INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
AN UNDEGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EUNIKE SET SATYARINI
Student Number: 014214024
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ASPERGER’S SYNDROME AS SEEN IN CHRISTOPHER
BOONE’S CHARACTERIZATION IN MARK HADDON’S THE
CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
AN UNDEGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EUNIKE SET SATYARINI
Student Number: 014214024
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
The Law of Attraction responds to whatever
vibration you are sending by giving you more of it,
whether it’s positive or negative. It simply responds
to your vibration
For
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Working out this undergraduate thesis is a tough journey. There are many lessons about persistence and willingness here. I have been dealing with this for some semesters and at the end, I realize that simplicity is easy to gain if I am able to be an optimistic one and switch my doubtful mind. Gratitude is what I have now and I’d love to thank to those who have been with me in this journey.
First of all, I thank to my best companion, Jesus Christ, for all reminders and spirits I have got so far. I am alive for He is a living God and this work of mine is for Him.
I would like to thank to Mr. G. Fajar Sasmita, S.S, M.Hum for his kindness and patience. All the discussions about priority are one of the triggers for me to finish writing this work and also to Ms. Elisa Dwi Wardhani, S.S, M.Hum as my co advisor.
I would like to thank to my parents, Bambang Mintarto and Siti Nurhandayani for motivating me so far. Thank you for their patience. It was not easy for keeping me to stay focus on this work, but their efforts are worth it. My brother, Janto, is also keep reminding me to stay focus. His critics were really a trigger.
I would like to thank to my boyfriend for being the tough man so far. His critics motivated me to be courageous and confident. I learn about law of attraction from him and he helps me to see what I have manifested in mind so far. Two thumbs for his efforts to motivate and inspire me.
I would like to thank to Christian Wenger who has encouraged me and his helps for all valuable materials I’ve applied in this work.
I would like to thank to all my friends for all the motivational discussions and their efforts to motivate me; Arum, Daniel, Andre, Bible Study Wil XII, and Teplok.
ABSTRACT
EUNIKE SET SATYARINI. Asperger’s Syndrome as Seen in Christopher Boone’s Characterization in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in
the Night-Time. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters,
Sanata Dharma University, 2009.
This thesis analyzed Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Haddon’s novel is about a boy with Asperger’s syndrome. This sundrome affect Christopher himself and how he deals with other people.
There are two points presented in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which become the discussion here. The writer wants to identify characterization of Christopher Boone. The next point is to see how Haddon emphasizes Asperger’s syndrome through Christopher’s characterization.
The method applied in this thesis is library research. The writer applies psychological approach as the approach of the thesis. Apart from that, she chooses some theories to help her analyze Haddon’s novel. The theories are theory of characterization, theory of behavior, and theory of Asperger’s syndrome. These three theories are the framework for the writer to analyze characterization and emphasis of Asperger’s syndrome in Christopher’s characterization.
ABSTRAK
EUNIKE SET SATAYRINI. Asperger’s Syndrome as Seen in Christopher Boone’s Characterization in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Skripsi ini menganalisa novel Mark Haddon yang berjudul The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Novel ini bercerita tentang seorang anak yang menderita sindrom Asperger. Sindrom ini mempengaruhi dirinya sendiri dan bagaimana ia berhubungan dengan orang lain.
Ada dua poin dalam The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time karya Mark Haddon yang menjadi bahan diskusi. Penulis ingin mengidentifikasi karakterisasi Christopher Boone. Poin selanjutnya yaitu mencari tahu bagaimana Mark Haddon menekankan adanya sindrom Asperger pada karakterisasi Christopher.
Metode yang digunakan adalah riset pustaka. Penulis mengaplikasikan pendekatan secara psikologis. Terlepas dari itu, ia memilih beberapa teori untuk membantunya menganalisa. Theori-teori tersebut adalah teori karakterisasi, teori perilaku, dan teori mengenai sindom Asperger. Ketiga teori tersebut merupakan kerangka acuan bagi penulis untuk menganalisa karakterisasi dan bagaimana penekanan sindrom Asperger pada karakterisasi Christopher.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Behavior is one thing everybody can see in others through daily activities. This term of psychology is already popular in daily life. Everybody knows what behavior is. Behavior can be observed through what somebody does or thinks. If there is a novel which can depict behavior as one interesting case, behavior can be an object for studying.
This thesis is not going to discuss about behaviorism. This novel will only discuss about behavior. The behavior here is not ordinary daily activities but it’s more to behaviors which show the Asperger’s syndrome appeared in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Besides journal of psychology, behavior can be really useful also to personalize a character in a novel. There is one novel which tells about behaviors in a different perspective. This novel is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This novel is written by British author, Mark Haddon, who has worked before with people have behavioral disorder.
neighbor’s dog, has been killed. Christopher became the narrator of the story and through his journey, people can see his daily activities and how Christopher behaves.
Haddon enriches Christopher with some behaviors which indicate that Christopher suffers from Asperger’s syndrome. This syndrome influences how Christopher behaves and affects his character since a character is supported by behaviors.
People who suffer from Asperger’s syndrome usually have problem with their behaviors since its syndrome influences behaviors a lot. Having Asperger’s syndrome doesn’t mean that somebody will be less productive. Many of them can be successful persons. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Jefferson are the examples.
Asperger’s syndrome itself is a syndrome in which people have severe difficulties with social interaction and restricted, repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. Those who have this syndrome usually have a normal or above normal IQ and many of them even appear as genius person. According to Ritvo in his book Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder, this syndrome occurs in about 30 to 40 people in every 10,000 people. Four to five more often appear in males than females.
Boone. The empathy is built by putting Christopher as the narrator so that readers can see Christopher’s perspective. Reading the book, readers can feel that Christopher thinks and reacts differently from any other common people towards circumstances around him. Christopher’s different reaction can be seen in some cases such as he tends to groan or scream for a long time when he gets anxious or when he can’t get what he wants.
And Mother said, “I told you. I rang your headmistress. I told her you were in London. I told her you’d do it next year.”
And I said, “but I am here now and I can take it.”
And Mother said, “I’m sorry, Christopher. I was trying to do things properly. I was trying not to mess things up.”
And my chest began hurting again and I folded my arms and I rocked backward and forward and groaned. (Haddon, 2004: 210)
Christopher also dislikes being touched and grabbed and he tends to hit those that touch or grab him.
The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this.
