The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

An Innocent View of Society: Christopher Boone's Unique Perspective 11th Grade

In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher Boone poses as an innocent eye. An innocent eye perspective means that the story is told through the eyes of a child or someone who is unable to comprehend the world in the same way we can and thus has quite different judgement. Christopher’s inability to experience and understand emotion the same way we do allows the actions of other characters in the novel to become more impactful. His naive point of view forces us to draw conclusions about characters and their actions ourselves, highlighting the flaws of society, specifically those of the adults in Christopher’s life.

Because Christopher has Asperger's Syndrome, he sees the world differently than we do. He struggles to comprehend the emotions of other characters in the novel and, as a narrator, presents everything the way he sees it. His thought process is strictly logical for the most part, leaving us to interpret the emotional aspects of the story. Christopher talks about emotional situations in a matter of fact way, like when he is informed of his mother’s death and simply asks “What kind of heart attack?” (Haddpn 27). Because of his disability, he is not able to filter his thoughts or words...

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