Literature Essay Sample on The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

📌Category: Plays, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
📌Words: 1406
📌Pages: 6
📌Published: 15 April 2022

This essay will be about a mystery novel called, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. The book focuses on the protagonist, Christopher, who is trying to be a detective and solve the murder of Wellington. Considering Christopher’s personality he is not fit to be a detective with all his fears and difficulties making him an unsuitable detective. There are many times in the book where Christopher expresses that he has a hard time reading emotions and if he were to be a detective, this would be a vital skill. Also, Christopher mentioned a few times that he is not able to talk to new people. Coupled with the way his brain works it seems like it was not the best decision to stage him as a detective. There were many parts where it is seen that Christopher acts like a child and other times he says many inappropriate things making others around him very uncomfortable.  In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Christopher tries to be a detective but he lacks the major traits needed to be a detective.  From the difficulty, he has reading people, to not being able to talk to strangers, and coming across as immature and rude with the way he acts, proves he is no more suited than a neurotypical.  

A major ability needed to be a detective is reading people’s emotions to see if they are lying or being truthful, showing there is a lot of room for error. In the beginning, he expresses that he doesn’t understand facial cues and it frustrates him, proving he would not be able to survive as in a field where that is crucial, “then she drew some other pictures but I was unable to say what these meant”(Haddon 3). When his teacher was drawing other facial expressions Christopher expresses that he doesn’t understand what they mean showing he was not able to understand people’s emotions other than the basic happy and sad. And the fact that he lacks this skill shows that if he was a detective and someone lied to him he would not be able to tell as lying is an art. Many people lie and even the smartest people can not tell sometimes. To see through lies he has to be great at reading facial expressions and as this quote proves he does not, despite how smart he is he still lacks people reading skills and that brings him to a disadvantage if he were a detective. When his father's friend would ask really hard questions and then subtly laugh at Christopher. And when this does happen he does not understand or like being laughed at, “I don’t like when Rhodri laughs at me, Rhodri laughs at me a lot” (67). This shows that Christopher does not understand when people are laughing with him or at him. This quote is similar to sarcasm, and the fact that Christopher does not understand it shows he would be left in the dark on a normal day-to-day conversation and that is bad enough. But to be a detective he would need to pick up on this kind of thing very fast to do a good job. Yet as seen in this quote he does not understand basic emotions and key people's reading skills which many people have, proving this would be a big disadvantage. This proves that Christopher is not made to be a detective as he lacks the common skills needed to understand and read people, a major skill needed to be a detective that he lacks.

Another basic skill needed is good communication, something that can be applied to all jobs including a detective. However, this is a skill Christopher lacks. Seeing as he will refuse to speak to new staff members at the school for weeks or months. If he were a detective this would not go well with the job, “for example, when there is a new member of staff at school I do not talk to them for weeks and weeks, I just watch them until I know that they are safe”(35). To be a detective or even have a job anywhere Christopher would be needed to talk and work well with others. This quote shows that he waits weeks and weeks before he talks to new staff at school and that is very extreme. If he were to be a detective much of that work depends on good people skills and being able to work and talk to new people easily. But this shows Christopher does not have good social skills adding another disadvantage to his plate. When he goes to interview his neighbours about how Wellington died, he has a hard time getting the courage to talk to them even though he has known them all for years, “but if you are going to do detective work you have to be brave, so I had no choice” (35). This shows that Christopher still thinks of his neighbours as strangers even though he has been living in the same area for years, with the same neighbours. And even after all this time he still considers them strangers. If he were to be a detective he would be incapable of talking to new suspects when he needed to for the job and that is one of the biggest parts of the job. This proves he would be incapable of doing his job properly. Seeing as Christopher has a very hard time talking to new people without having watched them or learned almost everything about them and that is a huge disadvantage if he were to be a detective.   

If he were to get this job he would be seen as very rude and unprofessional. Since many times he talks out of order, making the people around him uncomfortable. Also, he does not know what can be said to people and what can not be said, making him seem like an unfit detective. “Do you mean that they were doing sex?”(60) questioned Christopher. Christopher makes people very uncomfortable when he phrases things so awkwardly and at the worst times too. The comment he made here was very inappropriate and would be considered very unprofessional. It is considered very rude to many people. Quotes similar to this are stated multiple times throughout this book and every time he does everyone around him seems to feel awkward and flustered with the inappropriate comment. If he were to ever say this on the job he would get in trouble for this and ruin his career without understanding why because to him this sounds normal, as his brain processes things differently than others. Christopher has expressed that he does not like when people touch him even if they are family and this comes across as immature and in a workplace would be unprofessional. As he stated, “I didn’t like him touching me like this, and this is when I hit him” (8). If Christopher were to act out every time someone touches him could cost him his job as a detective. This is one of the major reasons if Christopher was a real detective he would not be able to stay professional as the smallest thing like touch could set him off and trigger an aggressive reaction. Which is not accepted or tolerated in many workplaces, despite it not being Christopher's fault. This is one of the biggest disadvantages Christopher has if he ever wants to become a detective and this also proves he is not made to be a detective with the way his mind functions. This explains why Christopher would not be accepted in any workplace with his inappropriate behaviour even if it is by accident, this would not be tolerated and especially not in a police department.

Christopher tried to become a detective, but he lacked the main qualities required to become a detective. From not being able to read people to being scared of talking to strangers, and seeming child-like, it proves that he is no more suitable than neurotypical. Despite everything, it is not his fault that his mind is different, but in the end, he would not be able to get a job as a detective easily. One of the main characteristics required to become a detective is to read people’s emotions and see if they are lying or telling the truth so that the mystery can be solved with the right mindset. One of the basic skills required in life is good communication, which can be applied to all jobs including detectives, and this is a skill that Christopher lacks. If he gets this job, he will be considered very rude and unprofessional, which is not acceptable to any job, including detectives. All of this concludes that Christopher is not suited to be a detective and would not be taken seriously in the field of work if he were to ever try and pursue it.

Work Cited 

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Red Fox, 2014.

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