Essay on "Nursing Novel Response the Curious Incident"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Nursing

Novel Response

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon is set in 1998 in Swindon, England. The narrator of the story is a 15-year-old by the name of Christopher John Francis Boone. The book begins when Christopher finds the murdered body of his neighbor's dog, Wellington. He decides that he is going to figure out who did it. His exploration is sometimes helped and at other instances hindered, by the mild type of autism that he has. After Christopher strikes a policeman in confusion at the sight of the crime, Christopher is taken into custody. They let him go with only a strict warning, with the stipulation that he promised to stop looking into the murder any further (Spark Notes Editors, 2010).

This event serves as a vehicle, launching Christopher on a quest motivated by his favorite sleuth Sherlock Holmes. He wanted to figure out who was accountable for the grisly murder. Christopher has a moderate form of autism. This illness greatly affects the manner in which he researches the murder, the way he looks at the information he discovers, and in the end how that knowledge is given to the audience. Christopher's illness is moreover what sets this novel apart from other adolescent detective books, as the heart of the story is not really about who killed the dog, but more about the manner in which Christopher goes about figuring out who did it (O'Connor, 2010).

Christopher records his research in this book as part of a school assignment. Paying no attention to repeated cautions from his dad, Christopher examines the scene of the crime and talks to the neighbors on the block. He discovers an added twist to plot that was not evident at first when he finds out that his father and the owner of the dog, Mrs. Shears, were romantically involved. He then discovers that their affair started because of a different relationship, one between Mr. Shears and his mom (Spark Notes Editors, 2010).

While at school, Christopher works to prepare for a top level math test that would allow him to go to a university. This is an achievement that no other kid at his school had accomplished. He continued to work on his book while doing this. One afternoon after school, he accidentally left his novel on the table, where his dad read it. He became angry, and confiscated it. When Christopher was looking for his novel discovered a bunch of mail that was concealed in a box in his dad's closet. These letters were addressed to him from his allegedly dead mother. The letters told about a life that his mother was living with Mr. Shears in London. Stunned, Christopher fainted in his bedroom. When his dad came home and realized what had happened he confessed. He apologized for lying, explaining that he did it in order to guard Christopher from the fact that his mom had deserted the family. Christopher's dad also admitted to being the one who killed Wellington after he had a fight with Mrs. Shears (Spark Notes Editors, 2010). Once Christopher discovered the mail from his mom that was hidden away in his dad's room he started to not believe anything his father was telling him. At this time, the story shifted gears entirely. Christopher proceeded to try to piece together a totally different mystery, one that has a much larger significance to his life than who killed the neighbors dog (O'Connor, 2010).

Christopher who was now afraid of his dad and feeling that he could no longer have faith in him, slips out of the house and travels to London to live with his mom. Throughout a traumatic trip, he has to deal with and overcome the societal uncertainties and boundaries of his illness. He avoids the law, and almost gets run over by a train. His appearance at his mom's house was a complete shock to her. She was not aware that Christopher's dad had been keeping her mail from him. Christopher stays for a time at his mother and Mr. Shears' flat, but friction caused by him being there quickly results in his mother's choice to leave Mr. Shears to return to Swindon. Christopher moves into a new apartment with his mom and begins to see his father from time to time. Christopher takes his upper level math test and gets an A grade, which was the best achievable score that he could get (Spark Notes Editors, 2010).

Christopher's autism plays a predominantly dynamic function in his investigative work, particularly in regards to his relationship with other people. We discover in the beginning chapters of the book that Christopher is easily aggravated when he comes upon circumstances to which he does not know how to deal with. This is shown in the beginning when he is asked by the police whether or not he knew anything about the death of the dog. He didn't comprehend why he was being asked and was upset by the officer's involvement. Christopher attempts to retreat from the circumstances, but when the officer persisted, Christopher gets more and more upset and swings at him. This is just one of numerous times that Christopher responds aggressively to tight circumstances all through the novel, and by way of Christopher's story, the author does an excellent job in telling what it is that provokes him off and why (O'Connor, 2010).

In the end, the brilliancy of the author's book is in his choice to tell it from Christopher's viewpoint. He is successfully capable of explaining the world through Christopher's eyes. This does not only take place through the story, but also in the organization of the novel. Each of the chapters in the book is numbered using prime number. Christopher thought that prime numbers were a lot like life in the fact that they are very rational but no one can ever figure out the rules. Christopher is also presented as a very visual thinker, and has to have overt visual stimulus in order to comprehend a circumstance. He is for instance not able to understand facial expressions because they move too quickly for him to understand. Because of this visuals are used all through the novel when Christopher is attempting to clarify things to the person reading the book. As Christopher gets deeper into the murder, the author's story opens up, turning away from one mystery to another, as Christopher discovers secrets about his own family. The bigger picture that is seen in this novel is a much bigger in that it deals with how a kid's sickness can influence not only his life, but the lives of his family too (O'Connor, 2010).

Christopher's objective in the novel looks a lot like that of many teenage heroes - to become self-determining and figure out their place in the world. Because of his illness, Christopher is unable to be as self-determining as he would like. Since he has difficulty comprehending other people, accepting new surroundings, and making choice when faced with an excess of new knowledge, he has trouble going anywhere by himself. When he gets scared or inundated, he tends to fundamentally shut down, rolling himself into a ball and trying to shut out whatever is around him. Even so, Christopher still has the classic teenage longing to do whatever he desires and care for himself without anybody telling him what to do. As a consequence, hew is seen revolting against his dad in the book by lying and defying his dad. His desire for independence is also seen in his fantasy of being one of the few people left on Earth in the end, where there is no one in charge and in his preparation for college, where he desires to live alone (Spark Notes Editors, 2010).

Christopher's struggle to become self-determining first and foremost engages him achieving the assurance required to do things by himself and moving away from his extremely strictly distinct comfort level. Figuring out Wellington's murder plays into his labors to be self-determining in that it makes Christopher to talk with a number of strangers he doesn't know, which he often finds difficult, and it gives him assurance in his capability to figure out problems by himself. The high level math test that Christopher takes also symbolizes a path to autonomy for him. By scoring well on the test, Christopher uses it to ultimately get into college, permitting him to live by himself. In the end, Christopher's traumatic travels to London ends up being his biggest stride toward self-determination. The journey symbolizes all that Christopher finds upsetting about the world, like dealing with social communications; navigate novel surroundings, and being overwhelmed with knowledge. By conquering these problems, he adds assurance in his capacity to face any confrontation by himself (Spark Notes Editors, 2010). The novel ends with Christopher preparing to take more A-level exams in physics and math, and then go to a university in another town. He believes that he can… READ MORE

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