And this is when I hit him. (Haddon, 2004: 8)
The writer is interested to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time because this book has uncommon theme. This also means that Haddon dares to take risk to write something different from any other authors. Haddon needs to observe more people with Asperger’s syndrome since he puts a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome as the narrator of his novel.
the Dog in the Night-Time. These symptoms usually are related to Christopher’s incapability of developing his social skills. This novel can show a bit paradigm how it is like having the syndrome. By putting Christopher as the narrator, Haddon gives experience to his readers to see daily problems through perspective of somebody with Asperger’s syndrome.
Christopher Boone’s character is also trigger the writer to analyze The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. As someone who has Asperger’s syndrome, Christopher reacts differently towards situations happen in his life. He sees things sometimes from different uncommon perspectives. One of his different reactions is how he considers an aid as a threat. Christopher threatens people who pay attention on him when they see him needing help. This can be seen in the story easily. And a man came up to me and he was wearing a blue jacket and blue trousers and he had brown shoes and he was carrying a book in his hand and he said, “You look lost.”
So I took out my Swiss Army knife.
And he said, “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa,” and held up both his hands with fingers stretched out in a fan,… (Haddon, 2004: 171)
From the above example, readers are able to see effects of Christopher’s behaviors towards other people and how Christopher’s behaviors sometime put him or others into trouble.
From the above explanation, the writer considers that Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is appropriate to be analyzed. Both writer and readers will be able to learn more about human behaviors. Mark Haddon builds behaviors in his novel as a cause and an effect also.
B. Problem Formulation
The writer is going to analyze three questions. All of them are related to behaviors. The three questions of this problem formulation namely:
1. How is Christopher Boone characterized?
2. How does Haddon emphasize Asperger’s syndrome in Christopher Boone’s characterization?
C. Object of the Study
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a popular novel. It can be seen from reviews which are addressed to this novel. Many reviews appreciate this novel. Most reviews state that this novel is able to impress its readers. Some of the reviews are from mass media such as The Golden Globe, The Dallas Morning News, Financial Times, and Washington Post.
“Gloriously eccentric and wonderful intelligent.”—The Boston Globe “This is an amazing novel. An amazing book.”—The Dallas Morning News “Extraordinarily moving, often blackly funny….It is hard to think of anyone who would not be moved and delighted by this book.”—Financial Times, London
“Both clever and observant.”—The Washington Post
is certainly one of the strangest and most convincing characters in recent fiction.” Mary Whipple, an International Student Advisor at a Massachusetts college and one of Top 50 Reviewer on Amazon.com, also comments Haddon’s novel.
Haddon creates a fascinating main character and allows the reader to share in his world, experiencing his ups and downs and his trials and successes. In providing a vivid world in which the reader participates vicariously, Haddon fulfills the most important requirements of fiction, entertaining at the same time that he broadens the reader's perspective and allows him to gain knowledge. This fascinating book should attract legions of enthusiastic readers. (http://mostlyfiction.com/contemp/haddon.htm)
Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won some prizes. Haddon becomes a winner of The Guardian’s children’s fiction prize, the new Book Trust teenage fiction award, and the Whitbread Novel Award. Besides, this novel also gets award from the West Australian Young Readers Book and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book.
There are also some positive comments from experts. One of the comments is from Arthur Golden, the writer of Memoirs of Geisha. Golden states that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an unforgettable novel. Golden even advises people to buy two copies of the novel. Another interesting comment is from the author Bee Season, Myla Goldberg. Goldberg states that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a fun book to read and it enriches with imagination, empathy and vision.
Christopher Boone, the teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome, strengthens the novel. Haddon is able to create attractive character as the narrator.
The bitter emotions attendant to the dissolution of a marriage are revealed through the narration of this emotionless boy, in an interior monologue that is alternately comic and tragic. Haddon’s triumph is to provide a glimpse into the mind of an autistic savant with language that is powerful yet devoid of cloying sentiment. Haddon, who had worked with autistic kid, using as unreliable narrator who is credible, appealing, and appalling, all at the same time.
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905EED81E30F936A2575 5COA9659C8B63)
Clara Claiborne Park, the author of The Siege: The First Eight Years of an Autistic Child, wrote a review in Psychiatric Services, December 2003, Vol 54, No.12. She wrote there that Haddon had created a realistic character; “Mark Haddon has accomplished something far harder. He has created a character who, except for those who have actually lived or worked with autistic person, doesn’t fit at all. Those who have lived or worked with such a person will find Haddon’s 15-year-old-character utterly convincing.” Park stated also that Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an entertaining novel. “—by the end we’ve had a fascinating, enjoyable, and enlightening read.”
Apart from positive comments, Haddon also gets negative comment. This negative comment comes from a writer and also a book editor of Monsters and Critics, Jessica Schneider. Schneider in the website
http://themoderatevoice.com/entertainment/reviews/19483/guest-book-review-the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-by-mark-haddon/ says that Haddon’s
just doesn’t deliver.” Schneider criticizes Haddon’s main character, Christopher Boone, also. She says that Christopher Boone is tiring because “he occasionally does have moments of depth and unique observations, albeit they seem to be drowned out by all his obsessions.”
Apart from all the above comments, there are also some reviews about Asperger’s syndrome which are taken from the internet. These information are helpful also to understand a bit what kind of problems are faced by people with Asperger’s syndrome. Simple matters for the normal people can be a big matter for those with Asperger’s syndrome. Social cues and jokes are the examples of difficult matters for people with Asperger’s syndrome.
People with Asperger’s syndrome are considered as the ones who have problem with verbal and non verbal cues which are related to social norms. They also have difficulties to express their feelings and perceive other’s feelings. Ami Klin, Ph.D and Fred R. Volkmar, M.D. in the website www.psycentral.com describe that “individual with Asperger’s syndrome may react inappropriately to, or fail to interpret the valence of, the context of the affective interaction, often conveying a sense of insensitivity, formality, or disregard to the other person’s emotional expressions.” (http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/in-depth-look-at-aspergers-disorders-symptoms/)
Jokes, irony, sarcasm and metaphor are difficult for people with Asperger’s syndrome to understand, and they often take language literally. For example, in response to the metaphor “pull up your socks or you’ll be late”, a person with Asperger’s syndrome may pull up their socks, or express confusion if
they are not wearing any socks. (http://www.autismsa.org.au/html/disorders/asperger.html)
This thesis appears as the one who supports the positive comments toward Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The writer sees that Christopher’s behaviors are capable enough to be analyzed since they are different ones and appear many times as said by Christopher in his narrator. Analyze behaviors of Asperger’s syndrome here also improve the writer’s knowledge towards Christopher’s character since a behavior strengthen somebody’s character. Apart from that, the writer can also see how the effects of impairment behaviors. These three things are strongly related.
