Essay on "Christophers Detective Work The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time by Mark Haddon"

Essay 4 pages (1321 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Christopher's Detective Work:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The protagonist of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon is not directly identified as autistic. The reader is led to assume that he has some type of cognitive issue given his obsession with seemingly inconsequential details and his cool, matter-of-fact discussion of his emotions, such as when he confronts the sight of a dead dog impaled by a fork. His inability to react normally with sadness initially results in being blamed for the dog Wellington's death even though he actually cares for the dog very much. However, Christopher's apparent deficit is also his great strength. Ultimately, the cognitive idiosyncrasies that underlie Christopher's recalcitrant disposition and scrupulous attention to detail lay the groundwork for his detective work into Wellington's death and lead to his unearthing of seemingly disconnected secrets within his own family. Ironically, Christopher's fierce preference for predictability -- and hence his overwrought response upon learning of his father's murder of Wellington -- serves as a foil against which his father's unpredictably grisly deed can be examined, namely, as an anomalous crime of passion, rather than a defect of character.

When Christopher begins to explore Wellington's death, he does so in the manner of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional character he idolizes. "Because it was a Good Day, I decided I would try to find out who killed Wellington because a Good Day is a day for projects and planning things" (Haddon 25). Christopher's definition of a Good Day, however, is that he sees a number of red cars in a row when going to school, versus having pleasant social interactions with other people. His first investigation of the dog's death takes him to Mrs. Shears' shed. Because of his lack of social inhibitions, he feels no compunction about going to the shed and looking around. Although this might seem to be valuable in rooting out clues, ultimately he becomes distracted by the myriad of objects in the shed and does not really focus properly or draw links in a logical chain of events. He wonders if one of the tools is a red herring, like in a detective novel, confusing fact with fiction. Eventually, in his questioning of different people rather at random (which requires him to overcome his fear of strangers) he learns that his mother is not dead, in contrast to what his father told him, but is actually in living with Mr. Shears, the husband of the woman with the dead dog. Mrs. Shears and his father had a relationship as well. This causes Christopher to identify Mr. Shears as his prime suspect, erroneously. His random questioning prompts people to speak honestly to him but there is not really a clear pattern to the questions that the reader can see; for example, Christopher frequently walks away from conversations which become unpleasant or becomes violent. The actual relevant information Christopher learns is more by accident, as his strange obsessions with dogs, different colors, and numbers as well as his desire to mimic his favorite detective's behavior leads him to where his mother and Mr. Shears are living together.

Christopher's detective work is thus not really successful. The fact that his father killed the dog out of jealousy is a fact which emerges accidentally rather than intentionally. His detective work is also not perceived by the people around him as impressive or even as detective work at all, merely as strangeness. His investigation of the dog's death ends in him punching a policeman. He terrifies his family members by running away to London. Christopher is identified as having special needs so they are naturally concerned about him and worry that he will have trouble fending for himself. But perhaps the most ineffective aspect of Christopher's detective work is the fact he is unable to understand people's emotional motivations and that the dog was killed as a result of… READ MORE

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