ASPERGER’S SYNDROME AS SEEN IN CHRISTOPHER BOONE’S CHARACTERIZATION IN MARK HADDON’S THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

  ASPERGER’S SYNDROME AS SEEN IN CHRISTOPHER BOONE’S CHARACTERIZATION IN MARK HADDON’S THE CURIOUS

INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

EUNIKE SET SATYARINI

  Student Number: 014214024

  ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009

  

ASPERGER’S SYNDROME AS SEEN IN CHRISTOPHER

BOONE’S CHARACTERIZATION IN MARK HADDON’S THE

CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degee of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

EUNIKE SET SATYARINI

  Student Number: 014214024

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2009

  

The Law of Attraction responds to whatever

vibration you are sending by giving you more of it,

whether it’s positive or negative. It simply responds

to your vibration

  

(Michael Losier)

  For My Beloved Parents & Rory

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Working out this undergraduate thesis is a tough journey. There are many lessons about persistence and willingness here. I have been dealing with this for some semesters and at the end, I realize that simplicity is easy to gain if I am able to be an optimistic one and switch my doubtful mind. Gratitude is what I have now and I’d love to thank to those who have been with me in this journey.

  First of all, I thank to my best companion, Jesus Christ, for all reminders and spirits I have got so far. I am alive for He is a living God and this work of mine is for Him.

  I would like to thank to Mr. G. Fajar Sasmita, S.S, M.Hum for his kindness and patience. All the discussions about priority are one of the triggers for me to finish writing this work and also to Ms. Elisa Dwi Wardhani, S.S, M.Hum as my co advisor.

  I would like to thank to my parents, Bambang Mintarto and Siti Nurhandayani for motivating me so far. Thank you for their patience. It was not easy for keeping me to stay focus on this work, but their efforts are worth it. My brother, Janto, is also keep reminding me to stay focus. His critics were really a trigger.

  I would like to thank to my boyfriend for being the tough man so far. His critics motivated me to be courageous and confident. I learn about law of attraction from him and he helps me to see what I have manifested in mind so far. Two thumbs for his efforts to motivate and inspire me.

  I would like to thank to Christian Wenger who has encouraged me and his helps for all valuable materials I’ve applied in this work. I would like to thank to all my friends for all the motivational discussions and their efforts to motivate me; Arum, Daniel, Andre, Bible Study Wil XII, and Teplok.

  Eunike Set Satyarini

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................ i APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ......................................................................................... iii MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION PAGE ........................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ viii ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................

  1 A. Background of the Study .....................................................................

  1 B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................ 5

  C. Objectives of the Study ..................................................................... 5

  CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ......................................................... 6 A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................

  6 B. Review of Related Theories ..............................................................

  10 C. Theoretical Framework .....................................................................

  16 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................

  18 A. Object of the Study ........................................................................... 18

  B. Approach of the Study ...................................................................... 18

  C. Method of the Study .......................................................................... 19 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................

  21 A. How Christopher was Characterized ................................................. 21

  B. How Haddon Emphasized Asperger’s Syndrome .............................. 29 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...........................................................................

  46 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 51 APPENDIX ......................................................................................................... 53

  

ABSTRACT

  EUNIKE SET SATYARINI. Asperger’s Syndrome as Seen in Christopher

  

Boone’s Characterization in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in

the Night-Time. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters,

Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

  This thesis analyzed Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the

  

Night-Time. Haddon’s novel is about a boy with Asperger’s syndrome. This

sundrome affect Christopher himself and how he deals with other people.

  There are two points presented in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog

  

in the Night-Time which become the discussion here. The writer wants to identify

  characterization of Christopher Boone. The next point is to see how Haddon emphasizes Asperger’s syndrome through Christopher’s characterization.

  The method applied in this thesis is library research. The writer applies psychological approach as the approach of the thesis. Apart from that, she chooses some theories to help her analyze Haddon’s novel. The theories are theory of characterization, theory of behavior, and theory of Asperger’s syndrome. These three theories are the framework for the writer to analyze characterization and emphasis of Asperger’s syndrome in Christopher’s characterization.

  From the analysis the writer finds that Christopher is both a genius and eccentric teenager who has difficulties in social interaction and deals with himself. Christopher Boone has some impairment in social skills and also has some restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests which are caused by his Asperger’s syndrome which create disturbance in some significant area of functioning such as in social interaction and in a family.