B. Review of Related Theories
This thesis applies theories to strengthen the analysis. This part is descriptions of all theories which are going to be applied here. They are theory of character and theory of Asperger’s syndrome. Below here are the further explanations.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Abrams divides characters into two categories, namely major and minor character. This categorization is based on the characters’ importance in the play. Major characters are the most significant characters in the story. They appear also in the main action. Minor characters are the opposites. They only appear in certain setting and they are needed in order to be the background for the major characters.
Abrams also states about other categorization. This categorization based on internal complexity. The characters in this categorization are round characters and flat characters. Round characters are the complex ones, both in temperament and motivation. They are also become the central of the story and have all characteristic of real human beings. They are able to surprise readers sometimes with their unexpected behavior. Flat characters are static characters which mean that they do not grow in the story. Compared to round characters, these characters are simpler since they don’t have details as many as round characters have.
Apart from that, Roger B. Henkle stated that characterization is “central to the fictional experience. And the principal objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand, and to experience the people” (Henkle, 1977:86). Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs explained four ways to provide information about characters. They are:
a. What the characters themselves say and even think, if the author conveys their thoughts.
consider the circumstance or total context of a statement. Besides, readers should also consider the probability of speeches perform change or development.
b. What the characters do
Actions perhaps perform as signs of character. Sometimes the action is inconsistent with logic and expectation. Such behaviors may signal weakness, deceit, or a scheming personality; they can also present strong inner conflicts, change, or growth.
c. What other characters say about them
People sometimes talk about others. If the speakers are honest, readers can accept their opinions as descriptions of other characters. Anyway, sometimes personal prejudices and interests make the opinions no longer objective. Therefore, an author may create a good impression of characters by having a bad or negative character says negative things about them.
d. What the author says about them, speaking as storyteller or observer
The author’s explanation about a character is considered as an accurate description. Authors frequently avoid interpretations and dedicate their skill instead to arranging events and speechless so that readers can draw the conclusion themselves.
2. Theory of Asperger’s Syndrome
Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder explained what happened at first when these behaviors were studied by Dr. Hans Asperger. Dr. Hans Asperger was studied a group whom had some autism symptoms but they didn’t fit with the standard diagnostic of autism. These people had normal intelligence and they had no delay in when they began talking. They were just people who were often called as socially blind.
Ritvo specifies some of Asperger’s syndrome symptoms in his book,
Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. These symptoms mainly are relevant to social skills and particular patterns of restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. One by one these symptoms will be explained further below here:
2.1. Qualitative Impairment in Social Skill
This is caused by developmental delays in processing symbolic information. Second is incapability to interpret jokes, sarcasm, and metaphor. Sentences with layers are difficult to be understood since they make those with Asperger’s syndrome get confused. Ritvo gives further explanation in his book about this.
Jokes and analogies are hard to deal with because of their highly symbolic nature. Many jokes are funny because you have to connect things in your mind that usually are not connected. If you have concrete thinking and trouble with catching on to subtle symbolic meanings, you will keep missing the point of such jokes. Puns, sarcasm, and hostile humor are equally difficult for the same reason. (Ritvo, 2006: 45)
Third is incapability of reading emotional cues. This can be seen from their disability to read other people’s feeling. People with Asperger’s syndrome tend to appear as a cold person since they have lack of empathy. Ritvo gives example of this incapability in Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder.
One young man confessed that he couldn’t tell from someone’s tone of voice how that person was feeling, just as he couldn’t tell what his own tone of voice meant. The content and the feeling were not automatically symbolically connected. He “confessed” with much difficulty that he had to “learn” to “read” feeling when he got to high school so he wouldn’t “look stupid” to the other kids and his teachers. (Ritvo, 2006: 45)
2.2. Restricted, Repetitive, and Stereotyped Patterns of Behaviors and Interests
Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests are the second group of symptoms. There are three points which are relevant to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time written by Ritvo in
First subcategory is having restricted and stereotyped patterns of interests. When somebody has restricted and stereotyped patterns of interests, these interests will dominate his mind most of the time. He or she will keep talking about particular things they like which in the same time make them have “specialty” in these particular things. Ritvo describes these patterns of behavior and interest by giving an example about a college professor who is so good at the subject he teaches and he keens on get to know more about these subjects without giving the same focus on the other aspects of his life.
He is a college professor who knows all there is to know about his subject and knows it in a rote and structured manner. While he is well-respected international authority in his field, he has no interest in or knowledge of what his wife, his kids, and the rest of the world are like. … This example is a classic example of how one section (interest) can drawn out all the others. His thinking is concrete and this type of thinking is busy day and night memorizing facts related to his area of interests and replying them in his mind over and over again. (Ritvo, 2006: 40) Ritvo explains more in his writing that “they don’t think “naturally” just the way we do. For them, their “specialty” type of thinking overwhelms all their other types of thinking” (Ritvo, 2006: 43).
Second subcategory is having inflexibility to specific and non functional routine or rituals. In this area of symptom, Ritvo gives some examples in
Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. These examples are related to how picky those people with Asperger’s syndrome toward what they consume though in real situation, this behavior may appear in other forms.
only—.” Such fussy food fads are so common they go without saying. These taste fads can change hourly, daily, or last for weeks. (Ritvo, 2006: 32)
Third subcategory is stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerism. People with Asperger’s syndrome have problem with sensory-motor delay. This delay appears in some stereotyped and repetitive behaviors such as rubbing things with fingers, spinning things, lunging back and forth, flapping fingers, and groaning. According to Ritvo, this happens because “their repetitive behaviors were internally driven, not under voluntary control, and could be modified (decreased) only to a point.” (Ritvo, 2006: 29) As further explanation, Ritvo tells about one of his patients.
