Mind-Reading in Haddon's "Curious Incident" -- an Outline

What I'd like to do here is talk myself through the outlining process for our final paper and hopefully, by putting these ideas down, make some important progress in urging this idea forward.

My initial area of interest was simply mind-reading in Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I have explored this element of the story in several of my previous blogs, and I've been fascinated by how Haddon uses the device of mind-reading and its lack to not only develop Christopher as a character, but also to develop the supporting characters; to not only drive the plot, but also reveal poignant themes. How does he do this, I wondered? I think it comes down to a few key elements:

Haddon uses silence and pauses very effectively. This feature is actually quite hard to communicate in prose without an obvious statement -- "He paused," etc. -- but Haddon manages it in some very creative ways. His pauses are often vacuous -- we are given no insight into Christopher's thought processes during these moments, leaving us to wonder if he is thinking anything at all. His reactions tend not to betray any recognition of meaning in the pause. However, for supporting characters, these pauses and silences are often laden with emotion, regardless of whether Christopher picks up on it (which he rarely, if ever, does). Haddon employs this device to give readers, who are kept at a distance due to their association with Christopher, a glimpse at the inner lives of characters such as Christopher's father and mother. Christopher's poor mind-reading ability factors importantly into these moments, especially with his parents; his non-reactions emphasize the lack of understanding between him and his parents, allowing us to relate to them on a very human level without sacrificing our empathy for Christopher.

Creating that empathy to begin with is one of Haddon's crucial tasks, and he accomplishes it with a second element of mind-reading I had a lot of fun exploring -- nonverbal body language, most notably the "breathing through the nose" motif. Siobhan's explanation of how the way a person pushes air through his or her nostrils may indicate a nearly limitless array of emotions factors early in the story to underline the hopelessness of communicating in a world where one has no ability to read such signs. In fact, reading signs, much like reading minds, poses many problems for Christopher in the story -- they are comparable in many ways. Too much indiscernable information presents itself in each case, and Christopher, without the inherent filter so many of us take for granted, becomes overwhelmed. The scenes in the train station emphasize this, and Haddon even provides an illustration of loud signs that have become jumbled in Christopher's mind. This illustration transcends the moment, communicating visually the flood of information that faces Christopher not just when he is in a new environment, but when he is simply interacting with people in his day to day life.

Another key minor element is eye contact, which I would like to examine not only in the context of the novel, but also as a vital element of social interaction as studied by cognitive and behavioral psychologists. Eye contact is one of the integral components of conversation, and we often rely on it to assist in mind-reading. When this form of interaction is not available, for whatever reason, communication is greatly hindered, and suspicion or confusion may be aroused. In the novel, this places additional burdens on Christpher, who tends to avoid eye contact and thus misses out on important social cues. If possible, I would like to examine the scientific literature relating to all of the mind-reading elements mentioned here, in order to determine their influence on social interaction and how Haddon might be using them to develop his characters. However, I may have to make some judgement calls in the editing room, depending on length and depth.

Lastly, if I have room, the final element I'd like to examine is dialect and tone. Haddon's dialogue is extremely revelatory, especially with secondary characters. While Christopher's narration and spoken words match up flushly with their dry forwardness, literally every other character (with possibly the occasional exception of Siobhan) speaks much more colorfully. Christopher's verbal tone remains mostly constant throughout the novel, but the shifts in tone from supporting characters, even though undetected by Christopher, who merely reports them word for word, provide yet another insight into their thoughts and emotions, which remain inaccessible to Christopher and therefore much more valuable to the reader.

My thesis, then, must be something along the lines of:

Haddon employs the elements of pauses, nonverbal body language and social cues, and spoken tone -- all of which have been shown to contribute significantly to mind-reading in human interaction -- to both highlight the burden placed on Christopher due to his poor mind-reading ability and also to provide insight into the secondary characters, whose thoughts and emotions are inaccessible to Christopher himself. Through this dual exposition, Haddon works to create a sense of empathy that connects the reader to both Christopher and to those around him, while illuminating the very divide that isolates Christopher from the people closest to him.

[Any comments or feedback on this outline will be much appreciated...]