“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime”, written by Mark Haddon, is a novel that talks about a boy Christopher with Asperger’s syndrome and how he attempts to solve a mystery about a dead dog, turning the investigation to a discovery about their family’s relationships with the Shears. Christopher first begins his investigation by himself. Mrs. Shears notices him and calls the police. He hits one of the policemen and gets arrested, but is later released with a caution. He later is told by his father not to interact with people about the dead dog. He still does so, and finally talks to Mrs. Alexander, who informs him about the romantic affair between his mother and Mr. Shers. A few days later, his father picks up the book and reads the notebook that Christopher accidentally leaves on the ground. Inside the notebook, Christopher writes down every detail about the dead dog investigation. He gets terribly angry with Christopher for continuing to snoop around the dead dog, and when he grabs Christopher’s arm, the two get into a physical fight. Later, Christopher discovers envelopes written from his mother. This is very weird to Christopher because those letters were dated after her death. His father confesses that his mother is still alive and live with Mr. Shears. His father also admits that he killed the dog, Wellington. Christopher is terrified of his father and cannot trust him anymore, thus he runs away to find his mother in London. His mother is happy about the family reunion but Mr. Shear has opposite feelings. Therefore, both Christopher and his mother move back to their original house. Christopher takes his A-level math exam and gets an A. He then begins his new life as a college student and looks forward to it. When reading this novel, the three themes are repetitively present, including Family Situation, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Grow-Up.
Family situations, a dynamic environment within the house including relationships between family moments and parental roles, would have significant and profound effects on children. It is crucial for children to be placed in a family situation where there is a trusting, loving, and safe environment, in order to mitigate the negative effects of emotional control or domestic violence. Christopher’s father Ed has a problem of getting angry easily with Christopher when Christopher doesn't understand what he is saying, and when he gets angry he beats him. Ed hopes to start a life with Mrs. Shears after Judy’s left but the pursuit is unsuccessful, making him angry at an innocent dog and brutally killing it. Christopher’s mother Judy also has significant problems. She is ungrateful for what she already has. Despite that Ed was really good to her, Judy still feels unhappy and cheats on him with Mr. Shears. She also has a degree of selfishness towards her son, forgetting often that he does not like to be hugged, and denying Christopher’s request for taking the A-level math test. Christopher’s only disadvantage is that he has Aspergers and doesn’t like communicating with people. Although Ed and Judy are very nice and supportive of Christopher, they have many problems that make them unable to be a proper parent. Christopher’s father Ed has anger management issues. Ed is a very emotionally explosive person, meaning that when he reaches his anger point he turns into a monster, where all positive virtues of him disappear. Although his love is still very valuable to Christopher, Ed often beats him. It is understandable that some parents may hit their young children lightly for disciplinary purposes like punishing their hands with a little stick. But it is abnormal and relatively rare to beat Christopher, a fifteen-year old adult-like child. Ed also fails in pursuing a romantic relationship with Mrs. Shears, which gets him angry and kills the puppy. As Christopher thinks: He can even kill that dog, maybe he will attack me one day. No wonder Judy, Christopher’s mom, would choose to run away with Mr. Shears. Judy’s moral sense is warped because they cannot live without love, meaning that when faced with love, they forget everything they have; their conscience, their family, their everything. Judy is that kind of person. She does low to bottom level work, working as people that can often be replaced by almost any other person. She is unrealistic also. Her happiness is not from her, but actually from her partner. Honestly, it is very unreliable to base one’s happiness on the fantasy of others. This explains Judy and Mr. Shears breaking up at the end and Judy has self-realization what the most important thing is. This echoes the old saying “People who abandon others would be abandoned at the end. ” Some people are parents, but don’t deserve to be parents. This is because they are really irresponsible with their role in society and they don’t even care about their kids. When parents quarrel or fight with each other in front of their children, their children would feel suffocated, helpless, and in great pain from them. Parents should have good control of their emotions, otherwise, this kind of family problem would be passed down to the next generations.
