The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time

The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time is a novel written in the perspective of a fifteen-year-old boy suffering from Asperger's syndrome, living with his father in 'the arsehole of the world,' Swindon. As a sufferer of asperger's syndrome, not many people are able to understand his unique behavioural problems, let alone be able to cope with them. From strangers, who have no understanding of him at all, to Judy and Siobhan who have a professional and motherly understanding of him. However, their understanding of him is flawed as Siobhan is emotionally attached and Judy cannot find the patience in herself to cope with him. Given this, the one person who truly understands Christopher, can cope with him and love him unconditionally is his father, Ed Boone.

As Christopher has a less predictable mind than most people, his random spasms or strategies to deal with things have a tendency to scare on-lookers. Strangers who know nothing about Christopher do no have the ability to understand and deal with his disability, therefore they get quickly irritated or walk away. This is seen on his journey to London when he meets the 'man with diamond patterns on his socks" who saves Christopher's life. Christopher does not react accordingly, instead he screams at the thought of being touched and becomes very defensive towards the man. This makes the man very frustrated and angry at the lack of appreciation Christopher fails to show because he is mentally unable to do so. Once again, Christopher fails to see the good intensions of a lady who just wanted to see if he was alright and asks "is there anything I can do to help you?" and instead of typically replying a 'yes' or 'no,' Christopher threatens the lady, "I've got a Swiss army knife and it has a saw blade and it could cut some ones fingers off." The lady does no know how to react to this and walks away from him, "Ok, buddy. I'm going to take that as a no." There are communication barriers between Christopher and strangers, which makes it difficult for them to deal with him if they don't understand him and his condition.

Though strangers don't understand him, one person who does is Siobhan, his teacher. As a professional, Siobhan is able to both understand and cope with Christopher, his needs and condition. She understands that Christopher needs very specific details when being told what to do as it confuses him if they aren't put in a particular way such as, "If you want to go on the swings and there are already people on the swings, you must never push them off..." instead of 'Never push people off the swing,' which Christopher would never be able to interpret so he would decide for himself "what I am going to do and what I am not going to do." She also knows that sometimes Christopher doesn't like to interact with the other students because he thinks they're "all stupid," and he often chooses to sit on his own and doesn't talk to anyone. There is a trust between Siobhan and Christopher that allows Siobhan to edit his book and "help with spelling and the grammar and the footnotes" of his book. Even though Siobhan is able to understand Christopher at a high level, she cannot form a close bond with him and lacks an insight to him that others who aren't emotionally detached to him can see.

Judy, unlike Siobhan has her own difficulties when it comes to Christopher. Judy has her motherly instincts, however she lacks the patience and confidence to deal with him as described through her many letters, "I wasn't a very good mother..." Even though, she is still able to understand Christopher and his behavioural problems, his day to day needs and his love of Blue planet videos. Though she understands them, she does not necessarily deal with them very well. With his selfish tantrums he throws at shopping centres previously to his demands of doing the A level maths test afterwards, Judy found