Christopher's father Character Analysis in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

📌Category: Books
📌Words: 1514
📌Pages: 6
📌Published: 18 June 2021

Relationship experts can all agree that trust is fragile. Lying jeopardizes many families and ruins relationships. Although experts say lying in relationships is normal, deceiving in families can be devastating. (Miller)  Especially when a son’s whole life has been built around these deceptions. The author of the novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mark Haddon, explores the concept of complex truths and the discovery of living a life full of lies. In this novel, the main character diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome goes on a mission to find out who murdered his neighbor’s dog named Wellington. Meanwhile, Mr. Boone, Christopher’s father, fabricates a vast series of lies around Christopher in an attempt to protect his son from the hurtful reality; in addition to the father’s own emotionally unsettling mishaps. With every lie Christopher unravels, it slowly proves itself to be essential to the plot development within the story. Alas, in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mr. Boone reveals to play a critical and underemphasized role in plot development; particularly as a result of his lies to Christopher, his relationship with Ms. Shears, and his fatherly devotion to his son.

Mr. Boone heavily affects the plot because of his relationship with Ms. Shears. The neighbor whose dog was murdered was the man’s love interest. Their concealed relationship helped Mr. Boone in his darkest times after Christopher’s mother left. “When your mum left… Eileen… Ms. Shears… she was very good to us. Very good to me. She helped me through a very difficult time. And I’m not sure I would have made it without her.” (Haddon 77). This relationship would soon be proven to be the central plot, the murder of Wellington. Ms. Shears and Mr. Boone’s relationship was made to help one another with the loss of their loved ones. But soon enough, Christopher’s father grew enraged at Ms. Shear’s resistance towards having a romantic relationship between the two because of her dog. His only thought was that she adored the dog more than him. “I think she cared more for that bloody dog than for me, for us.” (Haddon 77).  Mr. Boone wounds up confessing the most important question in the plot. Who killed Wellington. He desperately described his reasons for murdering the hound. The father’s confession ended up revealing additional information defining a multitude of characters in the novel. On the contrary, Christopher once had to search for answers, now his father tells us vital information regarding Mr. and Ms. Shears. More clarity is achieved on the events that happened between Mr. Shears and Christopher’s mother. Besides gaining more information about other characters, it was also Mr. Boone’s relationship with Ms. Shears that led to Christopher finding the dead dog. In one of the opening lines, Christopher confirms that “The dog is dead.” (Haddon 1). This one line ends up becoming the main concept of the plot within the novel. While Christopher is on the hunt to solve the mystery of who killed Wellington, he ends up stumbling into a web of secrets and lies that cloaked Christopher and his life. And these deceits were slowly solving themselves. Christopher works out that his father was the murderer. This leads to solving the original plot, yet at the same time, it creates even more conflict around his trust in his father. Because of Mr. Boone’s secret relationship, the dog ends up murdered and he leaves Christopher wound up in a web of lies upon lies. 

The web of lies that Mr. Boone constructs around Christopher also plays a major role in establishing the plot. His trust within his father is replaced by intense fear that causes him to run away. This causes a new conflict that continues to drive the plot forward. At the beginning of the story, Christopher is clueless about the lies around him. Instead, he has an immense amount of trust in his father. He goes as far as to say the following; “He always tells me the truth, which means he loves me.” (Haddon 55). This indicates that Christopher has a high level of trust in his father. He believes that if someone tells the truth to him, they love him. This is why, when Christopher finds out his father is a liar, he is fueled by fear. He believes that his father no longer loves him because he lied to him. The damaging effects of misplaced trust are evident when Chrispther realizes that “Mother had been alive all the time. And Father lied about this.” (Haddon 72). This marks a major turning point in the story. This realization had revealed two things. Christopher’s life was full of lies. And that there was a new separate plot, finding his Mother. Many events that follow thereafter are due to one of the truths his father hid. It completely destroyed any faith Christopher had in his father. After Mr. Boone confesses that he killed the hound out of rage and that Christopher’s mother was indeed alive, Christopher ends up running away from home and going on a trip to London. The plot shifts from who killed Wellington to now question Christopher’s future and the whereabouts of his mother. Thus, it can draw to a close that the broad web of lies built around Christopher is a major concept in developing the plot furthermore. The demolition of the constructive lies built around him reveals that his father killed Wellington, but at the same time also reveals why his father had the truth from his son, his unwavering love for Christopher. 

Lastly, the father finally reveals his motivation behind the entire plot and for all his lies, and that is his fatherly devotion to his son. This illustrates the reasons behind each conflict/event that Christopher grapples within the novel. There were many questions that the readers had. For example, after Mr. Boone’s confession of separating from Christopher’s mother, the question remains of why he lied about it to Christopher in the first place. Mr. Boone proceeds to answer with “I did it for your good, Christopher.” (Haddon 73). This statement reveals how Christopher’s father viewed many of his own actions. He was desperate to keep his son safe from the harsh truth out of his own love for Christopher. Mr. Boone created a web of lies around one single line. He went to such extreme lengths to avoid disclosing any events that had happened in the past. Mr. Boone didn’t want Christopher’s image of Mr. Boone and Christoper’s mother to be damaged because of some mistakes they made in the past. He had no idea how Christopher would react if he learned his own mother left him. Many other events following the divorce were proven to be caused by Mr. Boone and his adoration for his son. Careful to never show his weak side or signs of a breakdown around Christopher caused him to turn towards Ms. Shears for a sense of comfort. This then reappears in the story (on page 77) when Christopher rediscovers information that his father attempted to hide and Mr. Boone confesses to everything. The story continues and ends with one final statement from his father at the end of all the ongoing conflict. He looks for Christopher in London after his son fled to find his mother. Mr. Boone desperately spills his feelings by saying “You have to learn to trust me… and I don’t care how long it takes… If it’s a minute one day and two minutes the next and three minutes the next and it takes years I don’t care. Because this is more important. This is more important than anything else.” (Haddon 145). This statement clearly shows how desperate his father is to gain his trust back with Christopher and to fix their relationship. We can easily determine that this ambition to sustain his relationship with Christopher once more is from his devotional love towards his son. A lot of resolving conflicts are built around Mr. Boone’s attempts to fix his connection with Christopher. He constantly attempts to fix the wounds he created in hopes of making sure that his son won’t leave him. It becomes clear that the entire plot is driven by Mr. Boone’s love for Christopher. The death of Wellington originated from Mr. Boone’s attempts to stay strong in front of Christopher. The climax comes from the discovery of truths that Mr. Boone tried to hide in hopes of protecting his son. Lastly, the resolving of conflicts happens because of Christopher’s father’s determination to fix his relationship with his son, the thought of losing a loved one appearing to be too much to bear.  

In conclusion, it’s clear that in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mr. Boone reveals to play a critical and underemphasized role in plot development; particularly as a result of his lies to Christopher, his relationship with Ms. Shears, and his fatherly devotion to his son. Although this book is written about Christopher, it’s clear to see that his father was the main source of plot development. A father figure in Christopher’s life who was his source of love and hate, a male who had done bad deeds and tried his hardest to replace them with all the good deeds he had done for his son. Fatherly love is not easily seen in this book, but indulging deeper in this story really depicts how much Mr. Boone loved his son and how he gave everything up for Christopher. This is a novel, told by a son, and made by his loving father who tried to protect him. 

Citations

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Vintage, 2018. 

Miller, Korin. “You Should Always Start Your Apology With 'I' After You Get Caught In A Lie.” Women's Health, Women's Health, 26 June 2020, www.womenshealthmag.com/relationships/a32944553/lying-in-relationship/.

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