The Significance of Honesty. Portrayed in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon (eBook)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: 1, University of Salzburg (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Understanding Fiction, language: English, abstract: This paper sets out to illustrate that Mark Haddon gives an example of the significance of honesty and portrays how not telling the truth can severely damage a relationship, nevertheless, he also hints that sometimes the truth can only be discovered by not being entirely honest.

Christopher John Francis Boone is the narrator in Mark Haddon’s novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". Christopher, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism, is convinced that he never lies. And just like he always means to be honest, Christopher expects other people to be honest with him. Honesty is the basis for him to be able to trust others and to build a relationship. Although the condition Christopher is suffering from is not explicitly mentioned in the novel, the reader grasps that honesty is an important factor in his life, whether it be despite or because of him having Asperger’s. Moreover, the reader sees the series of events through Christopher’s eyes, since he is a first-person narrator, making the reader inclined to trust his statements to always be truthful.