style and its effects
Mark Hadden, in “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” utilizes illustrations to allow the reader a first hand perspective of the life of a young teen with disabilities. Hadden takes a specific, yet unique family structure and puts Christopher in the middle of it all. Christopher, portrayed as an intelligent boy with little to no sympathy, is placed with the challenge of navigating through his family’s deceptions.
Growing up with a form of autism, although not explicitly stated but extremely prominent throughout, makes it significantly harder to solve all that life has to throw at him. From being told his mother has passed away, to being told she is not in fact dead, but living with a new man that is not his father, to meeting his mom, and eventually finding out his own dad was guilty of the mystery he was trying to solve, Christopher’s life was not easy. The reader is shown from a direct view the challenges in which he faced and how they are overcome, or in some cases tore him down. Hadden, throughout the entirety of the novel chose to include what is presumed to be Christopher’s simple yet significant illustrations.
When one is trying to make sense of a problem, whether it be math or real life, they draw it out to help themselves discover a fresh perspective. His illustrations are his way of trying to scope the multitude of challenges to deal with. Someone who has minimal knowledge, or even someone who has first hand experience of autism can now both visually and mentally understand the challenges an autistic person must go through to make sense of their world. Simple things for us, unfortunately are not simple for them. This book allows us to delve into their world, through the use of illustrations to see what they are seeing, and how they are struggling to make sense of their everyday life.
Growing up with a form of autism, although not explicitly stated but extremely prominent throughout, makes it significantly harder to solve all that life has to throw at him. From being told his mother has passed away, to being told she is not in fact dead, but living with a new man that is not his father, to meeting his mom, and eventually finding out his own dad was guilty of the mystery he was trying to solve, Christopher’s life was not easy. The reader is shown from a direct view the challenges in which he faced and how they are overcome, or in some cases tore him down. Hadden, throughout the entirety of the novel chose to include what is presumed to be Christopher’s simple yet significant illustrations.
When one is trying to make sense of a problem, whether it be math or real life, they draw it out to help themselves discover a fresh perspective. His illustrations are his way of trying to scope the multitude of challenges to deal with. Someone who has minimal knowledge, or even someone who has first hand experience of autism can now both visually and mentally understand the challenges an autistic person must go through to make sense of their world. Simple things for us, unfortunately are not simple for them. This book allows us to delve into their world, through the use of illustrations to see what they are seeing, and how they are struggling to make sense of their everyday life.
CORRESPONDING QUOTES
"I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant. I kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn't understand what someone was saying. But it was very difficult to decide which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because people's faces move very quickly." (3.5)