The question was something like: identify technique/s the author used in the text an explain how these affected your emotions.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon is an extremely insightful novel. It follows the life of the Aspergic teenager Christopher and his navigation through the terrible cards life deals to him. This essay will demonstrate the techniques Haddon used and explain how the use of these techniques help form an emotional connection between the reader & Christopher. Haddon’s techniques are so powerful the reader feels like theu are reading from the inside of Chtristopher’s mind itself.
Haddon’s book employs the use of first person narrative; the only way Christopher’s story can truely be told. It is quite frankly impossible to forget you are reading a first person narrative, as it is punching you in the face with every paragraph, every sentence you read. From Christopher’s exact recount of his age (down to the exact day) to his philosophical explanation of why the colour of the cars he sees determine what kind of day he is going to
have; Christopher’s thoughts are definitely not something that could be conveyed by a third person. From this, we begin to understand Christopher’s character, and become sympathetic when we see the ignorant alienation of people like him by society from his point of view. This first person narrative technique becomes even more effective as I will explain in the next paragraph.
“It rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard because it is white noise everywhere. White noise is like silence but without the emptiness.” “I like dogs. Dogs only have four emotions: happy, sad, cross, and concentrating. Also, dogs do not lie because they cannot talk.” “I think life is like prime numbers. They are very logical to think about, but you can never really figure them out.” These quotes may seem like black abd white observations at first glance; but in reality they all have very deep meaning. The first quote demonstrates Christopher’s aspergic need for white noise to block out the constant stream of information scrambling his brain. The second quote demonstrates how Christopher’s brain is like that of a dog and how he likes them because they cannot lie, suggesting he is lied to a lot by humans, for reasons he can never understand. The third quote represents Christopher’s mathematical worldview. These quotes - and many others - give the reader raw insight into how Christopher’s brain works on a day-to-day basis, only serving to continue strengthening the emotional bond between the reader and Christopher.
Now, while I have only talked about first-person narrative, every technique Haddon uses serves to build Christopher’s character and his relationship with the reader. His techniques are so powerful that you feel you are reading from Christopher’s mind itself. THAT is what makes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time such a great novel.