Structure

Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is primarily structured chronologically. The book revolves around Christopher’s attempt to discover who killed his neighbor’s dog. 

The book begins in medias res with Christopher finding the dog, Wellington, dead in Mrs Shears’ garden: “It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears’ house. Its eyes were closed.” (p. 1). This immediately introduces readers to the key issue in Christopher’s mind – the murder of the dog. However, as Christopher investigates the dog’s death, he discovers a lot of other things along the way.

The novel also features various flashbacks or side points, which help to give a fuller sense of Christopher’s personality and way of seeing the world, or to reveal ...