We know one patient with Asperger’s disorder who worked as an electronic technician. She set up a strobe light in her lab and stared at it for a few minutes each hour every workday. She had another one at home for the weekends. She said it calmed her and helped her focus her thoughts. (Ritvo, 2006: 31)
2.3. Disturbance in Important Area of Functioning
Disturbance which is caused by symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome can cause significant impairment in some aspects of life. Many of people with Asperger’s syndrome have problem in their life because they are not adaptive enough. The problem usually appears in important area of functioning such as in the family and at work.
C. Theoretical Framework
theory of Asperger’s syndrome become the framework to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Theory of character and characterization is used as the background for behavior. Although behavior is a short impulse which is presented in what somebody is thinking or doing, behavior is also a part of character. This theory is applied here to identify the characterization of Christopher Boone and strengthen the fact he has severe behavioral problems.
Asperger’s syndrome is a significant issue here since the narrator of the novel is a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome. The theory about this syndrome is needed to expand the perspective about what Asperger’s syndrome really is and what symptoms of disorder are related to the analysis. This theory is used in order to identify Christopher’s behaviors as a part of Asperger’s symptoms which often appear in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Object of the study here is a novel entitled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This novel was released firstly in the year 2003 and also was also published by Vintage Books in April 2004 as First Vintage Contemporaries Open-Market Edition. This novel is segmented for adults and children.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a detective story which is narrated by a teenager named Christopher Boone. Apart from Christopher’s efforts to solve the dog’s murder case, readers can see also that Christopher is different through observing his behaviors. By reading the novel and observing the story, readers can get clues that Christopher lives with Asperger’s syndrome. This syndrome really influences how Christopher behaves and how strong the behaviors are in affecting Christopher’s life and his social interaction with others.
B. Approach of the Study
application of psychological interpretation to literature (1971: 13). This study will apply psychological approach to interpret impairment behaviors as the part of psychological aspect.
C. Method of the Study
This thesis used library research as the method of the study. The writer gathered all necessary sourced from books and internet. These sources were applied to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The main sources for the analysis were namely Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, A Glossary of Literary Terms, Fiction: An Introduction to Psychology, Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger Disorder and also a website: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/in-depth-look-at-aspergers-disorders-symptoms/.
In order to find out Christopher’s characterization, the writer applied theory of characterization which was taken from A Glossary of Literary Terms and Fiction: An Introduction to reading and Writing. Theory of characterization became the framework for the writer to define Christopher’s characterization.
The next step was getting the answer of the second question in problem formulation. Since the second question was about the emphasis of Asperger’s syndrome in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the writer applied theory from Ritvo’s Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder since Christopher suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. This book helped the writer to differentiate which of Christopher’s characters and behaviors that could be put as symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was a novel which depicted relationship among people. Through this novel readers could see how behaviors depicted a disorder. Besides, this novel also presented a person who wasn’t able to overcome and maintain his behaviors and had to face it as a part of his life.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was narrated by a teenage boy who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. As a narrator, he explained things and other characters differently. What caused this was the syndrome he had.
It was Christopher Boone, the main character in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time who would be analyzed here. Christopher had several behaviors which were able to differentiate him from any other persons in the story. In the novel, there were also some conflicts which were caused by Christopher and he did this unintentionally.
A. How Christopher was Characterized
Christopher Boone was the major character in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He was 15 years old. He lived with his father, Ed Boone, in small city named Swindon. Christopher had a pet rat named Toby and he was a dog lover. What completely differed Christopher from any other characters in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was Asperger’s syndrome he suffered from. Having this syndrome, Christopher had to study in special school for those who had learning difficulties and special needs. This was indicated by Christopher’s explanation about how other kids from general school mocked him and his friends whenever their bus school passed these kids.
But Siobhan said we have to use those words because people used to call children like the children at school spaz and crip and mong, which were nasty words. But that is stupid too because sometimes the children from the school down the road see us in the street when we’re getting off the bus and they shout, “Special Needs! Special Needs!” (Haddon, 2004: 44)
Though Christopher went to school for those who had learning difficulties and special needs, he was a genius teenager. There were some points in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which indicated that Christopher was a genius one. The supporting points which strengthened the above statement appeared through what Christopher did and what his father, Ed Boone, stated.
which were not taught at his school. One of the examples was when Rhodri, his father’s assistant, asked him what 251 times 864 was. Christopher stated that, “it was a really easy sum” (Haddon, 2004: 66).
The second point was Ed Boone’s effort to get permission for Christopher to have A level math exam at school. Ed Boone visited the head mistress of the school, Mrs. Gascoyne, to request the math exam for Christopher. Ed assured Mrs. Gascoyne that Christopher deserved to have the exam since he had the ability. Ed stated to Mrs. Gascoyne that “this is the one thing he is really good at.” (Haddon, 2004: 44).
Christopher was a logical person. This character could be seen in Christopher’s way of thinking and other’s comments. Haddon emphasized this character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by putting Christopher’s statements about God, death, and heaven. Besides, the minor character, Mr. Jeavons, also stated about how logical Christopher was.
Christopher didn’t believe in God. According to Christopher, God was only a created figured to simplify thoughts about the universe. God was a concept beyond Christopher’s logic and he tried to figure it out in his own logic.
People believe in God because the world is very complicated and they think it is very unlikely that anything as complicated as a flying squirrel or the human eye or a brain could happen by chance… And there is life on earth because of an accident. But it is a very special kind of accident. … people who believe in God think God has put human beings on the earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just animal and they will evolve into another animal, … (Haddon, 2004: 164-165)
(Haddon, 2004: 32). Below here were examples which indicated how logic Christopher was. Christopher told his opinion about heaven and death which based on his own logical understanding.