  

ABSTRAK

  EUNIKE SET SATAYRINI. Asperger’s Syndrome as Seen in Christopher

  

Boone’s Characterization in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in

the Night-Time. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas

Sanata Dharma, 2009.

  Skripsi ini menganalisa novel Mark Haddon yang berjudul The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Novel ini bercerita tentang seorang anak yang menderita sindrom Asperger. Sindrom ini mempengaruhi dirinya sendiri dan bagaimana ia berhubungan dengan orang lain.

  Ada dua poin dalam The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time karya Mark Haddon yang menjadi bahan diskusi. Penulis ingin mengidentifikasi karakterisasi Christopher Boone. Poin selanjutnya yaitu mencari tahu bagaimana Mark Haddon menekankan adanya sindrom Asperger pada karakterisasi Christopher.

  Metode yang digunakan adalah riset pustaka. Penulis mengaplikasikan pendekatan secara psikologis. Terlepas dari itu, ia memilih beberapa teori untuk membantunya menganalisa. Theori-teori tersebut adalah teori karakterisasi, teori perilaku, dan teori mengenai sindom Asperger. Ketiga teori tersebut merupakan kerangka acuan bagi penulis untuk menganalisa karakterisasi dan bagaimana penekanan sindrom Asperger pada karakterisasi Christopher.

  Dari analisa penulis menemukan bahwa Christopher Boone adalah seorang remaja yang eksentrik dan jenius yang memiliki kesulitan untuk berinteraksi dan mengatur dirinya sendiri. Christopher Boone memiliki beberapa kerusakan pada kemampuan bersosialisai dan juga memiliki perilaku dan ketertarikan yang terbatas, berulang-ulang dan dalam bentuk-bentuk tertentu yang disebabkan oleh sindrom Asperger yang membuat adanya gangguan pada beberapa area fungsional yang penting seperti dalam berinteraksi dan dalam keluarga. merupakan gejala-gejala sindrom Asperger.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Behavior is one thing everybody can see in others through daily activities. This term of psychology is already popular in daily life. Everybody knows what

  behavior is. Behavior can be observed through what somebody does or thinks. If there is a novel which can depict behavior as one interesting case, behavior can be an object for studying.

  This thesis is not going to discuss about behaviorism. This novel will only discuss about behavior. The behavior here is not ordinary daily activities but it’s more to behaviors which show the Asperger’s syndrome appeared in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  Besides journal of psychology, behavior can be really useful also to personalize a character in a novel. There is one novel which tells about behaviors in a different perspective. This novel is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-

  

Time. This novel is written by British author, Mark Haddon, who has worked before

with people have behavioral disorder.

  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time tells about a teenager

  named Christopher Boone who decides to be a detective after he finds Wellington, his neighbor’s dog, has been killed. Christopher became the narrator of the story and through his journey, people can see his daily activities and how Christopher behaves.

  Haddon enriches Christopher with some behaviors which indicate that Christopher suffers from Asperger’s syndrome. This syndrome influences how Christopher behaves and affects his character since a character is supported by behaviors.

  People who suffer from Asperger’s syndrome usually have problem with their behaviors since its syndrome influences behaviors a lot. Having Asperger’s syndrome doesn’t mean that somebody will be less productive. Many of them can be successful persons. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Jefferson are the examples.

  Asperger’s syndrome itself is a syndrome in which people have severe difficulties with social interaction and restricted, repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. Those who have this syndrome usually have a normal or above normal IQ and many of them even appear as genius person. According to Ritvo in his book Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder, this syndrome occurs in about 30 to 40 people in every 10,000 people. Four to five more often appear in males than females.

  As a novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has uncommon theme. Behaviors of somebody with Asperger’s syndrome which are applied in the novel make this novel quite different from any other novel. Apart from the unusual theme, Haddon is able to build empathy among its readers towards Christopher Boone. The empathy is built by putting Christopher as the narrator so that readers can see Christopher’s perspective. Reading the book, readers can feel that Christopher thinks and reacts differently from any other common people towards circumstances around him. Christopher’s different reaction can be seen in some cases such as he tends to groan or scream for a long time when he gets anxious or when he can’t get what he wants.

  And Mother said, “I told you. I rang your headmistress. I told her you were in London. I told her you’d do it next year.” And I said, “but I am here now and I can take it.” And Mother said, “I’m sorry, Christopher. I was trying to do things properly. I was trying not to mess things up.” And my chest began hurting again and I folded my arms and I rocked backward and forward and groaned. (Haddon, 2004: 210)

  Christopher also dislikes being touched and grabbed and he tends to hit those that touch or grab him.

