Mark Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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Topic: From the Library
When I read, it's mostly technical documents, newspapers, computer magazines, and political essays and I often feel bereft of
soul. To remedy that, I've begun
Crime and Punishment, and am enjoying it so much it almost hurts to read it. Also because the edition I've got is an ancient Penguin which originally cost 95 cents. Books like that smell the best and, despite the somewhat sepia-toned pages I wouldn't think of getting a newer print. I just need a brighter light.
What I did finish was Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, discovered during a web search. Somebody I admire raved about it so it had to be read.
The story goes like this: a teenage boy finds his neighbour's dog dead in the front yard and wants to know why this happened. The boy has an organised, complicated way of living with the world; situations arise and accomodations must be made. The thing is, he's incredibly bright with pretty much no emotional coping skills. He understands things about humans and their behaviour but has a clinical approach to feelings. Living with people becomes a bit like participating in some sort of sociological experiment. Which it is. I found some parallels, although the characters are completely different, in Peter Sellars' Chancy in Being There, and more in the character Monk from the tv show. I used to find Monk unwatchable because of his phobias but I've become more empathetic. Chancy broke my heart, as did Christopher, Haddon's young lead. He's a bit like Harry Potter crossed with Adrian Mole in dire need of a joint. That the book is written from the boy's perspective is what makes it so compelling. It's like an exploded parts diagram of life.
I get Christopher. I get that human behaviour and customs don't resonate with him and the only way he can make the world understandable is to break things down into a series of "If-Then-Else" operations and carry on from there. The poignant thing about most humans is their desire to behave logically and their inability to accomplish that on a consistent basis. Humans' lives are largely repetitious, from mundane activities like getting out of bed and readying oneself for the day, eating, travelling, and it's during interactions with others that things get interesting. Christopher hasn't got the wiring to enable him to disregard irrationality in others or to deal with unexpected events or even somebody touching him--it just leads to big freak-outs. The quest for meaning and safety, whether through ritual (counting cars and noting their colours)or through the tangible (like having a special food cupboard) becomes paramount.
Consider the amount of stimulus each person receives during the day, much of it unsolicited and unwanted. Sorting through and interpreting the world's messages in order to make a go of things is hard work and loads of folks either aren't up to it, need assistance in one form or another, or, like Christopher, create their own system. Some people are unable to decipher social cues, and, for example, often can't recognise anger in others or simply don't know how to respond in a given situation. It's akin to being illiterate or being dropped in another country. Christopher's behaviour and ideas make perfect sense given where he is in the world.
What motivates humans to act the way they do? Why isn't having what you want making you happy? Jesus, you just have to look at Paul Martin's face on any given day to guess what he's thinking: I thought this job would be a lot more fun. I've seen the same look on Dubya's mug, too. They're a cautionary tale, the pair of them, reminding us to be careful what we orchestrate.
I'm surprised that humankind has lasted this long, and I don't mean that in a necessarily pejorative way. Our individual approaches to the world are obviously influenced by our experiences in it; even in early childhood you get a glimpse of how things are conducted and for some of us, the trains didn't run on time. There isn't much documentation for being a human and if there is, it's written with the same clarity and ease-of-use as all others.
Posted by Jetta
at 12:01 AM PST
Updated: Friday, 4 March 2005 3:44 PM PST