The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time introduces fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone, whose counselor suggested he write a book. Christopher's book chronicles his quest to find out who murdered his neighbors' dog; However, while searching for clues about the dog, Christopher learns new things about the world, his family, and himself. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is written in the first person and with Christopher as narrator. It is from this perspective that the reader is forced to see the inner workings of Christopher's brain and the way he interprets the world. From here, the reader can begin to understand that even the most obvious signs that Christopher is disabled are really just logical thoughts and adaptive language skills. This essay argues that, through its simple plot, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time manages to show the reader the ways in which disability imposes social constraints on disabled people. Through Christopher's seemingly easy quest to find out who killed his next-door neighbor's dog, he is able to demonstrate the social limitations of disability and its phony norms. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Sarah Ray argues that Christopher cannot be described as handicapped or handicapped because this is not explicitly stated, raising the possibility "that the disability is in the eyes of the reader, not the character himself »(Ray, 2). She also goes on to argue that the novel shows the reader some of the ways in which disability is a social construct. Shannon Wooden, however, insists that Christopher is autistic and the novel suggests that the reader's task is to understand where he falls on the disability spectrum. Sarah Ray and Shannon Wooden both seek to prove corroborations of Christopher's alleged "disability" through their newspaper articles. In the first five pages of the novel, we learn from our narrator: “This is a novel of murder and mystery” (Haddon, 4) and that is all this story is supposed to be. It is from this statement that the author directly tells the reader what the novel is and what it will be about. Even with these direct confirmations of the novel's plot, Wooden still believes that the novel is "more complicated" because "Christopher's quest plot carries the added weight of obvious, clearly delineated, but anonymous special needs" ( Wooden 278, 279) Shannon R. Wooden is direct evidence of how disability imposes social constraints on people with disabilities. His article raises the question of what makes it obvious that Christopher has special needs. suggested by Christopher's memorable way of seeing the world The novel challenges this question by logically explaining every unconventional tic that Christopher thinks of. For example, Christopher's special education teacher explained to him how unusual it was to. writing a detective novel about a dog To counter this idea, Christopher argued that he likes dogs, that he wants to write about something that actually happened to him, and that he doesn't know anyone who has been murdered. This all makes sense and is logical, so why is this considered unusual? Christopher's idea of ​​writing a novel about a dog is discouraged because it risks drawing attention to his disability, which Wooden says is a burden. This demonstrates the limits we as humans place on each other, especially those who are considered different or assumed to be disabled. Furthermore, besides theBecause Christopher has a special education teacher, there are no other reliable signs that Christopher has a disability. Never in the novel is it directly stated that Christopher is disabled, there are only suggestions and certain qualities in Christopher that would indicate that he is disabled. Sarah Ray suggests that "by never explicitly diagnosing Christopher, author Mark Haddon suggests from the outset a disability studies perspective: the 'medical model' of disability is not central to Christopher's own experience of the world." Christopher. » (Ray 2) This further highlights that those who consider themselves “capable” are also the same as those who consider others “disabled”. Even without confirmation of Christopher's medical condition, certain aspects that the reader picks up on allow the reader to label him and place social constraints on their perceptions of his abilities. Ray and Wooden surround their entire articles around the concept of Christopher's disability and how to prove whether he has one or not. Disability was never introduced in the novel, so how did it. it has become a topic of discussion among researchers. Disability is in the eye of the reader, just like in society, disability is in the eye of the beholder. Ray notes that disability is a social construct by exploring the idea that disability is not located in the world. individual, but rather “situated in the contingent relationship between the individual and social expectations, behavior and productivity. » (Ray 2) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time illustrates this by taking the novel from Christopher's point of view. Never in the novel does Christopher describe himself as disabled, although many readers refer to Christopher as disabled and believe that the novel is about his disability because he can do things outside the norm, think things using only logic, not liking to be touched, or because it takes him longer to understand certain things. Language is a major theme of the novel and perhaps the strongest clue to Christopher's supposed disability. On page 7, Christopher, during a conversation with the police officer, literally answers every question. By reading that the cop was confused, Haddon allows the reader to see how people react to Christopher, but subverts the reader's theory that "he must be disabled" by putting the entire scene from Christopher's point of view. From the outside, Christopher's language may seem strange, but to Christopher it makes sense. It is the reader's assumption and constraint placed on Christopher that he must speak differently to others because he may have a disability. Christopher correctly and honestly answered the police: why should the cop be kicked out. Wooden introduces the idea that because of Christopher's distinct and logical language, he is implying to the reader that he is facing a challenge. Wooden says, “While Christopher gives hard facts and a detailed account of his thought processes, he also unintentionally reveals information about his behavioral problems and his family's dysfunction. » (Wooden 280) But, in chapter 79, Christopher's father very specifically tells him the things he is not allowed to do, namely asking people about the dog and anything involving "that damn game of ridiculous detective” (Haddon 23), Christopher does just that, Christopher uses language as directly as he can, and he even takes it back. about the complications that society imposes on language but chooses to ignore them simply because he likes simplistic language. It is in the chapter that Christopher admits that he understands that his father wants to leave the whole dog incident alone, but because he has.