  The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him. (Haddon, 2004: 8) The writer is interested to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog

  

in the Night-Time because this book has uncommon theme. This also means that

Haddon dares to take risk to write something different from any other authors.

  Haddon needs to observe more people with Asperger’s syndrome since he puts a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome as the narrator of his novel.

  This novel is chosen because this novel gives a chance for its readers to learn a little bit about Asperger’s syndrome from Christopher Boone’s character. There are many symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome appear in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of

  

the Dog in the Night-Time. These symptoms usually are related to Christopher’s

  incapability of developing his social skills. This novel can show a bit paradigm how it is like having the syndrome. By putting Christopher as the narrator, Haddon gives experience to his readers to see daily problems through perspective of somebody with Asperger’s syndrome.

  Christopher Boone’s character is also trigger the writer to analyze The

  

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. As someone who has Asperger’s

  syndrome, Christopher reacts differently towards situations happen in his life. He sees things sometimes from different uncommon perspectives. One of his different reactions is how he considers an aid as a threat. Christopher threatens people who pay attention on him when they see him needing help. This can be seen in the story easily.

  And a man came up to me and he was wearing a blue jacket and blue trousers and he had brown shoes and he was carrying a book in his hand and he said, “You look lost.” So I took out my Swiss Army knife. And he said, “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa,” and held up both his hands with fingers stretched out in a fan,… (Haddon, 2004: 171)

  From the above example, readers are able to see effects of Christopher’s behaviors towards other people and how Christopher’s behaviors sometime put him or others into trouble.

  Next trigger is a lesson of human relationship in The Curious Incident of the

  

Dog in the Night-Time. This novel depicts human relationship in real life. What is

  faced by Christopher Boone and his parents can happen to anyone. This novel can portray family problem which happens everywhere.

  From the above explanation, the writer considers that Haddon’s The Curious

  

Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is appropriate to be analyzed. Both writer and

  readers will be able to learn more about human behaviors. Mark Haddon builds behaviors in his novel as a cause and an effect also.

  B. Problem Formulation

  The writer is going to analyze three questions. All of them are related to behaviors. The three questions of this problem formulation namely:

  1. How is Christopher Boone characterized?

  2. How does Haddon emphasize Asperger’s syndrome in Christopher Boone’s characterization?

  C. Object of the Study

  There are two main objectives here. First one is to identify how Christopher Boone is characterized. Another one is to see how Mark Haddon emphasizes Asperger’s syndrome in Christopher Boone’s characterization.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a

  popular novel. It can be seen from reviews which are addressed to this novel. Many reviews appreciate this novel. Most reviews state that this novel is able to impress its readers. Some of the reviews are from mass media such as The Golden Globe, The Dallas Morning News, Financial Times, and Washington Post.

  “Gloriously eccentric and wonderful intelligent.”—The Boston Globe “This is an amazing novel. An amazing book.”—The Dallas Morning News “Extraordinarily moving, often blackly funny….It is hard to think of anyone who would not be moved and delighted by this book.”—Financial Times, London “Both clever and observant.”—The Washington Post The reviews also comment the main character in The Curious Incident of the

  

Dog in the Night-Time. Some of them state that the novel obviously depicts a

  character has Asperger’s syndrome. Besides, they also mention about Haddon’s capability in getting an insight of a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome. As the narrator in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher Boone is considered as a perfect character because this teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome is able to convince the readers. Jay McInerney wrote in The New York Times dated June 15, 2003, that “Christopher Boone is an unsolved mystery—but he is certainly one of the strangest and most convincing characters in recent fiction.” Mary Whipple, an International Student Advisor at a Massachusetts college and one of Top 50 Reviewer on Amazon.com, also comments Haddon’s novel.

  Haddon creates a fascinating main character and allows the reader to share in his world, experiencing his ups and downs and his trials and successes. In providing a vivid world in which the reader participates vicariously, Haddon fulfills the most important requirements of fiction, entertaining at the same time that he broadens the reader's perspective and allows him to gain knowledge. This fascinating book should attract legions of enthusiastic readers. (http://mostlyfiction.com/contemp/haddon.htm) Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won some prizes. Haddon becomes a winner of The Guardian’s children’s fiction prize, the new

  Book Trust teenage fiction award, and the Whitbread Novel Award. Besides, this novel also gets award from the West Australian Young Readers Book and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book.

