Personal challenges can be conveyed from different perspectives. These perspectives, through a text’s distinctive qualities and characteristics affect those responding to it, and more importantly, shape meaning. This is evident through Mark Haddon’s novel, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’.
Haddon explores the struggles the protagonist faces trying to gain independence within his novel. Haddon uses first person narration to build the characterisation within the novel. This use of first person narration by “Christopher John Francis Boone” allows the responder to develop understanding of the protagonist.
The development of characterisation implies that Christopher suffers with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and the struggles he faces trying to gain independence. Haddon portrays this though the sentence structure in the novel. The use of both truncated and elongated sentences is a device that Haddon uses to further reinforce the implication the Christopher has a disability through the exploration of his psychological landscape, and portraying his though process and matter-of-fact way of thinking. “I think I would make a good astronaut”. Haddon makes these implications early in the novel, providing a basis for the responder’s perception of the novel and Christopher.
Haddon gives insight into Christopher and his world by highlighting Christopher’s craving and struggle to become independent and find his role in the world. Haddon uses pictograms to emphasise Christopher’s struggle to relate to others. This struggle to relate to people reinforces the implied ASD that Christopher struggles with. This struggle prevents Christopher form being as independent as he would like because of Christopher’s difficulty in understanding and displaying emotions. Christopher’s difficulty in displaying emotions is evident though Christopher’s coping with the loss of his mother.
The Essay on How Chinese Rudder Effected Christopher Columbus
The development of the rudder was one of the most important sea navigational inventions that have ever been invented. Before the twelfth century in northern Europe, ships were steered by a quarter-rudder mounted on the stern side of the vessel. Up until the fourteenth century the use of the quarter rudder persisted in the Mediterranean. Two quarter-mounted steering oars were used. By age of ...
The murder of Wellington that opens the novel prompts Christopher to reflect on the loss of his mother. Haddon displays this through the inclusion of detailed memories of Judy, including her manner, dress and temperament. When Christopher learns of the deception and lies of his father regarding his mother’s affair through the hidden letters, it also reveals that his narrow focus on order at the beginning of the novel help to blind him to the complex tangle of relationships within his family. “Then I stopped reading the letter because I felt sick.” Haddon’s incorporation of the letters in the novel allows the audience to also understand Judy’s struggle with Christopher, and empathy for both the mother and protagonist is developed.
The audience is led to believe that Christopher has little to no empathy explaining his inability to display emotion and express himself. “It was hard to decide which diagram was most like the face”. Chris’s inability to express himself is evident in social situations. “It makes me scared.. and I do not know what is going to happen.” When Christopher gets frightened or overwhelmed, he shuts himself out, again highlighting his struggle to find his role in the world.
This lack of empathy and ability to express himself causes frustration within Ed, his father, as a result of not being able to understand Christopher’s behaviour. Ed is very protective over Christopher and the impulse to protect him, coupled with the desire to punish Judy leads to lies and deception. “I’m sorry, Christopher. I promise you, I never meant for it to turn out like this.” The relationship between father and son is hindered by this mistake, and the novel’s final chapters focus of the efforts to regain and restore this relationship.
The Research paper on Reader Understand Edna Chopin Tone
Kate Chopin's The Awakening Kate Chopin's The Awakening Essay, Research Paper Kate Chopin's The Awakening Portrayal of the character Edna Her foils Setting- feminist moment, etc. Style Intended to help the reader understand the character of Edna her actual beliefs external / internal influences Tone Helping the style, the tone also helps the reader understand the rest of the characters Mr. ...
Many of the Characters in the novel become irritated with Christopher because of the difficulty they have communicating with him. He has troubles with metaphors and non-verbal communication, such as body language, facial expressions and tone of voice. “Siobhan says that if you raise one eyebrow it can mean lots of different things”. He tends to take statements literally. For example if somebody told Christopher to “be quiet”, he has trouble understanding this because they don’t specify how long he should b quiet for. These exchanges underscore how Christopher’s implied ASD affects his social skills, and emphasises for the reader the difference in perspective that Christopher experiences compared to the average person.
Haddon uses the theme of subjectivity to help the reader to understand the protagonist. The narrator’s implied ASD causes him to see the world in an uncommon way and much of the novel allows the reader to share Christopher’s aunique perspective. Even though Christopher clearly states, “this is a murder mystery novel”, almost half the chapters digress from this main plot to give us Christopher’s thought or feelings on a particular subject such as physics or the supernatural. “And when you look at the sky you know you are looking at the stars which are hundreds and thousands of light years away”. The tangents are an effective technique as it emphasises Christopher’s differences.
Through this, Haddon allows the reader to empathise with Christopher and gives insight into him as the narrator. Christopher’s struggles are emphasised by the barriers he has to overcome when travelling to London. Haddon shows the bildungsroman nature of the novel through Christopher’s continual growth. Christopher uses problem solving and logic to overcome barriers. “ That was how I found the train station..”. Despite this continual growth and development, the implications of ASD still prevent him from becoming totally independent. “I put my hands over my ears and closed my eyes and rolled forward..”
Despite Christopher’s difficulties, we see that he, as many other protagonists in ‘coming of age’ novels, seek to become independent and find his role in the world. Through the course of the novel we see him rebelling against orders. “I ask you to do one thing for me, Christopher. One thing.” This self-confidence is essential for Christopher to overcome his barriers. The trip epitomises everything he finds distressing, such as social interactions, navigating new environments and feeling overloaded with information. “I know I can do this because I went to London on my own”. By overcoming these obstacles, he gains confidence in his ability to face any challenge he is faced with. Personal challenges can be conveyed from different perspectives. These perspectives, through a text’s distinctive qualities and characteristics affect those responding to it, and more importantly, shape meaning. These challenges are reflected in Mark Haddon’s novel ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’.
Christopher Columbus essay 2
Good Guy or Bad Guy? “Columbus Day Controversy”, written by Nanette Croce, is a non-aboriginal perspective on the controversy concerning whether or not Columbus Day should be celebrated. The articles states that many Native American decedents and their supporters believe that by celebrating Columbus Day, the entire country is joining in celebrating the genocide of millions of native people in ...
