The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

“When I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is even harder because people are not like cows and flowers and grass and they can talk to you and do things that you don’t expect, so you have to notice everything that is in the place, and also you have to notice things that might happen as well.” Those are the words of Christopher, from Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, explaining himself to why he acts and does not act a certain way. But with just that one quote, Christopher reveals his key abilities and disabilities, both physical and mental, of a detective. But even while having these disabilities, because of his Asperger’s syndrome, that may or may not hold him back as a detective, one thing is clear, his disabilities can also be used to his advantage, and benefit him as the amazing detective he is.
Christopher has the amazing power of observation, being able to even notice the smallest details and be able to remember. “That is why I am good at chess and maths and logic, because most people are almost blind and they don’t see most things and there is lots of spare capacity in their heads and it is filled with things which aren’t connected and silly, like ‘I’m worried that I might have left the gas cooker on’”. Christopher’s eye for detail and ability to clear his mind to remember them, is one of the abilities he gets from his Asperger’s syndrome, but there is a downside. When Christopher is confronted with too much information on one matter, it’s like his mind can’t handle it and he must clear his mind up, or when having to deal with a social interaction, it also makes the task of remembering far more difficult. See Christopher’s ability of observation lies on the ability of remembering and organizing all his observations in his mind. But any small discomfort in the outer world, outside his mind, affects his power. So Christopher is like superman, in this case Christopher’s power is observation, and his kryptonite