First Person Point of View
Mark Haddon’s use of first person point of view throughout “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” helps him portray what life might be like for someone with a mental disability. Mark tells the story through the point of view of Christopher; the main character who suffers from mental disability.
Chris describes the world around him as confusing and can be overwhelming for him at sometimes. From the start of the book he states that, “(he) find(s) people confusing”(Haddon page 14) and then goes on to give two main reasons why. The two main reasons are that “people do a lot of talking without words” and “people often use metaphors”(Haddon page 14-15). Normally most people would consider talking without words and metaphors as just different ways to communicate with each other, the viewpoint of Christopher reveals that people who suffer from mental disability do not feel the same way. In fact, aspects that make communication easier for people without the disability can make communicating harder for the people who do have a mental disability.
Christopher’s point of view also demonstrates struggling to react to certain things and ending up getting overwhelmed. He ends up feeling overpowered by the policeman “asking too many questions and...asking to quickly”(Haddon page 7) and beings to groan and then later hitting him. Christopher’s point of view illustrates how when the mind of someone with mental disabilities is overwhelmed, they may cope in a variety of ways that could even be dangerous to others. Christopher coped by groaning and then hitting the policeman. Mark Haddon’s choice of using the first person point of view allows the reader to gain a new understanding of how hard life may be for someone with a mental disability such as Christopher.