A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The disorienting nature of Christopher’s narration provides a challenge for many readers. As such use the following guide to help you as you engage with the novel. Pay attention to the following themes and symbols as you read. Use sticky notes, highlighting, and annotation to find and question/react/interact with these topics as you read the novel.
*Additionally, these topics will form the basis of your first writing assignment.
1. Metaphors- Christopher has virtually no ability to think metaphorically. Note the ways that this creates challenges for him and us in the text, as well as how this inability opens up new and interesting ways of understanding the world.
2. Order and Chaos- The world is confusing and disorienting for Christopher in many ways. How does he create order in life, and what does that reveal about his character? Make note of the events, passages, and places where Christopher tries to make sense of life and the things that happen to and around him. How successful is he? How does the murder investigation fit into his drive to find meaning, and what does he get out of it at the end? What can other characters, the reader, and people in general learn from the way that he puts order into his life?
3. Animals- the novel starts with the aforementioned “curious incident of the dog” and throughout the novel, animals serve both symbolic and concrete functions for Christopher and the text. What do animals mean for him, and how do they differ from people? Make note of important events, passages, and interactions with animals, as well as how they illuminate the meaning of the novel for Christopher and for us.
4. Point of View- the novel is a study in point of view. Make note of the point of view, as well as the ways that creates difficulty for us as readers as well as for Christopher as a narrator and protagonist. Note passages, sentences, phrases, and words that seem to convey Christopher’s truly unique point of view, as well as how that point of view illuminates the meaning of the text as a whole for the reader.
