AUTISM IN LITERATURE: AN ANALYSIS OF “THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME”

AND ITS PORTRAYAL OF ASPERGER SYNDROME

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN “THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE

NIGHT-TIME” REALLY BE CONSIDERED AN “ASPERGER SYNDROME

TEXTBOOK”?

ENGLISH

WORD COUNT: 2,855

JULIAN AFANADOR

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Abstract

This essay focuses on answering the question “to what extent can ‘The

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ be considered an ‘Asperger

syndrome textbook’?”. It starts doing so by analysing the most relevant symptoms

of Asperger syndrome, and then comparing these to the behavioural peculiarities

that Christopher John Francis Boone, the main character of the novel in question,

displays throughout the story, this way determining the initial degree of accuracy

that a non-autistic reader may recognise on the portrayal of Asperger syndrome

shown on the book.

The next part of the essay discusses the perception that non-autistic readers

have towards Christopher and his condition, taking as an example the results of a

survey conducted specifically for the research stage of this essay. It will be then

contradicted by the analysis of a review regarding the portrayal of Asperger

syndrome on the novel, written by a self-published autistic author on his blog,

which highlights the incongruences on the depiction of the disability in question that

non-autistic readers might not recognise on the book. After that, additional

information that may support the claim of the novel not exposing an accurate

representation of Asperger syndrome will be reviewed. By the end of the essay, it

will be concluded whether the novel can be considered an ‘Asperger syndrome

textbook’ to a full extent or not, justifying the answer with the reasons previously

stated.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction p. 5

2. Characteristics of the Asperger Syndrome p. 6

3. Christopher John Francis Boone p. 7

4. Perception of Christopher’s Condition p. 8

5. Information Against the Popular Opinion p. 10

6. Conclusion p. 11

7. Bibliography p. 12

8. Appendix 1 p. 13

9. Appendix 2 p. 14

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1. Introduction

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”, written by Mark Haddon, is

one of the most widely known novels related in some way with a mental disability. This

is because the main character, Christopher John Francis Boone, is a fifteen-year-old

boy who displays numerous symptoms of Asperger syndrome. Christopher is blamed

for the death of Wellington, his neighbour Mrs. Shear’s dog, after he is found hugging

its bleeding corpse on Mrs. Shear’s front lawn, the garden fork that had perforated the

dog’s body lying next to them on the ground. The book narrates the journey of

Christopher, from his perspective, as he investigates the identity of the culprit of the

crime he was wrongly accused of doing. The book has gotten a lot of attention ever

since its release, and it has even been recommended by professionals for people who

want to acquire some insight on how autistic people think and act, as well as being

often used by policemen and social workers as an autism textbook (Singh, 2015).

However, Mark Haddon does not think it should be used as an autism textbook. As

a matter of fact, Haddon did not diagnose Christopher’s condition anywhere on the

book, but the back covers of some of the book’s editions label him as an autistic child,

which he considers to be just a marketing tactic that was well beyond his control

(Powell’s Books [PB], 2006). Additionally, there are some incongruences with the way

Asperger syndrome is portrayed on the book that discredit its overall accuracy, which

suggests Christopher may not actually have Asperger syndrome.

The point of this essay is to decipher to what extent the novel in question can be

considered an Asperger syndrome textbook. I will begin by describing what autism

consists of, after having completed my research with secondary sources (such as

documents from organisations specialised on the matter), and identifying the

similarities between the disability’s most common symptoms and Christopher’s

behavioural peculiarities. I will then compare the point of view that non-autistic readers

have towards the idea of Christopher being an autistic child with that of an autistic

reader, and I will also highlight additional information that may further prove the

wrongness in classifying this novel as an autism textbook. I hope that, after thorough

research and analysis, I may be able to draw some coherent conclusions on the matter

and defend my stance.

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2. Characteristics of the Asperger Syndrome

In order to obtain an answer to the question aforementioned, the first thing that has

to be done is to outline to the reader what the Asperger syndrome is and, most

importantly, make sure the characteristics that constitute the latter are fully

comprehended, as their analysis and their comparison with Christopher John Francis

Boone’s behavioural peculiarities are crucial to the process of reaching an answer.

Asperger syndrome, according to the Organization for Autism Research (OAR, 2016),

is a variation of the Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD for short. The Autism Spectrum

Disorder, as its name remarks, is a broad term to which many kinds of disorders fall

under, as they all display similar characteristics and symptoms but are still different in

their own particular way, or are expressed to different degrees. Asperger syndrome is

considered to be in “the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum” (Autism

Spectrum Education Network [ASPEN], n.d.), meaning that the majority of the people

who suffer from this condition has an average or above average intelligence, and they

usually have less speech impediments than people with other variations of the autism

spectrum, even if they still have specific learning or behavioural difficulties (The

National Autistic Society [NAS], 2016).

