In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, the narrator, Christopher, utilizes his autistic standpoint to give readers a different point of view. Because of this autistic point of view, Christopher views the world differently and in this passage, Christopher explains his thoughts which enable the audience can read and observe the point of view from someone who is autistic.
In excerpt of chapter 29, Christopher writes that he “finds people confusing”. Because actions have multiple meanings, Christopher explains that these actions “can mean lots of different things.” From the Christopher’s autistic point of view, he doesn’t always understand other people, when ironically other people don’t usually understand people with autism. Although Christopher is autistic, he has a lot of knowledge of metaphors and explains that Christopher was the name of a saint who was kind and helpful, but “[wants his] name to mean [him]”. Christopher wants to be different and wants people to see that he is different, not to judge him by his disabilities or the meaning of his name.
In chapter 71 of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the narrator calls the other students in his school “stupid” because of the “learning difficulties or … special needs”. The notes explain that the narrator, “Christopher” is autistic. Christopher’s point of view is very specific because of autism. Because of autism, Christopher doesn’t understand that he is like those other children. From Christopher’s point of view, he believes that he is normal and the same as other people are, looking down on people that are like him.