The book ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime'' Essay

The book ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime'' - Essay Example The Story. Christopher finds a neighbor's dog, named Wellington, murdered. With the help of his teacher, Siobhan, he decides to write a book about his attempt to solve this mystery. During his investigation, Christopher meets people living on the same street but whom he has never met before. He eventually discovers that Mr. Shears, a neighbor, had an affair with his mother, Judy. Christopher records this as well as other discoveries. His father, Ed, discovers his writings and confiscates them but the son tries to find them back. In his search, Christopher finds letters from his mother which his father had hidden. Supposedly, Judy had died of a heart attack as told by Ed, and now Christopher comes to know that she is still alive. He is quite shocked that his father would lie to him about this. On the bed, he vomits and groans until his father comes back. Realizing that Christopher had read the letters, Ed cleans up Christopher and then tells him the truth about Judy and confesses to killing Wellington in his anger to Mrs. Shears. Christopher, however, feared that his father may also kill him, and so decides to get away and look for his mother. He embarks finally on an adventurous trip to London, guided by his mother's address from her letters. With Christopher with her, Judy eventually leaves Mr. Shears, and then moves into a rented room in Swindon, London. Judy agrees to daily visits from Ed for Christopher who remains afraid of his father. The story ends with Ed promising that he will rebuild trust with Christopher and the son asserting that he will take further A-level exams and attend university. Autism. The main character, Christopher Boone goes to a school for students with "special needs" as he has a form of autism. As the novel opens, Christopher tells us "I know all of the countries of the world and their capital cities, and every prime number up to 7,057." He can rattle off prime numbers and square roots with the ease, and can speak about the origins of the universe. But he has more problems with people. He has trouble figuring out other people's feelings, and he doesn't understand why they tell lies. Strangers, noise and unfamiliar situations terrify him. Christopher can be childlike at times, but he can also be chillingly detached. In his favorite dream, he tells us, a virus has killed all the people who look at one another's faces when they talk; the only survivors are ''special people like me,'' who ''like being on their own'' and who are as ''shy and rare.'' With this, Christopher appears to understand that he is different from other people. A whiz at math, he enjoys puzzles and has a photographic memory. Christopher cannot read facial expressions fluently, that he uses a code he devised to guide him in his supposed behavior for the day as he, himself recounts - On my way to school I watch the cars going past the bus and remember their colours.3 red cars in a row mean that it is going to be a Quite Good Day. 4 red cars mean that it is going to be a Good Day. 5 red cars mean that it is going to be a Super Good Day. And 4 yellow cars in a row mean that it is going to be a Black Day, which is a day when I don't speak to anyone and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks, because yellow is the color of custard and double yellow lines and Yellow Fever which is a deadly