Alyssa Swan, Year 12

Mod B Essay

Mark Haddon’s hybrid frame mystery novel, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-time’ (2003) conveys the experiences of a teenage boy with a disability, whilst
simultaneously highlighting issues relevant to contemporary society and the nature of
the social world. With the novel’s enduring value and distinctive qualities distinguishing
a first person narrative form, Haddon manifests the protagonist Chistopher’s journey to
seek the truth in his complex world. Adapting quality narrative features, Haddon
demonstrates significant characterisation through his multimodal novel and encourages
the audience to question the value and nature of truth, individuality and familial conflict.

Through Haddon’s stylistic novel features, family dynamics are conveyed and
demonstrated through conflict. This interpersonal conflict, demonstrated through
Christopher’s mother Judy and his father Ed, raises our perception of the challenging
nature of relationships and parenting while simultaneously adapting to idiosyncratic
behaviour. This conflict is heightened throughout the text, the natural transition into a
change in narrative structure epistolary form, ‘Dear Christopher’ grants insight into the
underlying tension that influences Christopher’s family. This structure is entwined with
ironic contrasts, ‘Loads of love, Mum xxx’. Familial connotations convey Judy’s
struggle to establish an emotional connection with Christopher, and ultimately
demonstrates her attempt to grasp at one last sense of motherhood. In contrast to this,
Ed’s treatment of Christopher alludes to the evident imprisonment of his son,
supplementing the familial conflict and preventing him from becoming more socially
aware, showing a lack of developing a sympathetic bond with his child. Foreshadowing
allows for the audience to build an uncertainty with Christopher’s father due to his
personal anger issues, as well as builds the climax of the story with the introduction of
the letters ‘I told you to keep your nose out of other people’s business’. Christopher’s
lack of sensitivity and consideration towards other people and their emotions due to his
condition adds to the black humour in the novel, shown in ‘Mother makes a loud
wailing noise like an animal o a nature program on television’. This lack of emotional
awareness and empathy impacts dramatically on his interpersonal relationships and
leads to persistent miscommunication, explained by the analogy ‘I can't tell what they
are thinking. It's like being in a room with a one-way mirror in a spy film.’

Haddon’s multimodal novel embraces the bildungsroman genre as Christopher’s search

for his mother transports him into a world wider than his own, resulting in his self
affirmation and individualisation. Haddon demonstrates the universal message that
challenges may act as a catalyst for maturity and growth within troubled individuals. The
opening of the novel establishes the detective genre, ‘I told Siobhan I was going to write
a book’, Siobhan’s reaction is reluctant, ‘she said that it’s usually people who were killed
in murder mystery novels’, alluding to her mistrust of Christopher’s capabilities and
ultimately, Siobhan’s subtle reluctance to Christopher. Christopher’s characterisation
highlights the need for stability and assurance and is shown by his practiced habits and
ritualistic thoughts. His disclination of the colours yellow and brown and his inclination to
red demonstrates to the audience of his strong need for order, and shown through his
statement ‘it is good to have a reason why you hate some things and you like others’.
Haddon uses emotive language to connote the stress Christopher feels while travelling
beyond his familiar, safe world. However, Christopher soon develops strategies that aid
in adapting to his new environment. Christopher gains confidence and insight into his
quest shown in his affirmations, ‘and I thought I can do this because I'm doing really well
and I was in London and I would find Mother’ and ‘I’m more grown up and I can make
decisions for myself’. Over the course of the novel, the reader gains insight in
Christopher’s intellectual and cognitive development. Haddon proudly accumulates
Christopher’s achievements using anaphora due to his performance in his maths exam,
‘I am going to university...And then I will become a scientist...and I know I can do this
because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of who killed
Wellington and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I
can do anything’. Therefore, Haddon successfully explores the human capacity for
resilience and individualism through Christopher’s internal and external journey.
In forming the deconstructed detective genre, Haddon explores the value of honesty in
truth in our modern world, ultimately contributing to audience engagement and an
appropriate universal message is delivered. Ironically in the novel, the protagonist
Christopher is the most honest character developed by Haddon, revealing that human
qualities are not subjective to individuals who are deemed ‘normal’ by society.
Christopher reveals his ability to accumulate facts and knowledge, and his aversion to
lies. His affirmation of being truthful ‘I always tell the truth’ makes him a reliable
objective narrator and his knowledge of human paradoxes is slightly extended ‘People
say you always have to tell the truth. But they don't mean this because you are not
allowed to tell people they are old’. This honesty blinds him to the level of complexity of
human nature and attitudes and therefore his refusal to accept the possibility that his
father has lied to him. His evident misunderstanding of the evidence when exposed to
the letters creates pathos, ‘And then i thought that perhaps it wasn't a letter from
Mother. Perhaps it was a letter to another person called Christopher, from that
Christopher’s mother.’ Therefore, his sleuthing reveals disturbing truths about deception
and miscommunication and the physicality of his discovery is reinforced through the
first person pronoun, ‘I felt giddy. I rolled onto the bed and curled up in a ball. My
stomach hurt.’ With the epiphany, ‘I had to get out of the house. Father had murdered
Wellington. That meant he could murder me, because I couldn’t trust him, even though
he said ‘Trust me’. Haddon builds a level of anticipation that thrusts the narrative into
the underlying mystery of solving the whereabouts of Judy. Consequently, Haddon
confirms the value of honesty and the level of potential that secrets have to invalidate
integrity by undermining relationships through his deconstructed detective genre form.

Therefore, Haddon’s protagonist Christopher is distinctive and engaging, which adds to

the characterisation and value of his multimodal novel. His focus on universal concerns
such as the value of truth, familial conflict and individuality effectively enhances our
appreciation for those who are marginalised in our world, as well as encourages self
reflection and our understanding of human nature and behaviours.