I said that there wasn’t anything outside the universe and there wasn’t another kind of place altogether. Except that there might be if you went through a black hole, but a black hole is what is called a singularity, which means it is impossible to find out what is on the other side because the gravity of a black hole is so big that even electromagnetic waves like light can't get out... (Haddon 2004: 32)
What actually happens when you die is that your brain stops working and your body rots, like Rabbit did when he died … And all his molecules were broken down into other molecules and they went to the earth and were eaten by worms and went into the plants and if we go and dig in the same place in 10 years there will be nothing except his skeleton left. (Haddon 2004: 33) Mr. Jeavons, the psychologist at Christopher’s school also stated that Christopher was a logical person. When he asked Christopher to explain why the numbers of the car in particular colors could indicate how good or how bad a day was, he said to Christopher how surprised he was to know how Christopher determined a day. Christopher stated this in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: “he said that I was clearly a very logical person, so he was surprised that I should think like this because it wasn’t very logical” (Haddon, 2004: 24).
wanted to continue his study to university and even though he studied at a special school, he didn’t feel shy towards his limitation. Even he wanted to prove to people that he wasn’t a stupid one. The A level exam was Christopher’s chance to show that he was different from any other kids in his school. He mentioned that “I am going to prove that I’m not stupid. Next month I’m going to take my A level in maths and I’m going to get an A grade” (Haddon, 2004: 44). Another proof was Christopher’s decision to solve Wellington’s murder case. Being a detective gave no choice to Christopher to investigate people, mainly strangers. For somebody who disliked to interact with any strangers, strong willed was significant to push Christopher did the investigation. No matter what, Christopher should defeat his fear towards strangers. Christopher stated in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
that “talking to the other people in our street was brave. But if you are going to do detective work you have to be brave, so I had no choice.” (Haddon, 2004: 35). Christopher’s investigation to Mrs. Alexander strengthened this fact.
I was nervous. I didn’t know Mrs. Alexander. I knew that she was an old lady and that she liked dogs. But she was a stranger. And I never go into park on my own because it is dangerous and people inject drugs behind the public toilets in the corner… But I was excited, too. Because I thought she might tell me a secret. And the secret might about who killed Wellington. (Haddon, 2004: 59)
The first one was how he described other characters in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Different from any other narrators in other novels, Christopher didn’t give sufficient explanation about others characters in a way that the readers could depict how the characterization of one character. As the narrator of the novel, instead of describing other characters’ personality, he just provided physical description about others which could not really help readers. When he described about the inspector in police station, his description was more into the physical appearance of the inspector. Christopher only wrote, “He also had a very hairy nose. It looked as if there were two very small mice hiding in his nostrils” (Haddon, 2004: 17). The way Christopher provided descriptions about his teacher, Siobhan, and the psychologist, Mr. Jeavons, empowered the image of Christopher's lack of understanding about emotional description. As Christopher said, “Siobhan has long blond hair and wears glasses which are made of green plastic. And Mr. Jeavons smells of soap and wears brown shoes that have approximately 60 tiny circular holes in each of them.” (Haddon, 2004: 5).
The second one was how Christopher showed lack of empathy and sympathy to his parents. Readers could see that he was less emotional and did nothing to show empathy or sympathy to his father.
Father was sitting on the sofa watching snooker on the television and drinking scotch. There were tears coming out of his eyes.
I asked, “Are you sad about Wellington?”
I decided to leave him alone because when I am sad I want to be left alone. So I didn’t say anything else. I just went into the kitchen and made my orange squash and took it back upstairs to my room. (Haddon, 2004: 21)
Christopher’s way of thinking about his mother affair also showed that his emotion tended to be flat. Instead of being sad, Christopher used his logical explanation which pointed out that he felt nothing about his mother’s affair.
And I replied, “But I don’t feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr. Shears isn’t around anymore. So I would be feeling sad about something that isn’t real and doesn’t exist. And that would be stupid.” (Haddon, 2004: 75)
Christopher also didn’t feel guilty for giving more stress to his mother. He kept asking to his mother, Judy Boone, to return to Swindon so that he could do his A level math exam. At that time, Judy had difficult situation and Christopher didn’t show any compromise for Judy to solve her own problem.
And she said, “Christopher, not now. I’m getting phone calls from your father threatening to take me to court. I’m getting it in the neck from Roger. It’s not a good time.”
And I said, “But I have to go because it’s been arranged and the Reverend Peters is going to invigilate.” (Haddon, 2004: 205)
don’t have to, and I can stay at home…” (Haddon, 2004: 198-199). Apart from the dream, Christopher also disliked strangers and his dream to be an astronaut could explain also that Christopher was a loner.
You also have to be someone who would like being on their own in a tiny spacecraft thousands and thousands of miles away from the surface of the earth and not panic or get claustrophobia or homesick or insane. And I really like spaces, so long as there is no one else in them with me. Sometimes when I want to be on my own I get into the airing cupboard outside the bathroom and slide in beside the boiler and pull the door closed behind me and sit there and think for hours... (Haddon, 2004: 50)
Christopher was a visual person in a way that he thought in pictures. Christopher noticed more visual details than more than people in general. His memory of pictures was good and he noticed every single detail. Below here the writer quoted lines in Haddon’s novel which showed how Christopher noticed details more than any other common people.
For example, one week the Shakespeare’s Globe poster had fallen down in the classroom at school and you could tell because it had been put back slightly to the right and there were three little circles of Blu-Tack stain on wall down the left-hand side of the poster. And the next day someone had graffitied CROW APTOK to lamppost 437 in our street, which is the one outside number 35. (Haddon, 2004: 140)
Christopher explained about how he thought also in the novel. He said that his memory was like a movie. He didn’t see frozen pictures in his mind but each time he wanted to memorize something, his mind captured some moving pictures or scenes he wanted to remember.
a memory of something a long time ago. And there are no buttons, either, because it is happening in my head. (Haddon, 2004: 76)
When Siobhan, his teacher, suggested Christopher to describe people in the story with one or two more details, instead of described the characters of the person, Christopher just described what he saw.
She also said that I should describe people in the story by mentioning one or two details about them so that people could make a picture of them in their head. Which is why I wrote about Mr. Jeavons’s shoes with all the holes in them and the policeman who looked as if he had two mice in his nose and the thing Rhodri smelled of but I didn’t know the name for. (Haddon, 2004: 68) Christopher was an eccentric person also. He determined good day and black day through color of cars he saw in a row. Red car symbolized good day and yellow one symbolized black day. For a good day, Christopher needed to see 4 red cars in a row, whether 4 yellow cars in a row symbolized black day. During black day, Christopher wouldn’t speak to anyone and didn’t have his lunch. Besides, Christopher hated yellow and brown. One of the things that made him hated yellow was yellow flowers. Christopher had allergy towards these flowers. He stated that “because I get hay fever from flower pollen, which is one of 3 sorts of hay fever, and the others are from grass pollen and fungus pollen, and it makes me feel ill” (Haddon, 2004: 84). One of the reasons why Christopher hated brown was his friend at school, Melissa Brown.
