The Novel Reveals the Experience of a Young Profoundly Autistic Child. It Focuses on His Personal Struggles and Eventual Triumph. Do You Agree?

The novel reveals the experience of a young profoundly autistic child. It focuses on his personal struggles and eventual triumph. Do you agree?

The novel ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog at the Night-time’ explores the experiences that Christopher faces in life including, his personal struggles and triumph. It informs the reader about how it is difficult for Christopher to fit into society but also how he is affected by the way that he is perceived by society and its lack of tolerance towards him.

Christopher suffers from a severe case of Aspergers which makes it difficult for him to interact socially because of his inability to understand and translate human emotions. He cannot absorb lots of information around him when he is in new place because of his tendency to store every minute detail; causing him to block out the world around him until he calms down.

However, through the use of the first person narrative the reader becomes aware of how Christopher’s life impacts on those around him. The reader notices many other characters, who have a close relationship with Christopher, experience their own setbacks and their own personal difficulties which arise from their inability to cope adequately with Christopher’s condition. However it is only Christopher who experiences some sense of triumph. Because of his tendency to think in a logical manner, he is able to also solve some of the issues faced by the other characters in the novel as well as being able to overcome some of his own fears.

Throughout the novel, the reader is made aware of the difficulties that Christopher has to face in life. This is illustrated by the effects of his behavioral problems, which make it harder for him to fit in society. He has twenty-eight different behavioural problems. He does not like to be touched; he screams when he is angry or confused and hits other people. This then causes Christopher to isolate himself and makes it very difficult for him to talk to strangers....