Christopher's Story: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night (Essay Sample)

Name Professor Course Date The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night The curious incident of the dog in the night” utilizes literary devices to impact the readers’ mind by allowing them to connect effectively with Christopher’s story. Christopher suffers from Asperger, a rare form of autism. Haddon’s book is keen to create a balance between two worlds that in reality are far apart. Persons who have autism cannot interact or interpret the world around them in the same manner as healthy people without autistic disability do. Literary devices used in the novel include the plot, irony, communication, tone, a point of view and conflict. The plot of the story portrays the life of Asperger’s patient allowing readers to see how they are talented yet limited in many ways. Christopher faces several challenges including belonging to a broken family and being accused of killing his neighbor’s poodle called Wellington. He is a talented mathematician as seen when he passes his A-level mathematics and aims to be a scientist. The plot reveals a boy who is aware of his abilities and limitations thereby making habits and rituals that make it easier for him to live comfortably. This peace is, however, disrupted when he has to leave his comfort zone and interact with the rest of the world. The plot is important as it accommodates a point of view that takes the reader through all realms of Christopher’s life such as thoughts, fears, family, education and even future aspirations. Besides, the plot shows how disability is often categorized as an unstable category within the dominant society which can be disabling to disabled persons. Christopher critiques the societal environment pointing to the need for the inclusion of the disabled in social and political issues. Christopher uses a detached tone as he is not interested in relating to the rest of the world. Circumstances are all that have led him to be in a world that he cannot connect to due to his limited ability to communicate with others or make sense of what is happening around him. Conflict is used as seen severally as Christopher struggles with his inner thoughts and feelings with the external environments that he finds himself in. There is conflict in his neighborhood and within his family. It is ironic that Christopher hates fictional stories yet he is a character in a fictional story w...