MOD B - Curious Incident (2003)

Introduction

Thesis: → INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

• In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (2003) (Henceforth Curious Incident), Mark Haddon challenges what society considers normal through his atypical main character, Christopher, who sees, experiences and navigates the world differently.

• In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (2003) (Henceforth Curious Incident), Mark Haddon conveys the struggles of people with neurodivergence in society, through his atypical main character, Chistopher, who sees, experiences and navigates the world differently. This enables readers to form personal and intellectual connections with Christopher, thereby building compassion and empathy for people with difference.

Rest of Intro

• By foregrounding Christopher’s unique, distinctive perspective, Haddon demonstrates that there is no normal, encouraging readers to appreciate diverse perspectives → INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

• Haddon does this through…

  • TOPIC SENTENCES

• This, in turn, allows readers to better understand neurodivergent people (and their families) by making them feel empathy and compassion for them → RESTATE QUESTION HERE

Challenging What is Considered Normal

• normal ways of thinking

• normal ways of coping with stress

• normal family dynamics

struggles of neurodivergent people / their inner conflict

• struggles with understanding others due to their unique way of thinking (normal ways of thinking)

• struggles with being understood due to society’s prejudice and lack of understanding and acceptance (prejudices from lack of acceptance/understanding)

• struggle with isolation due to the prejudice experienced (isolating nature of difference + prejudice)

• struggle with dealing iwht instability (normal ways of coping with stress)

Normal ways of thinking

/

Struggle with understanding others

Haddon challenges normal ways of thinking by exploring Christopher’s unique perspective that deviates from society’s neuronormative expectations.

→ INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

• Simile: “I think prime numbers are like life” → shows how C sees the world through a highly objective lense

• Emphasised by distinct feature of structuring the book using prime numbers

• Use of emoticons when Siobhan asks C what they represent → inability to understand emotional nuance due to his preference for logic

• Metaphor: ‘the mind is a complicated machine” → emotionally detached perspective makes him oversimplify emotionally complex situations to allow him to understand them

• Digression when Reverend Peters discusses God and death: “What actually happens is that your body rots… like Rabbit… and we had to bury him” → C’s limited perspective and inability to understand what other people think

• Analogy: “sees five red cars… and that makes it a super good day” to how “people see the sun and feel happy” → everyone has idiosyncrasies that makes their reasoning unique = there is no normal way of thinking

Haddon uses Christopher’s unique perspective and how that informs how he sees the world differently to challenge neuronormative ways of thinking.

This enables readers to become more accepting of difference and the variety of ways people see the world.

Normal ways of coping with stress

/

struggle with dealing with instability

Haddon challenges normal ways of coping with stress through examining the unique ways Christopher deals with instability.

→ INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

• Precise descriptions when the police man questions him after Wellington’s death: “I rolled over and made a noise father calls groaning” → C tends to stim when he feels overwhelmed

But as the novel progresses, Christopher learns new, more productive coping mechanisms as he is exposed to more overwhelming situations.

• Mathematical jargon and diagrams when solving “Conway’s soldiers” → C calms himself down by reminding himself of what he knows and values: maths and logic

• Paragraph of text that changes font sizes and types → conveys C’s instability and confusion

  • When he arrives at London station and gets lost

• Distinctive use of graphic representation of the floor plan of London station → C regains control of the situation by finding logic and order in unfamiliar environments

By exploring C’s struggle to deal with stress, readers feel empathy and learn that everyone experiences the world differently.

Haddon challenges neuronormative coping methods through C’s unusual reactions to stress.

Normal family dynamics

/

difficulty Christopher’s parents have with raising a neurodivergent child can manifest itself in anger and prejudice

Haddon challenges normal family dynamics by conveying the complexities of familial relationships in the novel.

→ INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

Despite loving him, Christopher's parents struggle with raising him and dealing with his neurodivergence.

Mother’s perspective is revealed through the epistolary form, which marks the genre shift from murder mystery to bildungsroman → highlight how the novel challenges normativity through its distinctive hybrid genre

• Repetition: “I just cried and cried and cried” → emotional exhaustion she experienced when living with C and how she struggles to cope with his difference

• Reflective tone: “I was not a very good mother… if you were different, I might have been better” → regret for her inability to deal with C’s idiosyncrasies and how that resulted in a strained relationship

Father’s perspective is conveyed in his angry dialogue

• Use of expletives:" “what the fuck am I going to do with you, Christopher?” → his frustration at C’s inability to infer, since he continues “detecting” Wellington’s death after being ordered to stop

• Listing: “I cooked his meals, I cleaned his clothes… and you wrote him some fucking letters?” → dedication and sacrifice required to raise a neurodivergent child, and the father’s anger at the mother’s abandonment of the family

• Repetition: “I know I get mad… and I know I shouldn’t” → he is aware of how his inability to cope with C’s difference impacts Christopher

Haddon reveals C’s family’s complex dynamics to challenge normal familial relationships.

This instils empathy and compassion in readers, not only for Christopher’s parent’s but himself, due to how it is difficult to have a relationship with someone who sees the world differently.

Struggle with being understood by others

/

lack of acceptance by society = struggle to be understood

Haddon discusses how Christopher struggles to be understood as a result of society’s prejudice towards people with difference due to their lack of understanding and acceptance.

→ INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

• Direct reportage of dialogue when the policeman tells Christopher: “Young man… stop making that noise” → little patience for people with different and cannot accommodate for their idiosyncrasies

• Expletives: “[Don’t] Try any of that monkey business you little shit” → people are quick to judge those who find it difficult to communicate and dismiss their actions or experiences

• The use of derogatory terms when a boy in the street calls Christopher a “spazzer” → normalisation of ableist view

• Rhetorical question: Roger says to Christopher when he is in London, “Don't you ever, ever think about other people… eh?” → his lack of understanding about Christopher’s difficulty reading emotions causes him to be prejudiced

• Direct reportage: “Judy says, “He can understand what you’re saying you know” → people don’t view neurodivergent people as having emotions or being intellectually equal

Struggle with isolation due to prejudice

/

Lack of acceptance = isolation

Haddon conveys how societal stigmas around neurodivergence and a lack of acceptance results in feelings of isolation, challenging readers to feel empathy.

→ INSERT LINGO OF QUESTION HERE

• Graphic representation: diagram of the sun in the Milky Way when Christopher comes home from the police station → Creates a sense of loneliness due to his difference and suggests he finds it hard to fit in

• Distinctive naive voice: “I like imagining that I am… [the only person] in a… metal submersible” → reinforces isolation and how C finds it hard to fit in due to the lack of acceptance for his difference

• Use of emoticons when he discusses his “favourite dream”, where “everyone on the earth is dead… except people… like me.” → he wants to be accepted and feel a sense of belonging with people who can understand him, but struggles due to society’s unwillingness to accept difference

• Emotionally detached tone: “When I don’t understand what someone is saying… I walk away” → he does not try to engage with other people due to how they tend to dismiss him and his difference

Conclusion

• Literature makes readers more understanding and accepting people.

• In Curious Incident, Haddon makes us see differently and encourages us to act with compassion and empathy by challenging what society considers normal / conveying Christopher’s struggle in his everyday life.

• Haddon challenges / conveys the struggle of… TOPIC SENTENCES IN A LIST

• Through exploring the unique perspective of C, Haddon encourages readers to appreciate the different ways people see, experience and navigate the world, revealing INSERT THESIS LINKING TO Q HERE.