Throughout the novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, emotions are the most challenging problems of all for Christopher. However, beyond the drama of Christophers crises involving feeling, or interaction with other people, we glimpse a more general idea that dealing with people and feelings is difficult. Discuss in relation to the themes and characters of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
In Mark Haddon's contemporary novel, "The curious incident of the dog in the Night-Time", the protagonist, Christopher Boone, does seem completely unsuited to narrating a novel, as he takes on his authorial voice, thus demonstrating symptoms of his disability, 'Asperger's Syndrome.' This is a syndrome that enables him to see the world only through his limited perspective, which is closed, frightened and disorientated - which results in his fear of, and inability to understand the perplexing world of people's emotions. His description of events can be somewhat unreliable as he is unable to see the real truths that lie before him. As he narrates, readers are confronted with his peculiarities - whether it is not liking to be touched, his fear of germs, strangers and crowds to his inability to eat foods with particular colors. However, through Christopher's authorial voice, his description of events in his life, and in particular, his description of his oddities those seem completely 'normal' to him, make him an interesting and fascinating narrator. As he can be proven to be an unreliable narrator as he is incapable of lying (and understanding lies) and this limits his ability to perceive the full reality of the world, thus providing him with a strange combination of credibility and unbelievability. Again, this is what makes him a wonderful narrator - at times readers can mistrust his interpretation of such events, or they can believe him.
As the novel progresses, Christopher takes his audience onboard his personal journey, and explicates his phobias to us, whether they be 'not liking yellow things or brown things' and 'refusing to touch yellow things or brown things', 'not eating food if different sorts of food are touching' each other, to 'not being touched' by strangers, or even by his family. Through his lengthy account, the reader learns to empathize with him, as he knows no better as his syndrome prevents him from overcoming such minor phobias that 'normal' children overcome through puberty or socialization. However, what makes him a fascinating narrator is how he has learnt to deal with some of his phobias - as he also cannot bear loud noises, physical contact, strange people or unfamiliar places, he uses coping strategies such as 'groaning', 'screaming', 'hitting' fasting or even 'crawling' into small spaces. We see his distress at being grabbed by the policeman at the scene of Wellington the dog's death, which results in initiating one of his coping strategies, 'hitting'. Later we learn, Christopher attacks his father after his novel has been discovered. Overall, Christopher does convey to readers that his biggest underlying fear is of physical assault/illness, thus why he carries his 'Swiss Army Knife' and gets out the 'saw blade' when feeling scared. Christopher's phobias may suggest that he is unsuited to narrating a novel; however by including such accounts of how he deals with them single-handedly adds twists to the plot, as such sideline traits make the book readable apart from when he goes into excessive detail about mathematics and complex scientific explanations. Christopher is completely suitable to narrate this novel in a sense that he also caters for various audiences - people who live with or without the syndrome.
The most engaging aspects of Christopher's narrative include his specific reference to things usually taken for granted. A highly observant boy, he points out features that are seldom noticed or considered by other people, and through this the readership learns of his inability to comprehend complex emotions, as he is 'unable to say what these meant' and people's motives. He finds people confusing for simply two reasons, because 'people do a lot of talking without any words', and because 'people often talk using metaphors', therefore he trusts and takes literally everything he is told, such as the untimely death of his mother, or even metaphors, as it occurs when you 'describe something by using a words for something that it isn't' which in turn conflicts with his inability to lie. His innocence of people's intentions described through his non-empathetic voice make him an interesting narrator as readers are put into a world that he sees as 'normal'. Readers get an insight into his world through his narration, and would learn about his personality, which differs significantly in comparison to other narrators we may perceive as 'normal'. What makes Christopher an intriguing narrator is that in order to discover the truth; he has to confront some of these fears. His descriptions of his ordeal turn him into a rather wonderful narrator.
As the novel progresses, we learn that because of his idiosyncrasies, readers are presented with a very unusual narrator. He then, unintentionally employs accidental humour; consisting not only of jokes but through his descriptions we see hilarity. Readers learn that he 'cannot tell jokes' he doesn't 'understand them'. And his reasoning add some hilarity ' If I...say the joke...making the word mean the three different things at the same time, it is like hearing three different pieces of music at the same time which is uncomfortable and confusing...It is like three people trying to talk to you at the same time about different things'. Christopher turns into a wonderful narrator through this device as he introduces us to a syndrome which we find alters all perspective of a person's life. Laughter, something many of us take for granted, sadly isn't really experienced by Christopher, another reason as to why readers would empathize with him, as the only enjoyment he would attain out of life would be on the notions of Mathematics and Science.
Therefore, we learn to admire and empathize with him because of his intellectual brilliance and his courage, evident through his detective sleuthing he undertakes to seek his mother. We see how this syndrome alters all perspectives of a person's life; however, we also see how he faces his demons to find the truth.
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