People with Asperger syndrome, especially children, are prone to having some

particular characteristics that make the disorder in question stand out. These people

mostly have difficulties with their social and communicational skills. They usually have

a hard time processing the meaning behind what other people say, so they struggle

with following and engaging in reciprocal conversations, thus focusing on their own

wants, needs, and thoughts at the moment of communicating with somebody else. This

is believed to be because they can’t put themselves in that person’s shoes easily,

making them give off an egocentric vibe, or they gradually try to withdraw from the

conversation. It is common for them as well to interpret words literally, which results on

them not getting along with slangs, jokes or sarcasm, and they also have difficulties

interpreting facial expressions, so they may not take into consideration the other

person’s feelings when they engage in a conversation since they can’t identify their

emotions unless they are stated directly (OAR, 2016; NAS, 2016a; BBB Autism

Support Network, 2002).

Besides the problems mentioned, people with Asperger syndrome typically present

other peculiar complications. They usually have either overdeveloped or

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underdeveloped sensory sensitivity, which means they either pay too much attention to

certain colours and background sounds or they unconsciously block out things that

others don’t. They may also carry out repetitive behaviours, like rocking back and forth

or head-banging, which are usually a way to deal with stress and anxiety or to reduce

(or gain) sensory input. To conclude, it should also be pointed out that people with

Asperger syndrome may develop “highly-focused interests”, like music, art, or even

mathematics, which may become so important in their lives that they decide to

implement it in the majority of their lifetime, and consequently choosing a study field, a

career path, or any other kind of occupation in which their interest is relevant (NAS,

2016a; NAS, 2016b).

3. Christopher John Francis Boone

On “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (2003), the reader is

introduced to Christopher John Francis Boone, a fifteen-year-old boy who lives with his

father and displays various behavioural problems. Although it is not stated anywhere in

the book that Christopher suffers from a specific disease, the jacket of some of this

book’s editions (See Appendix 1), none of which were created by Haddon himself,

labels his disability as Asperger syndrome. Diagnosing Christopher’s condition may be

considered as a marketing technique of the publishers, since it may be an interesting

hook for the readers that would contribute to the book’s sales, but the similarities

between the character’s behavioural peculiarities and the characteristics that several

institutions specialised in the matter have determined as common symptoms that

people with Asperger syndrome exhibit definitely led to such conclusion.

Throughout the book, Christopher, who happens to be the narrator, describes

many of his conditions, and he goes as far as to list what he considers his behavioural

problems are. Some of these are screaming and smashing things when angry or

confused, groaning, not eating food for a long time or refusing to eat different kinds of

foods if they are touching each other, not talking to people for a long time, and saying

things that people think are rude (Haddon, 2003, p. 60). Christopher also provides

justifications to why he does many of these things; for instance, he groans when he is

feeling overwhelmed with the amount of information he is receiving from the

environment and does so in order to stop receiving information. Also, he says things

that people think are rude because he has been told to always tell the truth, meaning

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he sometimes blunts out thoughts that he simply considers the truth regardless of

whether other people think those are offensive comments or not, as he does not have

the ability to assimilate properly other people’s feelings. Furthermore, he loves puzzles

and mathematics a lot, to the point where they could be considered “highly-focused

interests” of him. However, some of his behavioural problems are not actually

explained or justified, but are just regarded as symptoms of Asperger syndrome. For

example, Christopher does not explain why he can’t eat different kinds of food when

they are touching each other, or why he sometimes does not eat or drink for long

periods of time, and yet people relate these problems with Asperger because atypical

eating behaviours are considered as a primary symptom of such disability, thus

contributing to the perception of Christopher’s condition established by the publishers

of the novel (Haddon, 2003; Dominick, Ornstein, Lainhart, Tager-Flusberg, Folstein,

2006).

4. Perception of Christopher’s Condition

As it has been stressed previously, the majority of the readers of the novel in

question classify Christopher as an autistic character, thus also categorising the book

itself as an “Asperger syndrome textbook”. However, most of the people who have

read the book do not have first-hand experience with the disability, and were misled to

blindly believe the character has it either because they relate his behavioural problems

with Asperger’s symptoms (although they may not naturally comprehend them) or

because of the book’s jacket. For instance, I conducted a survey (See Appendix 2) on

the ninth graders of Greenville International School and their English teacher, who

were reading “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” at the beginning of

the school year of 2016-2017 for the subject. Out of 22 people surveyed, 12 of whom

were male and the rest female, all thought that Christopher had autism. When they had

to explain why they thought their opinion was correct, 18 participants justified their

answers by saying “he displayed clearly the symptoms of the disability in question”,

while the rest relied solely on the fact that “the book jacket said so”.

