The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Context (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time historical context
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time was written in 2003 and adapted for the stage by the playwright Simon Stephens in 2012. During the late 1990s and 2000s, there was a significant rise in the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The late 20th and early 21st centuries were also characterised by rapid technological advancements.
How this links to the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | |
Autism Spectrum Disorder | Although the play does not explicitly name Christopher’s condition, as a character he displays many of the behaviours associated with ASD, such as impaired social interaction, rocking and repetitive, obsessive behaviour. |
Technological advancements | Christopher’s use of a digital watch and his fondness for patterns and logic link to the era’s technological and mathematical advancements. |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time social context
Family
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time can be seen as a representation of family life in the early 21st century
The play depicts a family that has undergone significant changes, which reflects the increasing prevalence of divorce and separated families in the early 2000s
The play can be considered a commentary on single parenthood:
While single motherhood remained more common, there was a growing recognition of single father
This reflects changing gender roles and expectations in parenting
In many Western countries, including the UK, nearly a quarter of families with dependent children were headed by a single parent:
Single parents, particularly those with special needs children, often faced significant financial strain
The cost of living, childcare and specialised care created substantial economic pressure on single-parent households
How this links to the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | |
Family tensions | The frequent and aggressive arguments and conflicts may arguably present the family as dysfunctional. However, its sympathetic portrayal of family issues illustrates the importance of tolerance and forgiveness. |
Single parenthood | The play can be considered a commentary on single parenthood as it illustrates the many challenges the well-intentioned Ed faces. His dialogue conveys his desperate, often unsuccessful, attempts to remain calm and patient as he interacts with his son. Ed’s heartbreak and sense of betrayal makes him lose his temper and kill a dog. |
Parental motivations | Ed’s justification for his actions raises questions about his motivations as a father. For example, he hides his marital problems from Christopher, either certain this is better for his son or because he is too afraid to tell the truth. Instead of being honest, he tells Christopher his mother has died. However, the play suggests the distress caused to Christopher as a result of his father’s dishonesty is greater than that caused by his parents’ separation. |
Family reconciliation | The play’s resolution portrays a calmer and more confident Christopher because his parents have come to an amicable agreement. The parents’ shared goal to support their son presents ideas about reconciliation in family relationships. |
Communication
As the 20th century advanced, scientific research began to explore aspects of mental health and neurodiversity
Professionals turned to diagnosing and treating individuals and families living with emotional, behavioural and developmental disorders
After the play’s first production in the small Cottesloe Theatre, staging was reworked for larger theatres in the West End area of London:
This allowed aspects of Christopher’s condition to be better depicted or amplified
An ensemble cast (a group of actors placed together on stage) act as the voices on the London Underground
This helps to reflect the sensory experience of a crowded train or station
Such stagecraft highlights aspects of daily life that seem normal for most people, but can be overwhelming for someone like Christopher
Some theatre companies, such as Frantic Assembly, use physical theatre to highlight Christopher’s actions
However, while the play draws attention to, and provides information on, developmental disorders, Haddon (the author of the original novel) says this is not the play’s primary concern:
Perhaps this may suggest the play’s focus on communication in general, and its focus on honesty in particular
How this links to the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | |
Communication and ASD | Christopher demonstrates typical behaviours and “triggers” that are associated with autism spectrum disorder. For example, he has difficulties with social interaction and expresses stress with oral and physical responses, like groaning, hiding in a luggage rack or barking “like a dog” |
Metaphorical and non-verbal communication | Christopher communicates in a repetitive and literal manner; non-verbal communication is difficult for Christopher to interpret as it often has more than one meaning, such as a raised eyebrow. He finds vague or metaphorical language hard to make sense of, for example when the dog is described as “stone dead”. |
Christopher’s advantages | The advantages of Christopher’s specific style of communicating are highlighted and he is presented as honest, observant, able to remember small details “like a film”, logical and purposeful in his language. |
Disorder and order
The play comments on society’s standards of normal and abnormal, order and disorder, by presenting the perspective of a teenager with a particular view of the world
His neurodivergent perspective often clashes with societal norms
Thus, the play suggests the concept of normal is subjective:
This contrasts typical detective stories, which culminate in the solution of the mystery and do not examine the villain’s motivations
How this links to the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | |
Ideas about societal order | The play illustrates how Christopher sees certain elements of society that are accepted by the majority as disordered and nonsensical. For example, the extreme environment of the London Underground is depicted via repetitive voices and advertisements like “Dogs must be carried at all times”. |
Ed’s emotional instability | The play can be seen as an examination of Ed’s emotional instability, which results from the disruption of order in his world when his wife leaves him. Consequently, Christopher’s faith in his world is thrown into chaos and Judy’s world is also disrupted. |
Accepted behavioural norms | The play offers many examples of how the accepted norm is not sensible or logical. For example, Christopher’s concern about the dog’s murder is dismissed by the adults around him and he is told he should dismiss it as a petty crime. Perhaps this is highlighted by Christopher’s defiant investigation, which exposes his father’s irrational behaviour. After Christopher discovers it is his father that has killed the dog, part two goes on to illustrate the emotional consequences of the crime. |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time literary context
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is considered a Bildungsroman as it follows a young, troubled protagonist on a journey towards greater autonomy
The title, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, comes from one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels, called Silver Blaze:
The mystery and detective genre was popularised in the 19th century, when crime was rife due to growing poverty in London and a non-existent police service
The rise of detection fiction reflected societal concerns about order and justice
By structuring the first part of the play as a mystery, contemporary ideas about social order, specifically crime and justice, are raised
Many similar stories portraying an introverted, socially-awkward detective followed, such as Agatha Christie’s rather aloof and very logical detective, Hercule Poirot
Both the novel and play’s success can be attributed perhaps to the popularity of stories about young protagonists at the beginning of the 21st century:
Stories like J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published in 1997, explore the adventures of a teenager with special powers
The popularity of such coming-of-age stories, which promote the capability of young people, may be reflective of a societal focus on individualism
,Such stories particularly highlight the concerns and lives of young people
However, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time can be considered postmodern and realist in its depiction of Christopher’s life
How this links to the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | |
Detective fiction | Christopher refers, and compares himself, to the detective Sherlock Holmes throughout the play. The play’s structure and protagonist echo later developments in detective fiction, following a tradition of socially awkward yet brilliant detectives though it also subverts the mystery genre. Christopher’s unique perspective and literal thinking provide an unconventional lens through which the mystery is explored. |
Realism | Reflective of the rise of realism in the early 20th century, the play portrays the banal elements of life, such as school and Christopher’s examination. Typical of this genre, the play uses irony to point out the hypocrisies of society. For example, the dead dog, killed by a pitchfork, is a brutal portrayal of an average father’s aggression over an everyday romantic dispute. |
Unreliable narrator | The protagonist may be viewed as an unreliable narrator to portray his confusion. As Christopher moves quickly through multiple settings and shifts from narration to monologue to dialogue a sense of chaos is created. As well as this, Christopher’s very specific perspective on the world is often unreliable. He frequently misunderstands people or events. For example, he says that everyone at his school is “stupid” and that people are “confusing”. This presents him as isolated at times, distrustful and paranoid. On the other hand, he is also unwittingly a very reliable narrator as his honesty serves to mock other characters, and his concern about the dead dog is justified. |
Exam tip
Avoid wasting valuable time in your exam by needlessly reciting historical knowledge. Instead, only use your knowledge and understanding of certain contextual influences to add depth to your analysis. This will help you to demonstrate your understanding of the text.
Sources
Haddon, Mark, and Simon Stephens. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: The Play. Edited by Paul Bunyan and Ruth Moore, Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
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