  There are also some positive comments from experts. One of the comments is from Arthur Golden, the writer of Memoirs of Geisha. Golden states that The Curious

  

Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an unforgettable novel. Golden even advises

  people to buy two copies of the novel. Another interesting comment is from the author Bee Season, Myla Goldberg. Goldberg states that The Curious Incident of the

  

Dog in the Night-Time is a fun book to read and it enriches with imagination,

empathy and vision.

  Deane Rink, a writer, producer, and project director also writes review for Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He says that Christopher Boone, the teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome, strengthens the novel. Haddon is able to create attractive character as the narrator.

  The bitter emotions attendant to the dissolution of a marriage are revealed through the narration of this emotionless boy, in an interior monologue that is alternately comic and tragic. Haddon’s triumph is to provide a glimpse into the mind of an autistic savant with language that is powerful yet devoid of cloying sentiment. Haddon, who had worked with autistic kid, using as unreliable narrator who is credible, appealing, and appalling, all at the same time. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905EED81E30F936A2575

  5COA9659C8B63) Clara Claiborne Park, the author of The Siege: The First Eight Years of an

  Autistic Child , wrote a review in Psychiatric Services, December 2003, Vol 54,

  No.12. She wrote there that Haddon had created a realistic character; “Mark Haddon has accomplished something far harder. He has created a character who, except for those who have actually lived or worked with autistic person, doesn’t fit at all. Those who have lived or worked with such a person will find Haddon’s 15-year-old- character utterly convincing.” Park stated also that Haddon’s The Curious Incident of

  the Dog in the Night-Time is an entertaining novel. “—by the end we’ve had a

  fascinating, enjoyable, and enlightening read.” Apart from positive comments, Haddon also gets negative comment. This negative comment comes from a writer and also a book editor of Monsters and

  Critics, Jessica Schneider. Schneider in the website http://themoderatevoice.com/entertainment/reviews/19483/guest-book-review-the- curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-by-mark-haddon/ says that Haddon’s

  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time “has some potential but ultimately just doesn’t deliver.” Schneider criticizes Haddon’s main character, Christopher Boone, also. She says that Christopher Boone is tiring because “he occasionally does have moments of depth and unique observations, albeit they seem to be drowned out by all his obsessions.”

  Apart from all the above comments, there are also some reviews about Asperger’s syndrome which are taken from the internet. These information are helpful also to understand a bit what kind of problems are faced by people with Asperger’s syndrome. Simple matters for the normal people can be a big matter for those with Asperger’s syndrome. Social cues and jokes are the examples of difficult matters for people with Asperger’s syndrome.

  People with Asperger’s syndrome are considered as the ones who have problem with verbal and non verbal cues which are related to social norms. They also have difficulties to express their feelings and perceive other’s feelings. Ami Klin, Ph.D and Fred R. Volkmar, M.D. in the website www.psycentral.com describe that “individual with Asperger’s syndrome may react inappropriately to, or fail to interpret the valence of, the context of the affective interaction, often conveying a sense of insensitivity, formality, or disregard to the other person’s emotional expressions.” (http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/in-depth-look-at-aspergers-disorders- symptoms/)

  People with Asperger’s syndrome are difficult to perceive jokes as jokes since they can’t interpret jokes properly. Besides, sarcasm and irony are beyond their capability of interpretation.

  Jokes, irony, sarcasm and metaphor are difficult for people with Asperger’s syndrome to understand, and they often take language literally. For example, in response to the metaphor “pull up your socks or you’ll be late”, a person with Asperger’s syndrome may pull up their socks, or express confusion if they are not wearing any socks. (http://www.autismsa.org.au/html/disorders/asperger.html) This thesis appears as the one who supports the positive comments toward

  Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The writer sees that Christopher’s behaviors are capable enough to be analyzed since they are different ones and appear many times as said by Christopher in his narrator. Analyze behaviors of Asperger’s syndrome here also improve the writer’s knowledge towards Christopher’s character since a behavior strengthen somebody’s character. Apart from that, the writer can also see how the effects of impairment behaviors. These three things are strongly related.