B. How Haddon Emphasized Asperger’s Syndrome in Christopher Boone’s Characterization
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time told about a teenager suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome. This meant that Haddon should emphasize Asperger’s syndrome through Christopher Boone’s characterization. The syndrome itself appeared in Christopher’s characters and behaviors. Below here, writer would describe explicitly one by one of Christopher Boone’s characters and behaviors which emphasis Asperger’s syndrome in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
1. Social Impairment
It was obvious that somebody who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome had social impairment. Some of Christopher behaviors and characters could be categorized in social impairment. There were two characters of Christopher and some of his behaviors which indicated his Asperger’s syndrome.
First character was cold person. Christopher’s character of being cold indicated that he suffered from Asperger’s syndrome because from time to time in the novel, he didn’t response appropriately circumstances in which he should perform empathy or sympathy. This character could be seen as incapability of reading social cues. Readers could see from how Christopher treated his parents.
Father was sitting on the sofa watching snooker on television and drinking scotch. There were tears coming out of his eyes.
I asked, “Are you sad about Wellington?”
He looked at me for a long time and sucked air through his nose. Then he said, “Yes, Christopher, you could say that. You could very well say that.” I decided to leave him alone because when I am sad I want to be left alone. So I didn’t say anything else. I just went into the kitchen and made my orange squash and took it back upstairs to my room. (Haddon, 2004: 21)
Christopher was not aware also when he didn’t response appropriately to his mother. When Judy was getting anxious, instead of tried to understand her, Christopher focused on himself and completely gave no attention towards his mother’s feeling. Once, when Christopher was living in London with his mother, Judy Boone, he decided to go outside in the middle of the night just to get to know London in the night. This made his mother got panicked and Christopher didn’t perform any regret or understanding towards his mother. He just described what she did visually.
“Christopher…? Christopher…? and she was running down the road, so I came out from between the skip and the Ford transit van and she ran up to me and said, “Jesus Christ,” and she stood in front of me and pointed her finger at my face and said, “If you ever do that again, I swear to god, Christopher, I love you, but… I don’t know what I’ll do.”
So she made me promise never to leave the flat on my own because it was dangerous… (Haddon, 2004: 204)
symbolic meaning. Christopher disliked jokes and metaphor because it was hard for him to understand them.
If I try to say joke to myself, making the word mean the three different things at the same time, it is like hearing three different pieces of music at the same time, which is uncomfortable and confusing and not nice like white noise. It is like three people trying to talk to you at same time about different things. (Haddon 2004: 8)
Being logic was reasonable because Christopher didn’t have to related things in his mind in the way he had to connect things in his mind as if he tried to interpret jokes and metaphor. Being logic didn’t pursue him to imagine things in his mind. He liked facts because facts were doubtless.
Same thing happened with the fact that Christopher never made any lie. Creating a lie was as difficult as interpreted jokes and metaphor. A lie forced him to tell untrue things and with the fact that Christopher had limited capacity to connect thing in mind, it would be hard for him, as what he mentioned in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The delayed development of symbolic language was the reason why Christopher couldn’t create any lie.
had behaviors which indicated that he had impairment in social skills because he couldn’t do anything which was related to social regulation properly. There were two examples of these impairment skills, namely Christopher’s habit to avoid eye contact and his misreading facial expression.
Christopher disliked eye contact. People usually could read somebody from their gaze or facial expression but Christopher didn’t have this ability. According to Christopher, it wasn’t fair that people were able to read him while he couldn’t at all. So, when he communicated, he tended to avoid eye contact. This could be seen when Ed Boone, Christopher’s father, avoided any eye contact when he was telling him that his mother, Judy Boone, was in hospital. Christopher didn’t mind at all with this situation, even he thought it was nice.
Father said, “I’m afraid you won’t be seeing your mother for a while.”
He didn’t look at me when he said this. He kept on looking through the window.
Usually people look at you when they’re talking to you. I know that they’re working out what I’m thinking, but I can’t tell what they’re thinking. It is like being in a room with one-way mirror in a spy film. But this was nice, having Father speak to me but not look at me. (Haddon, 2004: 22-23)
There was also one behavior which could be a good example how Christopher ignored somebody’s feeling. As somebody with Asperger’s syndrome, Christopher’s impairment social skill made him unable to recognize emotional cue. Christopher didn’t behave appropriately when he got to know that his mother was shocked and got hurt emotionally. Christopher was just there with her mother and wondered why she made loud noise that he totally disliked it.
And then Mother said, “Oh my God.”
And then she didn’t say anything for a long while. And then she made a loud wailing noise like an animal on a nature program on television.
And I didn’t like her doing this because it was a loud noise, and I said, “Why are you doing that?”
And she didn’t say anything for while, and then she said, “Oh, Christopher, I’m so sorry.” (Haddon, 2004: 193)
2. Restricted, Repetitive, and Stereotyped Patterns of Behaviors and Interests
The second category of symptoms was restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. This category of symptoms could show people easily whether somebody they knew suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. Haddon enriched Christopher with some behaviors which were explicitly showed that Christopher was different from any other people in general.
Christopher’s mind a lot and distracted Christopher’s story of being a detective. He kept talking about math and science from time to time.
Math was Christopher’s favorite subject. He numbered the chapters in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time with prime number just because he liked prime numbers. This could be seen when Christopher suddenly described about frogs’ population in a pond. Christopher said that, “N stands for the population density. When N = 1 the population is the biggest it can get.” (Haddon, 2004: 101). Math distracted Christopher’s explanation about what he would do to stay away from his father.
And one way was being frightened of being far a way from a place I was used to, and the other was being frightened of being near where Father lived, and they were in inverse proportion to one another, so that the total fear remained a constant as I got further away from home and further away from Father like this
Fear total = Fear new place x Fear near Father = constant (Haddon, 2004: 136)
Math and science were two repetitive subjects Christopher was good at. He liked practicing math and he kept watching science documenters. These two subjects were the subjects he would like to study furthermore once he could be in university. Christopher even realized that he was good at math and he was so confident with his capability in math.
Second symptom in the category of restricted, repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests was having inflexibility to specific and non functional routine or rituals. This symptom could be seen in how picky Christopher was and how inflexible he was with things in order. Christopher was really strict about these two things.
