Literary Analysis of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Everyone goes through some form of struggle in their lives, and many of them gradually develop habits or exercises that help them deal with those struggles. The protagonist of the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher is a fifteen-year-old boy who suffers from autism, Asperger’s Syndrome to be more specific. Christopher’s days are meticulously planned out, and he has a routine that he goes through every day. A large part of his routine is that on his bus ride to school, he counts the number of red and yellow colored cars he passes by. If he sees 4 or more red colored cars in a row, then he believes he will have a good day. If he sees 4 or more yellow colored cars in a row, then he believes he will have a black day. The colored cars’ system in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time acts as a multipurpose mechanism that guides Christopher through his internal conflicts while also acting as his foil. The author exhibits the significance of the system by showing how much Christopher relies on it for help with his internal conflicts while also showing its significance to the reader since it helps highlighting Christopher’s social and emotional struggles. Counting colored cars helps Christopher with socializing and making decisions. Because of his Asperger’s, Christopher struggles to socialize with and understand others. When he saw 4 red cars in a row, meaning it was a good day, he decided to take a risk because “[it] was a Super Good Day, which meant it was a good day for Taking Risks”, so he asked Mrs. Alexander about his mother’s situation with Mr. Shears. However, on black days he decides to not “speak to anyone” and “[sit] in the corner of the Library groaning”. These two situations reveal that Christopher uses the colored cars to dictate how he will socialize throughout the day. On good days, he tries to talk to people more, like Mrs. Alexander. While on black days, he prefers to stay isolated. This shows how the system helps him deal with his internal conflict of not being able to understand and interact with people by making social decisions for him and thus alleviating the confusion and anxiety he feels when interacting with others. In closing, Mark Heddon uses the colored cars system to help Christopher deal with one of his internal conflicts, socialization. Christopher uses the colored cars system to distract him from the emotional pain that he comes across. Christopher wanted to stay with his mom in London and didn't’ want to go back home. However, when he found out that he wasn’t going to be able to take A-level maths, he felt a pain in his chest that he didn’t know how to deal with. To combat the pain, he opted to “[look] out of the window in the dining room to count the cars in the street to see whether it was going to be a Quite Good Day or a Good Day or a Super Good Day or a Black Day”, and if he “concentrated on counting the cars it stopped [him] from thinking about [his] A level and the pain in [his] chest”. In this situation, Christopher is experiencing an internal conflict of not wanting to go back home, but still wanting to take his A-levels. This conflict is causing his chest to ache. This pain could be the author implying that it is an emotional pain since it’s coming specifically from where his heart is.To remedy the situation, Christopher distracts himself by concentrating on the colored cars system. This shows just how important the system is to Christopher because it’s one of the factors that get him through the conflicts of the plot, and in this scene, it does it by distracting him emotionally. To sum it all up, when Christopher is experiencing emotional pain, it’s the colored cars system that gets him through and helps him solve the conflict. Mark Haddon uses the colored cars system as a foil to highlight Christopher’s cognitive shortcomings. As stated previously, Christopher relies on the system to decide whether he will isolate himself or socialize with others. His reliance on the cars to dictate how he will socialize with others emphasizes his struggles with socialization, and makes it more clear to the reader how inept he is at socializing. Christopher also uses the system to distract himself from his problems, like the pain in his chest when he found out he couldn’t take his A-levels. Christopher relies on a figment of his imagination, the cars system, to get him through the problems he has with his emotions. His reliance on the cars to deal with his issues points out to the reader just how flustered he is with his emotions and how much he struggles with dealing with them. Christopher needing help from the colored cars system in these situations brings attention to his lack of social and emotional intelligence, making the system a successful foil used by the author. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the author Mark Haddon describes the colored cars system as a device that guides Christopher through the plot while simultaneously being his foil. First, it solves his social conflicts by making the decisions for him. Second, it gets him through his emotional struggles. However, helping out Christopher in these situations points out to the reader his limitations in emotional and social intelligence. Mark Haddon uses the colored cars system to further emphasize the problems autistic people have, and through this, the reader can witness and understand those problems better.