B. Review of Related Theories

  This thesis applies theories to strengthen the analysis. This part is descriptions of all theories which are going to be applied here. They are theory of character and theory of Asperger’s syndrome. Below here are the further explanations.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

  According to Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20), character is a person in a narration who possesses moral and dispositional qualities which can be seen from his or her dialogue and action. It is obvious that character has significant role in a narrative work.

  Abrams divides characters into two categories, namely major and minor character. This categorization is based on the characters’ importance in the play.

  Major characters are the most significant characters in the story. They appear also in the main action. Minor characters are the opposites. They only appear in certain setting and they are needed in order to be the background for the major characters.

  Abrams also states about other categorization. This categorization based on internal complexity. The characters in this categorization are round characters and flat characters. Round characters are the complex ones, both in temperament and motivation. They are also become the central of the story and have all characteristic of real human beings. They are able to surprise readers sometimes with their unexpected behavior. Flat characters are static characters which mean that they do not grow in the story. Compared to round characters, these characters are simpler since they don’t have details as many as round characters have.

  Apart from that, Roger B. Henkle stated that characterization is “central to the fictional experience. And the principal objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand, and to experience the people” (Henkle, 1977:86). Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs explained four ways to provide information about characters. They are: a. What the characters themselves say and even think, if the author conveys their thoughts.

  Speeches can be useful to indicate the character of the speaker. Sometimes, speeches are also a sign of a momentary emotional or intellectual state. Readers must consider the circumstance or total context of a statement. Besides, readers should also consider the probability of speeches perform change or development.

  b. What the characters do Actions perhaps perform as signs of character. Sometimes the action is inconsistent with logic and expectation. Such behaviors may signal weakness, deceit, or a scheming personality; they can also present strong inner conflicts, change, or growth.

  c. What other characters say about them People sometimes talk about others. If the speakers are honest, readers can accept their opinions as descriptions of other characters. Anyway, sometimes personal prejudices and interests make the opinions no longer objective. Therefore, an author may create a good impression of characters by having a bad or negative character says negative things about them.

  d. What the author says about them, speaking as storyteller or observer The author’s explanation about a character is considered as an accurate description. Authors frequently avoid interpretations and dedicate their skill instead to arranging events and speechless so that readers can draw the conclusion themselves.

2. Theory of Asperger’s Syndrome

  Some behaviors strongly indicate Asperger’s syndrome. It is possible to put behaviors as clues because some particular behaviors appear as Asperger’s syndrome symptoms. These behaviors usually are caused by some delays in brain. Ritvo in

  

Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder explained what

  happened at first when these behaviors were studied by Dr. Hans Asperger. Dr. Hans Asperger was studied a group whom had some autism symptoms but they didn’t fit with the standard diagnostic of autism. These people had normal intelligence and they had no delay in when they began talking. They were just people who were often called as socially blind.

  Ritvo specifies some of Asperger’s syndrome symptoms in his book,

  

Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. These symptoms

  mainly are relevant to social skills and particular patterns of restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. One by one these symptoms will be explained further below here:

2.1. Qualitative Impairment in Social Skill

  Most symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome are related to lack of social skills’ capacity. No wonder if many people with Asperger’s syndrome are the same as what Ritvo has mentioned in his book; socially blind. There are 3 points of Asperger’s syndrome here. First impairment has something to do with social interaction regulation. The examples of this are lack of eye-to-eye gaze and incapability of reading facial expression. Ritvo mentions in his book that “it is the process information about our self-image. It is the part that processes information about self- awareness, how we think about ourselves, our awareness of how other people think and feel about us and themselves, and the meaning and importance of social clues.” (Ritvo, 2006: 43). People with Asperger’s syndrome are unable to read social cues. This is caused by developmental delays in processing symbolic information. Second is incapability to interpret jokes, sarcasm, and metaphor. Sentences with layers are difficult to be understood since they make those with Asperger’s syndrome get confused. Ritvo gives further explanation in his book about this.

  Jokes and analogies are hard to deal with because of their highly symbolic nature. Many jokes are funny because you have to connect things in your mind that usually are not connected. If you have concrete thinking and trouble with catching on to subtle symbolic meanings, you will keep missing the point of such jokes. Puns, sarcasm, and hostile humor are equally difficult for the same reason. (Ritvo, 2006: 45)

  Third is incapability of reading emotional cues. This can be seen from their disability to read other people’s feeling. People with Asperger’s syndrome tend to appear as a cold person since they have lack of empathy. Ritvo gives example of this incapability in Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder.