Despite of that, there are people who believe Christopher does not have Asperger

syndrome. An example of these is Eric Y. Chen, self-publishing autistic author of

multiple books about the disability, such as “Star Child on Earth: Life with Autism and

Beyond” and “Mirror Mind: Penetrating Autism’s Enigma”. On an entry of his online

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blog Iautistic (n.d.), he wrote that when he was first introduced to the novel he did not

think it really was about autism due to its inaccurate portrayal. Although he has nothing

against the author or the book, he proceeded to highlight some examples in the novel

in which Haddon failed to narrate the story from an autistic point of view, since Chen is

concerned by the popularity the novel, which he thinks should not be used as an

educational autism textbook, has acquired within the non-autistic community interested

in knowing more about the disability.

One of the examples he believed should be “enough food for thought” (Chen, n.d.)

is a moment on the book in which Christopher was with his main teacher, called Julie,

on the school for children with disabilities that he went to when he was younger. Julie

put a pencil on a Smarties tube without him knowing and proceeded to ask him what

he thought was inside the Smarties tube. He guessed there were Smarties inside, but

then Julie opened the tube and showed him the pencil. She then asked him what he

thought his parents would say if she asked them the same question, and he answered

“a pencil”. Christopher then said that, although he had changed since then, he

answered that way because he “didn't understand about other people having minds”

(Haddon, 2003, p. 145). According to Chen, this passage is not accurate because he

“shows an amazing level of self-consciousness, expressed as if Christopher could

dissect his own brain” (Chen, n.d.). Chen has proposed in his blog the theory of self,

which states that the mind of a human being could be dissected into five categories –

thoughts, emotions, perception, sensations, and consciousness – that should be

interconnected for one to function properly. He thinks autistic people have an

unbalanced connection of these categories, which causes them to not be as high-

functioning as non-autistic people. He additionally explains that autistic people don’t

understand how non-autistic people act and think because they have never

experienced that balanced interconnection first-hand, meaning that if they got a glance

of how non-autistic people function they would be able to adapt to the non-autistic

lifestyle from experience, just like colour blind people could identify colours they had

never seen before if they got the chance to see them like non-colour blind people do.

Christopher, however, is too self-aware of the differences between his way of

functioning and non-autistic people’s way of functioning without ever having

experienced that balanced connection of mind that Chen has suggested non-autistics

have. With more examples to analyse the book’s accuracy in the description of

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Asperger syndrome, Chen discredits little by little the popular opinion of Christopher

being an autistic child (Chen, n.d.a; Chen, n.d.b).

And yet, these incongruences may not be assimilated properly by readers that do

not have such disability, which lead the majority of the novel’s readership, including

professionals in the field, to blindly believe Christopher is an autistic child. Of course, it

is bluntly clear that he displays the most common characteristics of autistic behaviour,

but that still doesn’t mean there are not reasons to believe otherwise.

5. Information Against the Popular Opinion Besides everything that was explained in the previous chapters, there is some

additional evidence and information that may disproof the belief of the novel being an

accurate Asperger syndrome textbook. The most relevant fact to support this view may

be that Mark Haddon, the author of the book, never used the word “autism” or

“Asperger” in the book to describe the main character’s condition, or use the word at

all. As a matter of fact, the author did not even diagnose his condition, meaning that if it

hadn’t been for the book jacket of the novel’s various editions, people may have had to

decide Christopher’s disability by themselves. But again, non-autistic people would

never be able to understand accurately how autistic people think or act unless they

were able to experience it, and vice versa. Additionally, on an interview with an

employee of Powell’s Books (2006), Haddon admitted that he “[likes] the idea of

another version coming out with no labels on it whatsoever”, since he thinks the labels

are just a marketing tactic for readers to get hooked up with the book before even

reading it.

Another thing that has to be pointed out is what the purpose of the novel was. A

textbook is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (n.d.) as “a book used in the

study of a subject”, meaning that textbooks are purposely written to contribute on an

educational field. Haddon clearly did not mean to write this novel with any educational

or scientific purposes, but for the whole sake of the reader’s entertainment, which

means that even if Christopher turned out to have such degree of autism, the book in

question should not even be considered an Asperger syndrome textbook in the first

place. Haddon actually told the Hay Festival audience of 2012, according to Anita

Singh (2015) through the newspaper The Telegraph, “it is used as a textbook for social

workers, and for policemen, which is something I heard recently. I never meant it to be

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a textbook […] I’m a little worried if people are saying, ‘If you want to work out how to

treat people on the spectrum, read this novel’”. If the author does not consider the

novel an autism textbook, nobody else should be entitled to think so either, despite of

the accuracy that the readership might think Haddon portrayed the disability with

(although we have already discussed the degree of accuracy on the portrayal of

Asperger in the novel).