People with Asperger’s Syndrome, a developmental disorder that falls within the Autism spectrum, have significant difficulties in social interactions and nonverbal communication as well as exhibit restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors and interests. Showing genuine understanding and providing strong family support are what people with Asperger’s Syndrome need the most in various aspects of their lives, in order to effectively help them navigate social interaction, receive school education, and learn daily activities. None of the characters in the novel explicitly name Christopher’s condition, but he demonstrates many of the behaviors associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder, such as impaired social interaction, groaning and rocking, and repetitive, obsessive behavior. Christopher’s condition can be recognized through the first interaction of the book which shows that Chrstopher has severely distorted communication skills, often conveying what he didn’t mean. He also hits a police officer when he tries to get him up on his feet, and he gets arrested. Moreover, he needs understanding and family support in order to get him to be tough and support him in life. According to him, he observes other people in order to learn more about the world. Christopher is hampered by his condition, which is Asperger's syndrome. As a result, he experiences and treats the world differently than most people. For example, Christopher notices and remembers everything he ever sees, which makes new places extremely overwhelming. He doesn't like being around people because he has trouble understanding body language and facial expressions, as well as figures of speech. He does not like to be touched or have any physical interaction. He prefers to be alone in small spaces. Instead of feeling that someone is sad because of the tone of their voice, he often only notices this emotion when the person begins to cry and he can see physical evidence of his sadness. Christopher sees society from a somewhat removed perspective. He does not instinctively understand why people act in certain ways or why certain things are expected of him. Although Christopher faces challenges in social interaction and communication, Christopher, like other people with Asperger’s syndrome, is quite intelligent. Christopher takes his A-level math exam and gets an A. He then begins his new life as a college student. He loves mathematics, logic matters, and the universe and excels in logical thinking and detailed-oriented tasks. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome may seem different from anyone around him because of his unique thoughts and actions, but still he has the same ability and same chance to achieve greatness as long as he is given a supportive environment that focuses on his strengths and interests.
Individuals growing up with Asperger’s Syndrome involves a continuous journey of self-discovery, challenges, adaptations, and learning, hoping to become more morally mature and be able to socially interact with people. Every person grows up, but as a person with Asperger’s syndrome, the process of growing up could be challenging for them to learn, especially in a new environment, since they really are sensitive to any change and they have trouble communicating with others or difficulty with social cues. In the beginning, Christopher recognizes that his life is really shallow. He relates his life around numbers and his father. But during the investigation of the murder of the dead dog as well as the trip to London finding his mom, Christopher encounters many life-related challenges that shocks his existing knowledge and skills and he then grows up by being resourceful. Christopher with Asperger’s Syndrome has superficial understanding of life and the real world. Christopher’s view about his own life is quite limited because he has been immersed in his own world thinking about mathematics and the universe. He believes that his mother is dead. While investigating the mystery case of the dead dog, Christopher becomes disillusioned. He discovers that his father had lied to him about his mother and is shocked that his mom is still alive and the abnormal relationship between his parents. This causes Christopher to develop a more complex understanding of his life and the people around him. He begins to question the value of truth and the meaning of love. Additionally, Christopher has Asperger’s syndrome, which makes it difficult for him to communicate and interact with people in real life. But in order to find his mother in London, even though he has no idea how to get there, Christopher must become very resourceful, learn how to travel on the London Underground by asking strangers, and buy a map to find the London apartment. This whole journey definitely is terrifying for Christopher. But the numerous challenges and the fear Christoperher has faced throughout the trip to London build his confidence in his ability, which in turn, helps him grow up. Given the appropriate opportunity and supportive environment, individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome could lead fulfilling lives and achieve their potential, just like normal people.
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a very good book worth reviewing, which talks about Asperger's syndrome, autism, family problems, and growing up. None of the characters in the novel explicitly identify Christopher's condition, but he exhibits many behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder, such as lack of communication skills, rigidity of routine, or moaning and rocking. He needs his family to help him interact almost constantly. He overcame his fears and shortcomings by traveling alone to London. As a result, Christopher grows quite a bit throughout the novel and by the end he feels much more prepared to face his future adult life than he did at the beginning. Ed, Christopher's father, often gets angry with Christopher and when he gets angry, he hits him. She is also ungrateful with what he has of her, even though Ed was very good to her, he is still unhappy and cheats on him. Also, at the beginning, Christopher recognizes that his life is really superficial. Although he constantly thinks about mathematics and the universe, his view of his own life is somewhat limited.
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