Themes and message

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon deals with a number of themes that center around the narrator Christopher’s experiences. Christopher repeatedly experiences what it’s like to be different. He is neurodivergent and probably has a form of Asperger’s syndrome or autism. He consequently often finds it hard to understand the world around him. Christopher is also very logical and makes a clear distinction between truth and lies; however, when he discovers that his father has lied to him, the logic of his world is thrown out of order.

Being different

Christopher is different from everyone else in the story. He has behavioral problems and struggles to relate to other people. He also finds it hard to understand ordinary social interactions. Moreover, although he goes to a special school for children with behavioral problems, he feels different from the other students because he is very intelligent. He says: “All the other children at my school are stupid. […] I am going to prove that I’m not stupid.” (p. 56). Christopher therefore doesn’t fit in anywhere and he prefers to be alone. 

Christopher’s experiences show that other ...