The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time Theme Analysis Essay

Why see through the lens that everyone looks through, why not see through the lens that everyone looks for? This is a topic which is constructed extremely well in “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time” by Mark Haddon, as the main character; Christopher sees the world through a unique lens which is often looked down upon by society. Throughout the book, Christopher shows that he is not disadvantaged but rather,  different.   As we go through the challenging obstacles, Christopher is aided by his unique sense of logic and his persistence which allow him to accomplish his goals in an uncommon manner. In The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time, Mark Haddon shows that Christopher’s unique way of viewing the world is simply just a different way of thinking and should not be looked down upon, Haddon does this by showcasing how Christopher thinks during different scenarios in the story.

The logic most of us live by is something that is taken for granted and not often thought about. If we are to open our minds to different ways of logical thinking, we may be surprised at how they may be better. Christopher uses his unique sense of logic to aid him throughout the story when facing an obstacle or even just observing the world around him. His different view helps him in ways that “normal” people might not be able to, such as when making an emotional decision or facing indecisiveness. While making his journey to London, he forgets the directions to the train station. Instead of asking someone else for directions which seems to be the most logical approach, Christopher showcases his unique logic to overcome this challenge. Christopher says, “you can find it by moving in a spiral, walking clockwise and taking every right turn until you come back to a road you’ve already walked on, … that way it was easier to ignore all the people and all the noise around me. ”(139-140 Haddon). We may believe that just asking someone would be the most logical and effective method though, this is not taking into account that Christopher is a child and he could be placed in a dangerous situation by interacting with strangers. Christopher's unique way to find the train station is a more independent and safer option. This is important because, within the quote, we see that he needs a way to block out all the noise around him. Additionally, another example of Christopher's logical thinking is the strict set of rules that he complies with no matter what the cost, several times in the book we see him referring back to certain rules such as “I do not tell lies”(19 Haddon). These rules are often used as a moral compass; right and wrong. Though his natural inquisitiveness tempts him to break these rules, he finds ways to bend the rules while always staying within the borders. These restrictions often save him from trouble and sometimes are the root of the trouble.  A time when he was misunderstood was when his father did not understand his way of thinking. After Ed Boone found out that Christopher had been investigating the mysterious murder of Wellington, Christopher pleaded by saying he had not broken any of the rules that his father had given him. In the text, it states, “Don’t give me that bollocks, you little shit. You knew exactly what you were bloody doing. I’ve read the book … I thought that this might be another rhetorical question, but I wasn’t sure. I found it hard to work out what to say because I was starting to get scared and confused”(81). As Christopher thinks in a unique way he takes his father's restrictions in a literal sense, because of this he justifies bending the rules. As a result, his father misunderstands him and gets mad at Christopher. We may think that he was being sneaky though Christopher doesn’t think there was anything wrong with it as that is how he interprets instructions. In the text, it is stated, “I found it hard to work out what to say because I was starting to get scared and confused”, showing that Christopher at first did not believe he had done anything wrong and was confused as to why his father was getting cross at him. Christopher’s way of thinking is uncommon and should be accepted rather than punished as it is unfair to people like Christopher. From this paragraph, we can see that a different way of thinking can be helpful and needs to be understood fully to not mistakenly place blame where it is not deserved.

Bias is prevalent in every aspect of life and affects all of the decisions we make. If we were able to remove biases from our decision-making process, we would be able to avoid societal controversies which bias causes. Christopher, while being unique and different, can avoid biases as he has always tried to follow the logical path. Societal influences and ideas are impermeable to Christopher. Many times in the book, Christopher acts very differently from the “normal” person, oftentimes in public. People make fun of him and mock him, however, to Christopher, he is only being logical. In the modern-day, people are encouraged to be what they want to be and embrace how they think and are. That hasn’t been a problem for Christopher because he feels no pressure or bias; he trusts himself and the way he acts. When Christopher is arguing with Siobhan he shows that he feels no pressure or bias against his thoughts. Christopher says, “But Siobhan said we have to use those words because people used to call children like the children at school spaz and crip and mong, which were nasty words. But that is stupid too”. This argument that Christopher and Siobhan held was over Christopher’s choice of words for describing others. Within the story, we learn that Christopher himself has been a victim of hate speech by other students. When Christopher says, “but that is stupid too”(44), we can infer that he is not affected by biases and stays resilient to his ideas. Christopher believes that a label on top of something will not change how people perceive it, therefore he rejects the idea of placing special labels on children like him. Christopher is often resilient and adamant about his ideas and thoughts, no matter how much you plead, Christopher looks at the facts and then decides what he wants to do. An example is when the dad is guilty of the murder of Wellington, and Christopher assumes the dad may kill him since he is a murderer. Christopher narrates, “I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me because I couldn't trust him, even though he had said "Trust me," because he had told a lie about a big thing”(122). When most people are told that their father murdered a dog, they would give their father the benefit of the doubt. Christopher however, explicitly shows his distrust for his father when he says “That meant he could murder me…”, showing that he made his decision purely based on the facts of the situation and not any biases he may have had in favour of his father. This paragraph exemplifies that Christopher’s different way of thinking allows him to avoid biases and be confident in his thoughts. 

In “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time”, Mark Haddon shows that Christopher’s unique way of viewing the world is simply just a different way of thinking and should not be looked down upon, Haddon does this by showcasing how Christopher thinks during different scenarios in the story. Throughout the text we see that Christopher’s logic may be better in some circumstances, we also see that his approach to interacting with others allows him to avoid biases and think more logically. From this essay, it is important to take away the idea that just because something is different, it is not worse. Through the case of Christopher, we can see that something different should not be looked down upon and instead celebrated.