Tension in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Tension in Mystery Novels

Tension, which is created through elements of a text, is an important aspect of all mystery novels as it increases the involvement of the audience. Mark Haddon uses many elements to create tension in his novel, the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. Upon learning of his father’s lies, Christopher’s life is catapulted into a series of stressful events, which leads to the building of tension in his relationships. Haddon uses plot, character relationships, and point of view to create tension, which effectively maintains the participation of the readers.

Throughout the plot of the novel, tension is created from the situations Christopher experiences and how he deals with them. The inciting incident of the plot creates tension because it makes the readers anticipate future conflict. After Christopher reads the letters from his mom, he mentioned, “I stopped reading because I felt sick. Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And Father had lied about it” (Haddon 112). Christopher’s opinion of the truth is very black and white, it is all that matters to him. When his dad lies, the readers feel tension because of the uncertainty in Christopher’s reaction upon this realization. They feel the anticipation of conflict, of how Christopher will deal with his father. This compels them to make predictions based on observations and inferences, which maintains their participation. Additionally, the short sentences create stress since they add a sense of urgency and convey the meaning powerfully and bluntly. This sudden change in structure makes the readers more attentive. In addition to incorporating anticipation of conflict in the plot to which creates tension, the author also embeds unexpected events. In the rising action, Christopher tries to find his mom by train. But during the commotion, his rat escapes and Christopher climbs down to the tracks in order to retrieve him, “And the roaring got louder and I turned round and I saw the train coming out of the tunnel and I was going to be run over and killed so I tried to climb up onto the concrete but it was high and I was holding Toby in both my hands” (Haddon 182). This unexpected turn of events has the most physical action in the plot, where Christopher’s life is actually in danger, resulting in a very suspenseful situation for the reader. The exceptionally long sentence structure of worrying details generates an intense feeling. Because of this, the readers can infer that Christopher is not handling the situation well, based on the inference that he is very stressed, which also creates tension in the readers. This encourages the use of reading strategies, which engages the readers by keeping them interested in reading the book. Therefore, the anticipated future conflict and the unexpected events create tension in the readers, which contributes positively to the reading experience.

Tension is also created through Christopher’s relationships with other characters. This is shown when Christopher’s inability to compromise creates conflict with his mom. When he demands to go take his math exam and does not take no for an answer, Christopher’s mom “stopped talking and she put her hand over her mouth and she stood up and went out of the room. And I started feeling a pain in my chest like I did on the underground” (Haddon 205). Christopher’s disobedience creates tension between them because Mrs. Boone is already stressed, since she is feeling the burden of having to look after Christopher again. Christopher is also upset because he cannot do as he wishes. This creates tension because the readers will anticipate even more conflict, which keeps them attentive by encouraging them to make predictions. This contributes to the