Throughout a story, characters develop and face their fears and difficulties and overcome them over time. Sometimes the characters make the decision to confront their fears, but most of the time the plot of the story forces them to. The novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is no exception to this. Christopher, a fifteen-year-old with Asperger’s, confronted his fears and learned to cope with his difficulties as he tried to solve the murder of his neighbor’s dog. The mystery plot of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time generates scenarios for Christopher to face his fears and cope with difficulties in three ways: difficulties caused by his Asperger’s, the relationships his family members had, and
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Christopher ran away because he convinced himself that his father wanted to kill him because he lied about his mother being alive and he murdered Wellington (Haddon 153). Christopher became afraid of his father and had to start to overcome that for the rest of the novel. At the end of the novel, it showed that Christopher started to feel comfortable around his father again, which proves he started to face his fears. When Christopher was in the London Underground he followed Toby, his pet rat, onto the tracks without any sense of caution or urgency (Haddon 223). Even though that situation in itself was not Christopher facing his fears, the aftermath certainly was. Many people who saw his near-death experience asked if he was okay and where he was going, but Christopher ignored them and threatened them with violence. Christopher had shown a dislike of talking to strangers throughout the story, so this scenario would have allowed him the face that fear, but he instead acted as he normally would. In the novel, Christopher listed all of his “Behavioural Problems” and also gave some examples of some situations where these affected his life (Haddon 59-60). Even though he did not deal with any of these problems in that moment, this list of behavior problems set up what Christopher’s difficulties that would …show more content…
In the novel, Christopher talked with a policeman who found him at the scene of Wellington’s murder (Haddon 7-9). Christopher had to deal with his difficulty being touched and asked questions one after another by the policeman. He did that by curling up into a ball. The policeman did not understand Christopher’s reaction to this, so he grabbed Christopher. Both of these things were problems Christopher had trouble dealing with that he would not have to deal with without the mystery plot. In the novel, Christopher decided to talk to some of his neighbors in order to find information about Wellington’s murder. Christopher said, “I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand” (Haddon 45). Christopher was so devoted to solving the mystery of Wellington’s murder that he was willing to deal with strangers. The plot created this situation because Mrs. Shears and Christopher’s father, people who he was comfortable speaking with, refused to talk about the murder. When Christopher ran away from his father, he was forced to interact with another policeman who found Christopher and wanted to get him off of the train (Haddon 198). This policeman also tried to grab Christopher, so he screamed multiple times. The mystery plot forced Christopher into that situation where he had to
Christopher ran away because he convinced himself that his father wanted to kill him because he lied about his mother being alive and he murdered Wellington (Haddon 153). Christopher became afraid of his father and had to start to overcome that for the rest of the novel. At the end of the novel, it showed that Christopher started to feel comfortable around his father again, which proves he started to face his fears. When Christopher was in the London Underground he followed Toby, his pet rat, onto the tracks without any sense of caution or urgency (Haddon 223). Even though that situation in itself was not Christopher facing his fears, the aftermath certainly was. Many people who saw his near-death experience asked if he was okay and where he was going, but Christopher ignored them and threatened them with violence. Christopher had shown a dislike of talking to strangers throughout the story, so this scenario would have allowed him the face that fear, but he instead acted as he normally would. In the novel, Christopher listed all of his “Behavioural Problems” and also gave some examples of some situations where these affected his life (Haddon 59-60). Even though he did not deal with any of these problems in that moment, this list of behavior problems set up what Christopher’s difficulties that would …show more content…
In the novel, Christopher talked with a policeman who found him at the scene of Wellington’s murder (Haddon 7-9). Christopher had to deal with his difficulty being touched and asked questions one after another by the policeman. He did that by curling up into a ball. The policeman did not understand Christopher’s reaction to this, so he grabbed Christopher. Both of these things were problems Christopher had trouble dealing with that he would not have to deal with without the mystery plot. In the novel, Christopher decided to talk to some of his neighbors in order to find information about Wellington’s murder. Christopher said, “I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand” (Haddon 45). Christopher was so devoted to solving the mystery of Wellington’s murder that he was willing to deal with strangers. The plot created this situation because Mrs. Shears and Christopher’s father, people who he was comfortable speaking with, refused to talk about the murder. When Christopher ran away from his father, he was forced to interact with another policeman who found Christopher and wanted to get him off of the train (Haddon 198). This policeman also tried to grab Christopher, so he screamed multiple times. The mystery plot forced Christopher into that situation where he had to