Question Mark Haddon uses a variety of techniques in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. How effective were these in enhancing ideas, experiences, values and beliefs explored through the characters in the text? Response Introduction In life, one’s actions are often determined by their values, ideas, beliefs and experiences. Mark Haddon’s novel,The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,employs a variety of literary techniques to explore and enrich these themes for the reader. Haddon’s novel enhances the ideals of his characters, notably, through several specific techniques including the vehicle of the unreliable narrator, the use of foreshadowing and the inclusion of purposeful motifs. These techniques act to emphasise the nature of people; their rationality, and the role of parenting; the inherent pressures and affections. It is through these techniques that the audience becomes invested in the book’s protagonist and narrator, Christopher; his safety and success, and his investigation. The Unreliable Narrator - Christopher Boone Authors often employ an unreliable narrator to establish mistrust for the legitimacy of the story, to cast doubt upon the objectivity of the events, and to cultivate suspicion in the reader’s mind about the true nature of the characters; their values, beliefs, experiences and motives. In his novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Haddon achieves through the book’s narrator and protagonist, a fifteen year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome named Christopher Boone. Christopher’s intellectual and psychological condition means that he sees the world in a unique way and this distinct narrative point of view is shared with the reader. Though he is intelligent, perceptive of his surroundings, and preserves a detailed recollection of events, Christopher is an unreliable narrator as he has minimal capacity for emotional involvement with other characters; ‘I find people confusing’ (Christopher, page 19). As a result, even though Christopher is honest in his account of events; ‘I do not tell lies’ (Christopher, page 24), he does not understand or detect the nuances in other characters’ personalities and behaviours. Christopher tells the reader only what he sees, hears, and smells, and the reader is prompted to form their own understanding by