  One young man confessed that he couldn’t tell from someone’s tone of voice how that person was feeling, just as he couldn’t tell what his own tone of voice meant. The content and the feeling were not automatically symbolically connected. He “confessed” with much difficulty that he had to “learn” to “read” feeling when he got to high school so he wouldn’t “look stupid” to the other kids and his teachers. (Ritvo, 2006: 45)

2.2. Restricted, Repetitive, and Stereotyped Patterns of Behaviors and Interests

  Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests are the second group of symptoms. There are three points which are relevant to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time written by Ritvo in

  

Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. They are fit to

describe interests, non functional routines or rituals, and also motor mannerism.

  First subcategory is having restricted and stereotyped patterns of interests. When somebody has restricted and stereotyped patterns of interests, these interests will dominate his mind most of the time. He or she will keep talking about particular things they like which in the same time make them have “specialty” in these particular things. Ritvo describes these patterns of behavior and interest by giving an example about a college professor who is so good at the subject he teaches and he keens on get to know more about these subjects without giving the same focus on the other aspects of his life.

  He is a college professor who knows all there is to know about his subject and knows it in a rote and structured manner. While he is well-respected international authority in his field, he has no interest in or knowledge of what his wife, his kids, and the rest of the world are like. … This example is a classic example of how one section (interest) can drawn out all the others. His thinking is concrete and this type of thinking is busy day and night memorizing facts related to his area of interests and replying them in his mind over and over again. (Ritvo, 2006: 40)

  Ritvo explains more in his writing that “they don’t think “naturally” just the way we do. For them, their “specialty” type of thinking overwhelms all their other types of thinking” (Ritvo, 2006: 43).

  Second subcategory is having inflexibility to specific and non functional routine or rituals. In this area of symptom, Ritvo gives some examples in

  

Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. These examples are

  related to how picky those people with Asperger’s syndrome toward what they consume though in real situation, this behavior may appear in other forms.

  “He will only eat Big Macs, “He will only eat cheese pizza,” “He will only eat pizza from one special Dominos,” “She will only eat soft noodles,” “He will only—.” Such fussy food fads are so common they go without saying. These taste fads can change hourly, daily, or last for weeks. (Ritvo, 2006: 32) Third subcategory is stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerism. People with

  Asperger’s syndrome have problem with sensory-motor delay. This delay appears in some stereotyped and repetitive behaviors such as rubbing things with fingers, spinning things, lunging back and forth, flapping fingers, and groaning. According to Ritvo, this happens because “their repetitive behaviors were internally driven, not under voluntary control, and could be modified (decreased) only to a point.” (Ritvo, 2006: 29) As further explanation, Ritvo tells about one of his patients.

  We know one patient with Asperger’s disorder who worked as an electronic technician. She set up a strobe light in her lab and stared at it for a few minutes each hour every workday. She had another one at home for the weekends. She said it calmed her and helped her focus her thoughts. (Ritvo, 2006: 31)

2.3. Disturbance in Important Area of Functioning

  Disturbance which is caused by symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome can cause significant impairment in some aspects of life. Many of people with Asperger’s syndrome have problem in their life because they are not adaptive enough. The problem usually appears in important area of functioning such as in the family and at work.

C. Theoretical Framework

  There are 2 theories which are used in this analysis. They are picked in order to help the writer answers the questions in problem formulation appropriately. Each of them supports the analysis here. Theory of character and characterization and theory of Asperger’s syndrome become the framework to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  Theory of character and characterization is used as the background for behavior. Although behavior is a short impulse which is presented in what somebody is thinking or doing, behavior is also a part of character. This theory is applied here to identify the characterization of Christopher Boone and strengthen the fact he has severe behavioral problems.

  Asperger’s syndrome is a significant issue here since the narrator of the novel is a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome. The theory about this syndrome is needed to expand the perspective about what Asperger’s syndrome really is and what symptoms of disorder are related to the analysis. This theory is used in order to identify Christopher’s behaviors as a part of Asperger’s symptoms which often appear in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  Theory of characterization and Asperger’s syndrome are framework to see how Asperger’s syndrome affects behaviors. The two theories help to distinguish which of Christopher Boone’s behaviors or characters appear as the result of having Asperger’s syndrome. Besides, they also help the writer to relate what happen to others with Christopher’s behaviors and characters.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study Object of the study here is a novel entitled The Curious Incident of the Dog in

  

the Night-Time. This novel was released firstly in the year 2003 and also was also

  published by Vintage Books in April 2004 as First Vintage Contemporaries Open- Market Edition. This novel is segmented for adults and children.

