Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-Time.
Narrative Voice
Thinking about Narrative
Features of the Novel
Re-read Chapter 2 (the first chapter) of the novel.
 Describe the style of the first person narration.
 What aspects of the narration indicate that the
novel may be offering an atypical voice?
Thinking about Narrative
Features of the Novel

Although Christopher writes without emotion, there is an intended emotional response
within the reader. Re-read the following episodes, then in groups discuss and make notes
on the questions that follow:

Chapter47
Chapter 97
Chapterr 127

Chapter 157
Chapter 191
Chapter 227

Chapter 233

What is your response to Christopher's realisations or experience in each episode?

For each of the episodes, how dces Haddon's writing style evoke this emotional response
in the reader? You might consider:

what detail is included

what Christopher does or does not see andIor understandt

the actions and reactions of others around Christopher

conflict between reader hopes or expectations and what actually happens

the way the information in the episode is revealed - eg: the order of details, sentence length,
word choice, dialogue, events that we already know (because of previous information or
episodes) Christopher will not be able to deal with.
Thinking about Narrative
Features of the Novel
 Choose one or two episodes to which you had a strong emotional
response and write an analysis of your response using the ideas from
activities (a) and (b). Include detailed reference to the novel to justify
your ideas.
 Even though we are offered the world through Christopher's eyes, we
may often see his background world much more clearly than he does.
For example after re-reading Chapter 53, describe the relationship
between Christopher's father and Ms Shears.
Page
Christopher’s View
What the reader
learns
Clues about the
Murder
6
Classmate Steve is less
intelligent than a dog
Christopher attends a
special school.
Christopher has no
concept of tact and
seems unaware of
others’ feelings
n/a
36-7
Mother died of a heart
attack – this is unusual
(38 years old) – must
have been an
aneurysm. Mrs Shears
cooked dinner
Christopher is insensitive
to father’s feelings. Mrs
Shears is closer to Father
than Christopher realises
40
54-5
79
67-8
102-4
123-4
184-8
236-7
239-41