Christopher Boone

Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old boy is the protagonist in my novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time".  Christopher is a bright boy who also suffers from Asperger's Syndrome.  His mother passed away from a heart attack two years ago so he lives with his father in Swindon.  Swindon is a very small town and they live in a neighbourhood filled with quirky neighbours.  His father is very protective of him and does not allow him to talk to others but with Christopher's curiosity, he begins to unravel information about his mysterious neighbours.  Christopher is very clever, despite the fact that he has troubles communicating with others and understanding simple things such as human emotions.  He struggles from being unable to express his feelings in a calm manner and he will often scream, cry, or hit others to show his anger.  He is quite specific with the things he likes and likes everything to be in order.  For example, he does not "like yellow or brown things and [refuses] to touch yellow or brown things" (59).  The way his mind works, Christopher must have an order to all that he does and cannot adapt to change well.  A fact that I found interesting is that when he sees four red cars in a row one day, he declares it a good day, in which he will stay happy throughout and when he sees four yellow cars in a row, it is black day, whereby he will keep to himself and refuse to eat or talk.  Although others may find him incompetent, Christopher is an intelligent boy.  He loves science and math and observes his surroundings in a mathematical form, such as knowing how large a room is.  In this book, he shares his knowledge with us by stating facts about the Milky Way and other scientific matters.  He is very observant and notices details that others look over.

Christopher is seen as incompetent because of his disability, but little do others know that there is a smart boy hidden behind his stubborn exterior.  He wants to "prove that [he] is not stupid" (56).  This became his motivation.  Christopher wanted to be enrolled in an A Level math class but the teachers disapproved of this because they did not think he was capable.  He stayed strong and with his father's help, they finally allowed him to be in the class.  It is Christopher's dream to be an astronaut and he is confident in himself that he will one day achieve this goal.

In the beginning of the novel, it was revealed that his neighbour. Mrs, Shear's dog was murdered.  Christopher had innocently wandered into her backyard and found the poor dog, Wellington, lying down with a pitchfork extended from his body.  Soon, the police came and they assumed Christopher murdered the dog and sent him to jail.  After proving his innocence, Christopher decided that it was his mission to uncover who had killed Wellington.  Going against his father's words, he starts to sneak around his neighbourhood and interviews different people.  This novel is written by Christopher as he jots down his notes as a young detective.