  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a detective story which

  is narrated by a teenager named Christopher Boone. Apart from Christopher’s efforts to solve the dog’s murder case, readers can see also that Christopher is different through observing his behaviors. By reading the novel and observing the story, readers can get clues that Christopher lives with Asperger’s syndrome. This syndrome really influences how Christopher behaves and how strong the behaviors are in affecting Christopher’s life and his social interaction with others.

B. Approach of the Study

  The writer applies psychological approach as the approach of the study. This approach is chosen because behavior is a part of psychology. It is really significant to use psychological approach because the main focus here is analyzing psychological aspect. Rohrberger and Woods state that the focus of psychological approach is the application of psychological interpretation to literature (1971: 13). This study will apply psychological approach to interpret impairment behaviors as the part of psychological aspect.

C. Method of the Study

  This thesis used library research as the method of the study. The writer gathered all necessary sourced from books and internet. These sources were applied to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The main sources for the analysis were namely Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the

  

Dog in the Night-Time, A Glossary of Literary Terms, Fiction: An Introduction to

Psychology, Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger Disorder and also a

  website: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/in-depth-look-at-aspergers-disorders- symptoms/.

  First step was preparing all date to analyze Haddon’s The Curious Incident of

  

the Dog in the Night-Time . After gathering all sources, the writer started to map all

  problems which appeared in the novel that could be analyzed. All of these points helped the writer to define the problem. The writer got three points appeared in Haddon’s novel which could be discussed together in the thesis. These three points were closely related to Haddon’s main character, Christopher Boone, they were characterization, behaviors which appeared as symptoms of Asperger’s synrome, and its effect.

  In order to find out Christopher’s characterization, the writer applied theory of characterization which was taken from A Glossary of Literary Terms and Fiction: An

  

Introduction to reading and Writing. Theory of characterization became the

framework for the writer to define Christopher’s characterization.

  The next step was getting the answer of the second question in problem formulation. Since the second question was about the emphasis of Asperger’s syndrome in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the writer applied theory from Ritvo’s Understanding the Nature of Autism and Asperger’s

  

Disorder since Christopher suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. This book helped the

  writer to differentiate which of Christopher’s characters and behaviors that could be put as symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome.

  Fourth step was writing the conclusion. The conclusion itself was a brief explanation which described briefly the contents of the analysis here. This last chapter in the thesis would only describe things in general.

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was a novel which

  depicted relationship among people. Through this novel readers could see how behaviors depicted a disorder. Besides, this novel also presented a person who wasn’t able to overcome and maintain his behaviors and had to face it as a part of his life.

  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was narrated by a teenage

  boy who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. As a narrator, he explained things and other characters differently. What caused this was the syndrome he had.

  It was Christopher Boone, the main character in Haddon’s The Curious

  

Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time who would be analyzed here. Christopher had

  several behaviors which were able to differentiate him from any other persons in the story. In the novel, there were also some conflicts which were caused by Christopher and he did this unintentionally.

  The writer would describe some aspects of Christopher one by one. At first she would describe Christopher’s characterization and the descriptions were followed by explanation of how Haddon emphasis the fact that Christopher had Asperger’s syndrome.

A. How Christopher was Characterized

  Christopher Boone was the major character in Haddon’s The Curious Incident

  

of the Dog in the Night-Time. He was 15 years old. He lived with his father, Ed

  Boone, in small city named Swindon. Christopher had a pet rat named Toby and he was a dog lover. What completely differed Christopher from any other characters in Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was Asperger’s syndrome he suffered from. Having this syndrome, Christopher had to study in special school for those who had learning difficulties and special needs. This was indicated by Christopher’s explanation about how other kids from general school mocked him and his friends whenever their bus school passed these kids.

  But Siobhan said we have to use those words because people used to call children like the children at school spaz and crip and mong, which were nasty words. But that is stupid too because sometimes the children from the school down the road see us in the street when we’re getting off the bus and they shout, “Special Needs! Special Needs!” (Haddon, 2004: 44) Though Christopher went to school for those who had learning difficulties and special needs, he was a genius teenager. There were some points in Haddon’s The

  

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which indicated that Christopher was a

  genius one. The supporting points which strengthened the above statement appeared through what Christopher did and what his father, Ed Boone, stated.