The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time | Teen Ink

The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time

October 1, 2009
By dustinellis7 BRONZE, Plano, Texas
dustinellis7 BRONZE, Plano, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I am Hip Hop"


The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night is a beautifully well thought out piece of art work. The masterpiece written by Mark Haddon leaves no main points left open with his exquisite writing techniques. His exceptional knowledge of autism helps him bring this novel to life with the way he made the main character, Christopher. Haddon's excellent knowledge of Aspergers syndrome, a type of autism which Chris is, makes the novel much better written. Also, he graduated from Oxford with a degree in English and his exceptional vocabulary he uses in the novel make him an outstanding writer and make the book a must read.

Christopher is a very intelligent autistic child who loves math; he “…knows every prime number up to 7,057…” (Haddon 2). but cannot understand the actions of humans. The delicate condition of Christopher is very sensitive but can be sort of humorous at some points in the novel. Chris judges how good a day is by how many of the same colored cars he sees in a row. For example, “…4 red cars in a row made it a Good day…” (Haddon 24). Haddon makes the book mostly about Chris's life until halfway through the book things start to unravel. Christopher finds out many uneasy things about his life that upset him very much, but also makes him extremely happy. All in all the outstanding work of Haddon make The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night a very enjoyable piece to read.

The Character of Christopher is very similar to Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Both of the characters have learning disabilities and are very sensitive. Also, Lenny and Chris both love animals. Animals to both of these characters are like a sanctuary of peacefulness for them. They want to alleviate the daily stresses of the cruel humans that do not understand them, so they turn to animals who do not show emotion toward them. Another eerily similar trait that both of the characters share is the fact that in both novels, the animals die. Chris's favorite dog was murdered. When Chris saw the dog dead “… [it] was leaking blood from the fork holes” (Haddon 3). One difference is that Lenny accidently kills the rabbits and mice he likes to play with, and Chris does not kill the dog, Wellington, although he is blamed for it.

Overall I would give this intense book two thumbs up for Haddon's amazing literary work. His exceptional writing skills mixed with his knowledge of autism make this a good book for the whole family to read.


JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.