Christopher chose what he ate carefully. He only ate food in nice order. Once the food touched another different kind of food in his plate, Christopher wouldn’t eat it. Christopher told readers in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time how he couldn’t eat his broccoli because there was a ham jumped sideways when his father got angry at him. Christopher said that “father banged the table with his fist really hard so that the plates and his knife and fork jumped around and my ham jumped sideways so that it touched the broccoli, so I couldn’t eat the ham or the broccoli anymore” (Haddon, 2004: 49). Apart from that, Christopher wouldn’t eat anything in yellow or brown colors. He had his own reasons and made a list in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time why he disliked yellow and brown colors.
YELLOW 1. Custard
2. Bananas (bananas also turn brown) 3. Double Yellow Lines
Christopher liked red color and he would like to eat anything in red color. No wonder if Christopher had red food coloring in case he should eat something yellow or brown. Readers could see this detail of red food coloring when Christopher wanted to eat Indian food.
Then Father said, “I’ll stick one of those Gobi Aloo Sag things in the oven for you, OK?”
This is because I like Indian food because it has a strong taste. But Gobi Aloo Sag is yellow, so I put red food coloring into it before I eat it. (Haddon, 2004: 67)
When Christopher had lunch in his school cafeteria, Christopher was picky also. …at lunch I didn’t have the quiche because it was yellow, but I did have the carrots and the peas and lots of tomato ketchup. And for afters I had some blackberry and apple crumble, but not the crumble bit because that was yellow, … (Haddon, 2004: 76)
liked to know everything was going to happen. Christopher even set up timetable for his weekends. He said in Haddon’s novel, “And at the weekend I make up my own timetable and I write it down on a piece of cardboard and I put it up on the wall. And it says things like Feed Toby or Do Maths or Go to the shop to buy sweets.” (Haddon, 2004: 156) From the previous quotation, it was obvious that Christopher even scheduled simple activities. Christopher also described in the novel about his plan to go to London which could prove also that Christopher needed things in order.
And then I thought I would need money if I was going to go to London. And I would need food to eat because it was a long journey and I wouldn’t know where to get food from. And then I thought I would need someone to look after Toby when I went to London because I couldn’t take him with me. And then I Formulated a Plan. And that made me feel better because there was something in my head that had an order and a pattern and I just had to follow the instructions one after the other. (Haddon, 2004: 132)
Second example which showed that Christopher liked things in order was his statement about why he liked Mrs. Shears to stay overnight at his house. He liked that because Mrs. Shears was able to be tidy and put things in order. Christopher stated that “she made things tidy and she arranged the jars and pans and tins in order of their height on the shelves in the kitchen and she always made their labels face outward and she put the knives and forks and spoons in the correct compartments in the cutlery drawer.” (Haddon, 2004: 43).
hard to stop doing these behaviors. They were done usually when Christopher tried to get rid of negative thoughts. He performed these behaviors in order to calm himself down and to feel secure.
In Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher groaned when he felt sick. As the narrator, Christopher provided enough description about groaning. Christopher mentioned in the novel that “when I had been sick I wanted to curl up on the ground and do groaning.” (Haddon, 2004: 137). Although it was difficult to control his urge to groan, Christopher sometimes attempted not to groan. He provided information in Haddon’s novel how to prevent himself groaning.
But I knew that if I curled up and did groaning, then Father would come out of the school and he would catch me and take me home. So I took lots of deep breaths like Siobhan says I have to do if someone hits me at school, and I counted 50 breaths and I concentrated very hard on the numbers and did their cubes as I said them. (Haddon, 2004: 137)
Screaming was a behavior also to get rid of negative thoughts. In Haddon’s
Christopher sometimes needed to put his hands over his ears. This was done when he wanted to calm himself down or when he got blank. There were two examples of Christopher’s reactions which could show how he performed this behavior. First was when Christopher wanted to calm himself down. He put his hands over his ears after Mrs. Shears started screaming again.
Perhaps she noticed how much blood there was and didn’t want to get dirty. Instead she started screaming again.
I put my hands over my ears and closed my eyes and rolled forward till I was hunched up with my forehead pressed onto the grass. The grass was wet and cold. It was nice. (Haddon, 2004: 4)
Second example was when Christopher got too much information and he couldn’t absorb the information. It was in railway station. Christopher said that “I didn’t like all the people being near me and all the noise because it was too much information in my head and it made it hard to think, like there was shouting in my head. So, I put my hands over my ears…” (Haddon, 2004: 139).
As what Ritvo said in his book, Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder, Christopher was learned not to perform his motor mannerism behaviors. His teacher, Siobhan, taught him to control his behaviors by counting up to 50 to control them. Christopher could perform them less but they couldn’t completely disappear.
3. Disturbance in Important Area of Functioning
Haddon showed two significant aspects in Christopher life in which Christopher’s characters and behaviors messed up. First area of functioning in which Christopher caused chaos was his family. As a family member Christopher couldn’t build a good boundary and relationship with his parents. He triggered problems to his parents, Ed and Judy Boone. Second area of functioning was socialization. Christopher completely had problem in this area.
Christopher contributed chaos in his family life. Sometimes he triggered his parents to argue among each other because of what he had done. Christopher once admitted also that he caused problem for his parents. Christopher said that “I used to think that Mother and Father might get divorced. That was because they had lots of arguments and sometimes they hated each other. This was because of the stress of looking after someone who has Behavioral Problems like I have.” (Haddon, 2004: 46) Christopher added in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time next page.
Sometimes these things would make Mother and Father really angry and they would shout at me or they would shout at each other. Sometimes Father would say, “Christopher, if you do not behave I swear I shall knock the living daylights out of you,” or Mother would say, “Jesus, Christopher, I am seriously considering putting you in a home, “or Mother would say, “You are going to drive me into an early grave.’ (Haddon, 2004: 47-48)
But I said I couldn’t take it anymore and eventually he got really cross and he told me I was being stupid and said I should pull myself together and I hit him, which was wrong, but I was so upset.
We had a lot of argumants like that. Because I often thought I couldn’t take any more. And your father is really pacient but I’m not, I get cross, even though I don’t mean too. And by the end we stopped talking to each other very much because we knew it would always end up in an argumant and it would go nowere. And I felt realy lonley. (Haddon, 2004: 107)
In one of her letters, Judy also mentioned how she argued with Christopher. It happened because Christopher didn’t want to eat food Judy had cooked for him. Judy forced Christopher to eat because he already ate nothing for days and their anger caused Judy had broke toes.
