The sentences that the author uses are very impersonal, passive and unemotional. They are also very factual (since Christopher cannot tell lies), and very detailed. The book is written in the first person, which could demonstrate his own self isolation, his lack of ability to interact with others. However, the author varies the way the sentences are written, showing a writing skill which is perhaps unusual with someone with Asperger’s. This could detract from the book’s effect to appear as a genuine manuscript typed by Christopher.
In the first paragraph of chapter 2, Christopher continually repeats the word “dog”. This is to emphasise his impersonal nature towards the dog. Even though he says he feels sad at the dog’s death, this is contradicted by his references to the dog as “it” or “dog”, never “Wellington”. He doesn’t appear to feel any of the usual horror, when describing the murder weapon. For example, “The points of the fork…because the fork had not fallen over”. It is almost as if he is expressing an emotion he knows he ought to feel rather than the one he actually does feel.
He pays an outstanding amount of attention to detail. For example, at the start of the book he describes how the dog was running “running on its side…chasing a cat in a dream”. This is typical of somebody with Asperger’s since they are very acute observers and have to know, do and say everything precisely, otherwise they will become confused. He uses lots of description as well. To achieve this, he employs lots of adjectives and adverbs. For example, “Mr Jeavons smells of soap, and wears brown shoes…60 tiny holes in each”.
Throughout the novel, the chapter headings are labelled in prime numbers instead of the normal cardinals, which is an important fact. This helps us to understand the character behind the surface. At the start of chapter 2 (headed 3), he says he knows all the prime numbers up to 7,507. This tells us that he is very good at maths and enjoys puzzles. People with Asperger’s syndrome are usually very intelligent, but find it difficult to express, since they easily get confused if somebody asks too many questions.
At the start of chapter 7, Christopher says “this is a murder mystery novel”, which would indicate that there will be some detective terminology (a particular lexical register) used later on in the book. He also says that his hero is Sherlock Holmes (who incidentally solved a case called the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – where the title of the book comes from), who has the ability to “detach his mind” from anything not related to the problem, which is exactly what Christopher does. He could be “detached” when he does not do what he is told.
In terms of semantics, Christopher only refers to the denotations of words, since he finds it difficult to understand connotations. The reader knows the literal meanings of the words, but also, they create certain negative connotations. When Christopher talks or writes, he does not take the connotations of the words into account. In the book, there are no metaphors, similes or any linguistic devices, as he tells us at the start of chapter 5, “this will not be a funny book, because I cannot tell jokes, because I do not understand them”. His lack of a sense of humour could be demonstrated by his total lack of understanding when Siobhan laughed. He does appear to feel anger when he tears the paper. He doesn’t use euphemisms, because he cannot see the point in evading the truth (incidentally, he doesn’t tell lies). For example, on page thirteen, he says “and people will be burnt to death, even if they live in tunnels”. Here, it is possible to detect a hint of pessimism. The choice of words that the author uses is not typical of the teenage social peer group. For example, he doesn’t say “wicked” since this would be a metaphor. This also enforces Christopher’s social isolation.
Christopher does not use any of the more common spoken English techniques, for example; contractions, “But I could not be certain about this”. The contraction would be “couldn’t”.
The language that Mark Haddon uses throughout the book is very formal. There are very few conjunctions since the book is written from Christopher’s point of view, and Christopher thinks very logically, in a structured, simple way.
In conclusion, it can be seen that the opening chapters of this novel manage to seamlessly meld together the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome, with narrative devices. The use of numbers and illustrations, allow the reader to enter a world which although strange to us is a familiar and usual one of the main character. The language structures, such as the use of short sentences echo the thinking methods of Christopher, and the author’s use of unemotional and denotative vocabulary is an excellent way to demonstrate Christopher’s own lack of complex emotions.
