The Struggles of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Essay Example

Finals, projects, Middle School, Upper School: these are just a few struggles and changes the average student faces. No matter where or when you are in life, struggles and facing change are always present, for every single person. However, these things, such as having a seemingly impossible assignment or having to move schools, are crucial to maturing and learning more about yourself. This is because every challenge and change that you face should be a learning opportunity. Learning from these never ending challenges, whether big or small in your everyday life, allows more tools and ways to overcome these challenges. One of the tools to overcome challenges is very prevalent in a story about a boy from England that experiences a lot of change and difficulties in his long journey. In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, the author Mark Haddon suggests that in order to overcome these struggles in our life, we need to be able to come out of our comfort zone and take risks.

Haddon expresses this idea through his main character, Christopher, who in the first half of the book, shows that he is very inexperienced in unfamiliar situations, and as a result, he becomes nervous. As a result of being on the Autism spectrum, Christopher loves having a routine and feeling comfortable in everyday life. The first time this routine is broken

is when he investigates the death of his neighbor's dog, Wellington. Christopher explains his uncertainty for new situations, this time with strangers, stating, “I decided that I would go and ask some of the other people on our street if they had seen anyone killing Wellington. Talking to strangers is not something that I normally do. I do not like talking to strangers”(34). In this quote, Christopher highlights that socializing with strangers is something that is out of his comfort zone. Since locating Wellington’s killer is a pressing issue, Christopher needs to interview his neighbors despite his poor history with strangers. After a difficult talk with his father, Christopher finds out that his dad hid many secrets from him, such as the death of his mother and the fact that he killed Wellington. Christopher now faces a major challenge, and he approaches it with a unique solution, which causes him to experience a lot of change in his life. Finally, he makes his plan to run away from his home after a confrontation with his father, stating, “I sat on the bed for a long time looking at the floor. Then I heard Toby scratching in his cage. I looked up and saw him staring at the bars at me. I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered Wellington” (122). In this quote, Christopher is worried about his safety, and his pet, Toby, after he learns that his father killed Wellington. His response to this situation is to flee, which shows that he is taking a risk, because he has lived with his father and in the same house for his whole life. This is a prime example of having to take risks to overcome the challenge at hand. In the first half of the book, Christopher shows that his lack of being in uncomfortable situations causes him to be very stressed, yet he is making an effort to push himself out of the boundaries of his normal life.

As Christopher matures throughout the book, he takes a different approach to the problems that he faces, by relating familiar situations to unfamiliar situations, which is beneficial because the problems are on a much larger scale. Christopher doesn’t feel that his father is fit to live with any longer, so he makes the decision to go live with his mother, who lives in London. He is scared of this unprecedented journey, even with the progress he has made talking with strangers and being in unfamiliar situations. But to help, Christopher creates a bridge, by relating a prior experience to the one at hand. Christopher highlights his love for trains and relates it to the situation because of his need to take one to get to his mother in London, stating, “Which meant I had to go to London to live with mother. And I could do it by going on a train because I knew all about trains from the trainset” (131). Christopher knows that going to London, with many strangers involved, is going to be far out of his comfort zone and cause a lot of anxiety for him, but when he can relate it to a prior situation, it makes him feel more comfortable. Another example of Christopher changing is when he states, “And I could do it by going on a train”, because it shows that he feels better about going outside of his comfort zone, and instead of saying that he is nervous about the upcoming situation, he feels confident instead. Another example of Christopher changing is during his arrival in London. Instead of being timid and going about his own business, he knows that he must ask for help to find the way to his mother’s home. Because of this, he approaches a stranger and questions them,  “‘How do I get to 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG?’....And the lady said to me, ‘Take the tube to Willesden Junction, honey.’....And I thought ‘I can do this’”(171-172). Earlier in the book, Christopher is nervous to talk to the people on his own street, but he has had exponential character growth to a point where he is traveling all the way to London, and now he is able to talk to very unfamiliar people. He has gone so far out of his previous comfort zone, that some things that were nerve racking for him he now feels comfortable doing. In the second half of the book, Christopher shows that he has become much more confident in himself, and strategies such as relating past events to the present help him feel more comfortable in new situations.

To overcome many of the problems and challenges you face in your life, you need to be able to step out of your comfort zone to further push your understanding of yourself. Getting out of your comfort zone causes you to learn more about yourself, and this is the key to solving many challenges that come your way. When you are able to be comfortable in taking risks, and  also in unfamiliar and frustrating situations, it is very beneficial when you are facing challenges or problems that are outside of your comfort zone.  In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher shows this by first being nervous even to talk to people on his street, but as he was thrust into these situations more often, he felt more comfortable being outside of his comfort zone and even got to a point where he approached a stranger by himself in a unfamiliar place. In conclusion, being able to get to a place where you are comfortable with feeling uncomfortable or outside of your comfort zone makes it so you can solve these unrelenting, never ending problems that everyone faces in their lives.