A Curious Incident Of A Dog In The Night-Time Analysis

In the novel, A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher Boone succeeds in his endeavor of escaping the restraining oppression of dependency by finding solace in physical confinement. This story, at its core is a coming of age novel illustrating a teenage boy's struggle for independence, in which enclosure is a requirement for freedom. There is a juxtaposition presented between Christopher's yearning for autonomy and his coping mechanism of placing himself into restraining positions, when he becomes overwhelmed during his journey of achieving it. This lust for freedom is present at the start of the novel. Christopher reveals that his dream occupation is to be an astronaut stating, “To be a good astronaut you have to be someone who
Interestingly, achieval of this job would mean complete freedom for Christopher, as he would no longer be under the control of his father. But in this "freeing" career, he would be in a "tiny spacecraft". To the majority of people, this would be a negative aspect of being an astronaut. However, for Christopher it is one of the principal attractions he has to the job; he "likes little spaces." Consequently, this contrast between the liberation and confinement of the spacecraft suggests that for Christopher freedom requires enclosure. Similarly in space travel without a person being constrained in a spacecraft, there is no possibility of exploration or growth. This distancing of an astronaut and earth, is similar to the future separation of Christopher and his family, which is achieved only with the aid of Christopher's coping method of physical confinement. Furthermore, as the novel progresses Christopher eventually faces, at least on a small scale, independence, when he runs away from his father. Before he is even able to leave his own backyard Christopher is overwhelmed and "squeeze[s] into the gap between the wall of the shed and the