequent death of his neighbor's dog, Christopher’s believes the dog was murdered. He then makes it his goal to uncover what happened to his neighbor's dog. Christopher lives with his father and attends a school that is able to support his disabilities. Many of the disabilities Christopher possess include: the inability to interact with others comfortably, the hatred of people touching him, being unable to eat food if it's brown, and despises the color yellow. Although he suffers from similar disabilities that can be inferred as a result of Autism, he also possesses a unique ability of a superb memory recall. In the text, Christopher is able to recall many memories and events distinctly and accurately. He acknowledges this unique ability in the text. “My memory is like film”.(Haddon, 76). Christopher discusses how he is able to review his similar to likes of a film. He is able to recall memories by “rewinding” to certain moments of his life. An example of his unique ability is demonstrated when he describes what happened he went swimming when he was nine years old. Christopher is able to provide all sorts of details from the day. These details include: the outfit his mother was wearing, the cigarette she was smoking (including the flavor and the company), the towel she was sunbathing on, and the book her mother was reading. It's astonishing how he …show more content…
Out of the two characters, Christopher possesses a passion for mathematics. Many examples demonstrate Christopher’s ability to make calculations at a fast rate include: saying the square of a number and continue to square the corresponding number up to a really high number , knowing every prime number up to 7507, and receiving an A in a A level math exam (one of the higher level math exams an individual can take). A specific moment in the text in which his mathematics ability was displayed was how he was able to answer The Monty Hall Problem correctly. Marilyn vos Savant answered a math problem that was featured in a magazine and was requested from a reader. She answers the problem to then receive letters from many individuals that include mathematicians and scientists. “Of the letters she got about the problem, 92% said that she was wrong and lots of these were from mathematicians and scientists”. (Haddon, 63). Christopher was one of the few people who believed she was correct. Additionally, he was able to solve the math problem through a variety of methods with minimal time and with accuracy. This was a math problem doctors, mathematicians, and scientists were not able to solve correctly. There are no clear limitations with Christopher’s superb computational ability. In contrast, Raymond doesn’t possess an interest in mathematics but, only possesses the ability to make computations at a