And then you and me had that argumant. Do you remember? It was about your supper one evening. I’d cooked you something and you wouldn’t eat it. And you hadn’t eaten for days and days and you were looking so thin. And you started to shout and I got cross and I threw the food across the room. … And you grabbed the chopping board and you threw that and hit my foot and broke my toes. (Haddon 2004: 108)
Christopher also triggered problem between Judy Boone and her lover, Roger Shears. Christopher’s decision to live with his mother caused conflict which made Judy break up with Roger. Christopher told about the quarrelling between Judy and Roger but his description didn’t indicate that Christopher was aware that he added conflict to his mother relationship with Roger Shears. Roger Shears disagreed with Judy’s decision to let Christopher stay with her.
And Mother said, “He can stay as long as he needs to stay.”
And Mr. Shears said, “This flat is hardly big enough for two people, let alone three.
And Mother said, “He can understand what you’re saying, you know.”
Christopher also got to know that Judy and Roger argued when he was staying there. Christopher didn’t say specifically about the argumentation. He just stated that, “And when Mother and Mr. Shears argued I took the little radio from the kitchen and I went and sat in the spare room…” (Haddon 2004: 207). Besides, Christopher also quoted what Roger Shears told him when he got drunk and came into Christopher’s room. What Roger said indicated that Christopher messed things up between Roger Shears and Judy Boone.
… Mr. Shears came into my room and woke me up and he had been drinking beer because he smelled like Father did when he had been drinking beer with Rhodri. And he said, “You think you’re so fucking clever, don’t you. Don’t you ever, ever think about other people for one second, eh? Well, I bet you’re really pleased with yourself now, aren’t you.” (Haddon, 2004: 207)
The disturbance of family functioning could be seen from how Christopher treated his parents. Christopher’s disability to read social cues made him become so insensitive toward his parents’ feeling. He never stated in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time that he had made mistakes to his parents.
Second disturbance of important area of functioning could be seen from how Christopher played his role in social interaction. Christopher wasn’t adaptive enough and this made him need more time than any other people in general to have a contact or to accept them around him.
drive, so I get to know them. Then I don’t mind if I am in the same room as them and don’t have to watch them all the time. (Haddon, 2004: 35)
Christopher’s limited understanding about how to deal with people triggered Christopher to threatened people with Swiss Army knife. Whenever he felt frightened with people around him, he used his Swiss Army as protection. Once, Christopher got frightened on his way to railway station. He felt frightened because he wanted to ask to sa stranger which road to railway station.
… and it would be a lady because when they talked to us about Stranger Danger at school they say that if a man comes up to you and talks to you and you feel frightened you should call out and find a lady to run to because ladies are safer.
So I got out my Swiss Army knife and I flicked out the saw blade and I held it tightly in the pocket… (Haddon, 2004: 137)
Problems also appeared when Christopher got helps from strangers. He couldn’t recognize their good-will and instead of saying thank you for their kindness, he threatened them with his Swiss Army knife because he was frightened. There were two incidents in which Christopher’s couldn’t appreciate other people’s kindness attention and kindness. First example was when there was a man in railway station paid attention to Christopher. This man just tried to help but instead of appreciating his kindness, Christopher scared the man with his Swiss Army knife.
And a man came up to me and he was wearing a blue jacket and blue trousers and he had brown shoes and he was carrying a book in his hand and he said, “You look lost.”
So I took out my Swiss Army knife.
Another example was when there was a woman who asked him whether he was fine after being saved from an incident in which Christopher might be hit by a train. Instead of thanking her, Christopher threatened her.
…and she said, “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
And if she was a teacher at school I could have said, “Where is 451c Chapter Road, Willesden, London NW2 5 NG?” but she was a stranger, so I said, “Stand further away, “because I didn’t like her being so close. And I said, “I’ve got a Swiss Army knife and it has a saw blade and it could cut someone’s fingers off.”
And she said, “OK, buddy. I’m going to take that as a no,” and she stood up and walked away. (Haddon, 2004: 184)
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was a novel about a boy named Christopher Boone who decided to be a detective after finding his neighbor’s dog dead. As the writer of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,
Haddon created Christopher as a teenage boy who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. Through this novel Haddon invited people to see life in a perspective of somebody with Asperger’s syndrome.
Christopher Boone was the major character of Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He lived together with his father, Ed Boone, and his pet rat, Toby, in a city called Swindon. Christopher wrote a murder mystery novel about his adventure of being a detective.
Christopher was a genius boy. He was able to find prime number up to 7,057. To sharpen his ability, Christopher often did math exercise. Though math wasn’t a subject which was taught at his school, Christopher could do A level math exam.
Christopher was a logical person. He always tried to rationalize things. No wonder if he liked science so much. Christopher also became an atheist since God was irrational and illogical concept for him.
Christopher insisted to take A level math exam because it was a step to fulfill his dream.
Christopher had a cool hearted person. He was lack of sympathy and empathy towards other people. Christopher wasn’t aware and he seemed to ignore other’s feeling. This could be seen from how Christopher treated his parents when he made them stressed with his impaired behaviors.
As a loner, Christopher preferred to be alone than socialize with other people. He enjoyed silence and even he had no buddy. Even Christopher’s favorite dream was in which he could be the only one in the world without any possibility to talk to any other people.
Christopher was a visual person. He visualized whatever in his mind. His mind was like a movie. Apart from that, the way Christopher described people in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time also showed that he was visual; he described physical things that he saw in a person.
Christopher was an eccentric one. He determined how good a day through the number of red cars in a row. Christopher hated yellow and brown color with his very own unique reason. He didn’t like yellow because this color reminded him of yellow flowers which made him get hay fever. Christopher hated brown because it reminded him to Melissa Brown, a girl in school who tore his astronaut painting apart.
Asperger’s syndrome symptoms in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
First categorization was social impairment. There were two characters and two behaviors belonged to Christopher which could show impairment in social skills. The characters which indicated impairment of social skills were being cold and being logic.
Christopher’s character of being cold could show his Asperger’s syndrome because this presented Christopher’s lack of capacity to read social cues. Christopher had no empathy and sympathy at all. Haddon emphasized this by showing it through how Christopher behaved to his parents and how he performed his unawareness.
Christopher’s character of being logic was relevant to his disability to interpret jokes and metaphors. Christopher had delayed development of symbolic language processing and this problem caused Christopher had difficulty to connect things in mind. Being logic was safer way for him because he didn’t have to manage his imagination. This case was relevant also to the fact that Christopher couldn’t make any lie.
