Literature Analysis #1

The Curios Case of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon

1. Summary-

       Christopher Boone, who has autism, finds his neighbor’s poodle in her front yard with a pitchfork in it. He picks up the dog and Mrs. Shears, his neighbor, comes out and calls the police. His father gets him out of the police station, and tells him to stop investigating about the dog. His suspect is Mr. Shears, who left Mrs. Shears two years ago, to make Mrs. Shears sad. He begins to ask his neighbors about Wellington, the poodle, and finds out that Christopher’s mother had an incident with Mr. Shears before he left Mrs. Shears. He tells her that his mother died two years ago from a heart attack. One day his father finds the book where he is recording everything that has happened. He gets really mad and confiscates his book. Later, in an effort to find his book Christopher searches his father’s room for it. Instead he finds something that his father has been hiding. He learns who kills Wellington. The rest of the story is he trying to get to London to someone he knows because he is leery of his father.

2. Theme-

       Everyone has problems that we must overcome: Christopher overcomes many problems throughout the story as well as his father.

3. Tone-

       Detached

       Throughout the story he shows he has some behavioral problems. For example he says he has problems like, “Not talking to people for a long time”(Haddon 46). He shows that he doesn’t get along with others easily. Another example he is detached is when his father took him out of the police station, “He held up his right hand and spread his fingers out in a fan. I held up my left hand and spread my fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. We do this because sometimes Father wants to give me a hug, but I do not like hugging people, so we do this instead, and it means he loves me”(Haddon 16).

       Complex

       He likes to explain everything in great detail for example he says, “I like dogs. You always know what the dog is thinking. It has 4 moods. Happy, sad, cross, and concentrating”(Haddon 3-4).

4. Literary Elements/ Techniques-

       Symbolism:

       He uses prime numbers to represent life. He says, “Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them”(Haddon 12).

       Imagery: 

       When he went to a trip to France he explains he needed to go to the bathroom and they stopped and he noticed things like this, “1. There are 19 cows in the field, 15 of which are black and white and 4 of which are brown and white. 2. There is a village in the distance which has 31 visible houses and a church with a square tower and not a spire. 3. There are ridges in the field, which means that in medieval times it was called a ridge and furrow and people who lived in the village would have a ridge each to do farming…”(Haddon 141-142). He keeps explaining which makes you create a vivid image of his view.

       Flashback: 

       He tells the reader about when his mom dies. “Mother died 2 years ago”(Haddon 22). He tells us the story of how his mother died two years ago.

       Situational Irony: Christopher finds something unexpected, “It was an envelope that was addressed to me and it was lying under my book in the shirt box with some other envelopes”(Haddon 94). He finds a letter from someone, but I can’t tell you who it is because it will ruin the story.

       Direct Characterization: Christopher characterizes himself directly, “A. Not talking to people for a ling time. B. Not eating or drinking…”(Haddon 46). He has a whole list of how he acts.