Ahn 1 Danielle Ahn ENGL 101 VAUGHN 18 January 2011 Christopher Boone and his Logic

And this shows that intuition can sometimes get things wrong. And intuition is what people use in life to make decisions. But logic can help you work out the right answer, (Haddon 65) Christopher Boone wrote while discussing Marilyn vos Savant and The Monty Hall Problem. Christopher s interest in science, math and prime numbers has to do with his intrinsic understanding of logic and the reality of them. What is meant by the reality of math and prime numbers is that Christopher, in his inability to conceptualize and empathize, leaves him with his machine-like logic and his need for things as they are presented. He strongly believes that everything can be solved through rationality and everything has an answer. In The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time, it is never stated that Christopher is autistic, but we can infer that he is through the descriptions of his characteristics and habits. The main mannerisms of Asperger s Syndrome are displayed through social interaction and restricted and repetitive interests and behaviors. (DSM) For example, Christopher believes that chatting with another person is pointless and finds social interaction as an end in itself. He finds it to be pointless and, as a result, lives on the outskirts of society. He is also unable to understand emotions and facial expressions of others hindering his already limited

Ahn 2 conversation. This makes it very difficult to completely understand what someone is trying to say. Another defining characteristic of Aspergers can be seen in speech, which can also tie into his lack of empathy. These speech abnormalities include verbosity, abrupt transitions, literal interpretations and miscomprehension of nuance, use of metaphor meaningful only to the speaker, auditory perception deficits, unusually pedantic, formal or idiosyncratic speech, and oddities in loudness, pitch, intonation, prosody, and rhythm (McPartland) When Christopher talks to others, he is very blunt and straightforward to the point where it can be awkward. Christopher strives for an absolute literality in language. He cannot understand, and so tries always to avoid, metaphors, jokes, and lies. (Berger) By way of illustration, he is involuntarily insensitive to people s discomfort when he asks about Wellington s death. We can clearly see in the text he is socially and emotionally limited, but does this mean his is incapable of being a great detective? Like fictional television detective, Adrian Monk, Christopher has many qualities that people find odd, disturbing, and that can impede his investigation. Mr. Monk has many phobias, and some characteristics of Asperger s, but despite these things, he is an astounding detective. Both have a photographic memory and an incredible, somewhat obsessive attention to minute details that are socially crippling, but also can reconstruct an exact time and place in their minds. Their lack of emotions also allows them to think more logically then the other characters involved. This combined with the mindset that mysteries are like intangible puzzles

Ahn 3 waiting to be solved allows them to crack any case. Both characters have a lot in common, but they are in different worlds.

Christopher s love for prime numbers, mystery novels, and solving puzzles go hand in hand with the circumstances given as well as divulge more about him that most would notice. He likes prime numbers because they do not mix. They are singular, indivisible, [and] unfactorable Mathematics could not exist without these singular entities (Berger) Christopher, like prime numbers, do not mix with the

rest of their kind, and are singular in their respective worlds. Christopher remarks, prime numbers are what is left when you have taken away all the patterns. This is like him saying he is like a prime number. What he is, is what all people would be if they took away the patterns, or emotions and empathy. But this results in his knack for solving puzzles and math problems can be seen as the root of his mentality that nothing is unsolvable. There is an answer to everything and a pattern, or order in which it can be solved. This also ties in with his love for mystery novels. They are a book with purpose, unlike the fluff filled Victorian books written by Bronte, or Austen. Mystery novels have a beginning, middle, and an end. The clues and red herrings are laid out for you, and then you have to go about identifying each to come to an end result. The timeline of this book is set up exactly like that. Not only with the mystery, but also with Christopher s development and growth as a person. He goes from showing only parts of his true potential, like clues, and blossoms into something greater, more confident, and more assertive. By the end of the novel, he has faced many of his fears and is ready to challenge anything else in his way. I may

Ahn 4 be reading too far into what is written, but I believe there is insight to his character with these facts. In his quest to solve the murder of Wellington, he discovers not only the murderer, but also much more. He learns his mother is alive and his father lied to him. He discovers the real reason she left him. He discovers, in a sense, how to envision what is not yet a reality. Christopher opens up to the world, and faces many of his fears on his journey to escape his lying father to live with his estranged mother in London. On this trek, he goes out by himself, talks to many strangers, holds onto a yellow ticket stub even though he hates yellow, goes on a crowded train, and many other things. Through all of this, and to get where he was, he thought everything through logically. He knew that living with his mother was the only reasonable answer that made sense to his problems and to come to this conclusion, he drew a chart and used the process of elimination. Though it may not be mentioned in the book, we can gather that the unasked questions of whether or not he would figure it all out, and who he will be come were answered. And how, you ask? Just like Christopher said they would be; through logic.