Overview of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time Essay

Christopher Boone is a 15 year old, autistic child living with only his dad Ed Boone. Early in the book Chris discovers his neighbors dog Wellington dead with a garden fork through him. Chriss neighbor Ms. Shears calls the police, who grab Chris and blame him for the murder. Chris, unhappy with the blame and wanting to clear his name, goes out and investigates. Chris nervously interviews his neighbors, recording his findings in his book The Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. When Chriss dad finds the book he takes it from Chris. In Chriss attempt to find his precious journal he accidentally stumbles onto a mound of letters addressed to him from his supposedly dead mother, written to him after she had died. Coming to the realization that Chriss dad had lied about his moms death Chris vomits and lays on the bed until his dad comes home.

Ed, after realizing Chris had read the letters, tells Chris not only that he lied about his mothers death, but that he was also the one who killed Wellington after a fight with Ms. Shears! Chris runs away from home in a search to live with his mother, ashamed, and afraid that his father might kill Chris after murdering Wellington. Finding his mom is no easy task however. He must travel to London, a thing he his petrified of and dodge the policemen that have been sent out to find him and return him home. The overload of information makes Chris feel sick, as part of his disability includes extreme sensitivity to huge loads of information.

When Chris finally gets to his moms house his mom is excited to see him (while Mr. Shears is not). Mr. Shears doesnt want Christopher to live with them, which in turn causes him and Christophers mom, Judy to separate.

Chris and his mom move back to Swindon so that Chris can take his math exams. Ed and Judy talk it out and Judy lets Ed see Chris for a little while each day. However, chris is still terrified of his dad. Ed, as a token of love and trust, gets Chris a golden retriever named Sandy. Chris decides that he will keep up in his accelerated math class program and attend university. Chris decides that instead of wanting to be an astronaut he wants to be a scientist.