Theme of Communication in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Essay Sample

Communication brings people together, bridges the gap between individuals and groups through the flow of information and understanding between them. At the core of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,  is the idea that communication is key in understanding and empathising with others. Mark Haddon constructs an unreliable narrative voice through Christopher Boone to illuminate the importance of communication.

Through Christopher’s limited view, Haddon expresses the importance of communication in building relationships. Christopher has discomfort with non-verbal communication so his parents have found ways around that. This is highlighted when “We made our thumbs and fingers touch each other...I do not like hugging people, so we do this instead, and it means that he loves me.” Ed’s way of expressing his love for Christopher is a recurrent motif within the novel. It evidences the strength of their connection, as Ed recognises Christopher’s discomfort with other forms of non-verbal communication like “hugging” and finds a way to accommodate for this while still being able to express his affection. Siobhan is very trained and after years of developing a relationship with Christopher has created a way to help him understand emotions. Christopher has got “Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant.” Haddon’s inclusion of graphics emphasizes the difficulty Christopher has projecting or intuiting emotion on people’s faces, and reaffirms the methodical way in which he seeks to connect with people around him. Through Christopher’s unique narrative voice, Haddon emphasises the importance of communication in connection.

Through Christopher’s unique narration, Haddon highlights the idea that communication is subjective. Christopher not only shows us the absurdly complex way that we communicate non-verbally, but he also illuminates the confusing nature of figurative verbal language. Due to Christopher’s condition, those that don’t understand this struggle to communicate with him. This is accentuated in the interaction with the police officer when Christopher claims that “He was asking too many questions...they were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works.” By likening Christopher’s cognitive overload to that of a factory line, Haddon creates an implicit comparison between the character’s mind and an automaton or machine, thus allowing the reader to recognise the unique way his brain works. Furthermore, the difficulties that Christopher experiences due to his logical way of thinking causes him to find communication and books confusing. He says that “In proper novels people say things like ‘I am veined with iron, with silver…what does this mean?”. The intertextual reference to Virginia Woolf, a popular writer, immediately positions Christopher - and his preferred style of communication - as ‘different’ due to the fact that he is unable to comprehend the figurative expression that is frequently used and appreciated within literature and everyday conversation itself. Christopher’s limited view illuminates to the reader the importance of understanding different types of communication.

Haddon uses Christopher's naive narration to accentuate the idea that communication is vital for self-development. Christopher has a difficult time understanding what people felt and how they thought. For him to be “Talking to the other people in our street was brave. But if you are going to do detective work you have to be brave.” Here, the use of epistrophe draws attention to the word ‘brave’, emphasising that Christopher’s attempts to communicate with others - both in person and via his creation of a book - have stimulated his growth and enabled him to become more independent. Christopher’s self-development is shown to the reader throughout the novel. The climax is when Christopher said, “I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.” The polysyndetic listing of Christopher’s accomplishments and his high modality declaration “I can do anything” reveals that communicating his experiences via the development of his book has enabled the protagonist to mature and recognise his true potential. By creating a narrative voice that reflects on Christopher’s unique understanding, Haddon accentuates the vital role played by communication in self-development.

Through Christopher Boone’s unique narration in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, we’re able to see the confusing nature of figurative language, how communication is vital for one’s self-development and the importance of communication in building a strong bond with people around you. Mark Haddon’s use of Christopher Boone’s unique naive narrative voice illuminates the importance of communication.