6. Conclusion

Before I begin explaining my findings and state my conclusion, I want the reader to

keep in mind that the purpose of this extended essay is not to answer whether

Christopher had Asperger syndrome or not, but rather to determine to what extent can

the book as a whole be considered an “Asperger syndrome textbook”. The only person

that could decide whether the character had autism or not is the author of the book that

originated him, but I do think that it is possible to answer the latter. That being said, I

will start off by saying I discovered many things I did not know before. For instance, I

had never doubted the book’s accuracy on the portrayal of autism until I found out

Haddon stated he didn’t consider his novel to be an autism textbook, which was what

led me to investigate the topic. As I started to research more about the book’s

reputation as an Asperger syndrome textbook among the readership, as well as the

disability itself, I started thinking that the novel may not be as accurate as everyone

makes it seem to be. However, what made me settle my mind and reach my overall

conclusion was the interview with Powell’s Books and the Hay Festival panel Haddon

was in; I strongly believe that the only person entitled to categorise a book precisely is

the author, and if Haddon does not think it is an accurate Asperger syndrome textbook,

it simply isn’t. Thus, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” cannot be fully

considered as an Asperger syndrome textbook because of its inaccurate portrayal of

the disability in question and the general purpose that the author had for the book

since the beginning: to entertain the audience. Nevertheless, it has to be admitted that

Christopher still displays the majority of the symptoms that people with Asperger

syndrome demonstrate and the incongruences are not only limited, but also extremely

specific and pretty difficult to detect, meaning that the novel can undoubtedly shed a

light on those who want to understand people with autism to a certain degree, and this

effect cannot be taken for granted.

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7. Bibliography � Singh, A. (08 June, 2015). Mark Haddon - don't use Curious Incident as an autism

"textbook". Retrieved 15 November, 2016, from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9311242/Mark-Haddon-dont-use-

Curious-Incident...-as-an-autism-textbook.html

� Powell’s Books. (2006). The Curiously Irresistible Literary Debut of Mark Haddon.

Retrieved 16 November, 2016, from http://www.powells.com/post/interviews/the-

curiously-irresistible-literary-debut-of-mark-haddon

� Organisation for Autism Research. (2016). Life Journey Through Autism: An

Educator’s Guide to Asperger Syndrome. Retrieved 15 November, 2016, from

http://www.researchautism.org/resources/oar_guide_asperger.pdf

� Autism Spectrum Education Network. (n.d.). What is Asperger

Syndrome?. Retrieved 22 May, 2017, from http://aspennj.org/what-is-asperger-

syndrome

� The National Autistic Society. (2016). Asperger syndrome. Retrieved 22 May,

2017, from http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/asperger.aspx

� BBM Autism Support Network. (2002). Children with Asperger's Syndrome:

Characteristics/Learning Styles and Intervention Strategies. Retrieved 22 May,

2017, from http://www.bbbautism.com/pdf/article_64_children_with_Aspergers.pdf

� The National Autistic Society. (2016). Obsessions, repetitive behaviour and

routines. Retrieved 22 May, 2017, from http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-

is/asperger.aspx

� Haddon, M. (2003). The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. United

States: Vintage Contemporaries. p. 60, 145.

� Dominick, K.C., Ornstein Davis, N., Lainhart, J., Tager-Flusberg, H., Folstein, S.

(2006). Atypical behaviors in children with autism and children with a history of

language impairment. Retrieved 15 November, 2016, from

https://www.bu.edu/autism/files/2010/03/2007-Dominick-et-al-Atypical-RIDD1.pdf

� Chen, E.Y. (n.d.) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark

Haddon. [Weblog]. Retrieved 22 May 2017, from http://iautistic.com/autism-myths-

the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time.php

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� Chen, E.Y. (n.d.) Autism Theory of Mind Revisited. [Weblog]. Retrieved 22 May

2017, from http://iautistic.com/autism-theory-of-mind-revisited.php

� Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Textbook. Retrieved 22 May, 2017, from

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/textbook

� Amazon UK. (n.d.). The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Paperback –

1 Apr 2004). Retrieved 24 May, 2017, from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Curious-

Incident-Dog-Night-time/dp/0099450259

Appendix 1:

Amazon UK. (n.d.). Book Jacket of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”

(Vintage Books 2004 edition) (Digital Image). Retrieved from

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-time/dp/0099450259

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Appendix 2: