What is With This Loss of Innocence? The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is, let there be no mistake, not about a dog. That sour plot line merely guides the complex, realistic, and utterly simple thought process of the main character: Christopher. Unknowingly Christopher discovers many important things about things he deemed unimportant. He might even solve the grates mystery of all.

Christopher is always referring to white. "White noise, white sparks, white lies". He isn’t aware of how often he talks of white. White stands for innocence. This is odd because Christopher is many things, but he is not innocent. He has so many really hard things to deal with, like his mother, his behavior disorder, and his neighbors. He is well aware of the kind of world that is out there.

But then again, he is sort of innocent. He has this wonderful dream to become an astronaut. He says it’s to be alone. That is so childish. Not in the bad way, but in the sweet way. Christopher is like a 3 year old trapped in the mind of a 40 year old.

Christopher has a very complex history too. We are told that his mother is dead and that his father has to raise Christopher on his own. Christopher is such a blank pallet, he really doesn’t show emotion. But there is this story in the book about time he went to the beach and his mother dived into the water and Christopher screamed because he thought she had been eaten by a shark. Christopher really truly does care.

Christopher has major walls up. He doesn’t trust strangers, and even the people he knows exist he doesn’t trust. He only trusts his father, and I think that is just Christopher following what is expected, and a few others. He doesn’t let people touch him, even his dad. He doesn’t get close to anyone, because he knows what they can do. He has nowhere to turn to and nowhere to go. That makes him the least innocent of all.