A Quest for Acceptance

Confusion, anxiety, and constant headaches, imagine experiencing all

these things on a daily basis. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

tells a story from the point of view of a teenage boy who suffers from Asperger’s

syndrome. This novel is very captivating, primarily due to the literary techniques

that are used in it, which are the following; irony, conflict, contrast and point of

view. Furthermore, this paper will discuss the effects of the first person participant on

several events and aspects throughout the book.

Firstly, the use of the first person participant allows the reader to comprehend

Christopher’s character, such as his likes and dislikes, as well as his traits and behaviour.

For example, throughout the book, Christopher states that he gets very confused when

change occurs in his environment. Moreover, he portrays being an extremely logical

individual but a very unsocial one. We see this when Christopher was in the “tube” and

decided to look down because he felt overwhelmed with the people surrounding him.

The reason for that was because too much was going on around him and the excessive

amount of information left him feeling disoriented. He therefore chose to detach

himself from all the stimulation and glare down in order to block all external influences.

The fact that this novel is written in the first person is essential to the story because

it provides the reader the possibility to experience the reality behind the Asperger’s

syndrome, as well as see the world through a different lens.

Furthermore, communicating through the first person permits the reader to

realize the conflict that Christopher is having with himself. We learn that he has an

obsessive urge to prove himself to his parents and show them that he’s just like all

the other kids. The first person participant gives us the ability to put ourselves into

Christopher’s shoes and it is by seeing his point of view that we acknowledge his true

feelings and his unveiled desires. For example, as an