The curious incident of the dog at midnight - Mark Haddon

"The Curious Incident Of The Dog At Midnight" is a book written by Mark Haddon in 2003. He had the Whitbread Book of the Year award, and the title of the text was inspired by a story called "Arthur Conan Doyle's Silver Star" from Holmes.

Summary and synopsis

The play is about Christopher, a boy who is fifteen and has an autism spectrum condition. She lives with her father, and he told her that her mother Judy passed away two years ago. This young man discovered the corpse of a neighbor's dog named Wellington, which was pierced by a garden fork.

But when the dog's owner, named Shears, calls the police and Christopher turns out to be a suspect. When the police arrive, Christopher felt angry that they touched him and in his reaction, he hits the policeman, and for that he is arrested. But some time later they release him, giving him a warning.

In this way, Christopher is motivated to investigate about the dog's death, although his father warned him to stay away from the problems of others. In the course of history, this character records his experiences in a book called by himself "murder mystery novel." While doing her research, she manages to meet people she has never seen even though they lived in the same area, one of them being the elderly Alexander.

Later, Christopher's father, Ed, finds the book and takes it from him after an argument with his son. But Christopher sets out to find him and when he is looking for him, he finds a treasure trove of letters that his mother had written to him after his alleged death. He is so shocked about the lie about his mother's death that he lies in his bed unable to move, moans and vomits for a long time until his father returns home.

When his father returns, he realizes that his son read the letters and confesses to him that he lied about his mother's death, and also says that the murderer to Wellington, after he argued with his owner, and admits that it was a mistake . After this, Christopher no longer has confidence in his father and thinks that he can also murder him. So he decides to run away to go live with his mother.

His mother's address was written down in the letters, so he decides to go to London, where she lives with Mr. Shears. After a long and eventful trip, where he was in poor health and also had to evade police, he finally gets the address, and waits outside until they arrive. Her mother Judy is happy that Christopher is back with her and is very angry at Ed for what she said to her son. But, Mr. Shears does not accept the boy, so his mother leaves him. Later Judy moves into a rented residence.

Then Judy has a dispute with Ed, and agrees to allow the boy to see his father on short visits. Christopher is still scared by his father and always tries to avoid him. He wants his father to be jailed for murdering Wellington, despite his mother explaining that in order for that to happen, Mrs. Shears had to press charges.

But his father arrives with a Golden Retriever puppy, and promises to rebuild the lost trust. He agrees and begins to see a positive side to his life, he says he wants to get good grades, go to college and become a good scientist.

Finally "The curious incident of the dog at midnight" culminates with a Christopher very optimistic about the future that lies ahead, ready to regain the confidence of his father and become a great scientist. In addition to having recovered his mother after the deceit of his father.

In other words, this text reveals very hard experiences for a child, but at the same time it gives us a positive approach to the dreams of Christopher who, despite adversity, was able to achieve many positive things in his life, giving his life a lesson. own father.

Analysis of "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Midnight"

This work tells us of a young protagonist named Christopher who seeks his independence, and manages to decipher the mystery of the murder of a dog. Just as he also manages to find his mother, whom he thought was dead thanks to the lies of his father, the dog's killer.

For this reason he flees to achieve his freedom and to be able to meet his mother Judy and leave the world full of lies that his father offered him.
However, Christopher because he is autistic has many limitations to face the world around him, since he has trouble understanding others, struggling with new places and making important decisions.

In this way, he feels terrified and that is why he closes in on himself. But his desire for independence and freedom make him overcome the barriers, and that is why he rebels against his father and runs away. In addition we can observe this desire for independence in his planning for the university, in which he plans to live alone. But this fight of the protagonist character primarily involves gaining self-confidence, and getting out of his comfort zone, and thus achieving his dreams.

Quotes

"One thing is interesting because we think about it, not because it is new"
"I like the schedules because I like to know when things are going to happen"

"Mathematics is not like life, because at the end of life there are no simple answers"

"Time is nothing more than the relationship between the way different things change, like the earth revolving around the sun and the atoms vibrating …"

"Economists are not really scientists, and logicians think more clearly, but mathematicians are the best"

"He wore dreadlocks, which is what some black people wear, but he was white, and dreadlocks is when you never wash your hair and it looks like an old rope"

"Many things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean they don't have an answer. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet. "
"People always think that there is something special they cannot see, like the hidden side of the moon, or the other side of a black hole, or in the dark when they wake up at night and are afraid"