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How Haddon writes
How Haddon writes
Psychological
Mark Haddon often writes using a psychological aspect by focusing on the inner thoughts and habits of characters. Christopher in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” attacks issues with a logical viewpoint rather than emotions, as seen when evaluating Wellington’s death, and reveals common habits of his to the audience, such as determining if he will have a good day or bad day due to the colors of the cars he observes on the way to school each morning, to help the audience better grasp how he consistently thinks on a day to day basis rather than in a particular instance.
Tone Shifts
Mark Haddon will frequently include tone shifts within his writing style. For instance, George Hall in “A Spot of Bother” mistakes skin discoloration on his hip for a cancerous lesion. What begins as a dark humorous scene when George wants to cut off his lesion with scissors turns chilling as he actually carries out the awful act and begins to bleed out whilst in a state of madness. The audience feels sympathy for George as what was once comedic has now turned them frantic.
Sentence Structure
Sentence Structure
Throughout many of Haddon’s novels, short to medium length direct sentences are utilized to get the central point across. For example, “D.O.G.Z.” from “Dogs and Monsters” retells the myth of Actaeon, who once upon seeing Diana the goddess bathing is turned into a stag, is betrayed by his own dogs as they attack him. These shorter, direct statements speed the story up throughout the transformation from human to stag and the violence of the dogs attacking their owner.
Emulation of Haddon
Father says people don’t mean to stare, but I can always feel their eyes on me when I’m rolling around in my wheelchair. Sometimes they stare for three seconds while other times they stare for five. Children tend to stare the longest. Many people also jump out of my way. The looks on their faces tell me they don’t like me.
At school the other kids pick on me for my wheelchair. “Wheelchair bound" and “handicapped” they whisper to each other. I like to find weekly averages of the most common labels used against me. This week the word was “invalid.” On average, there are typically 45 words used against me, this week there have already been 66. There has been a recent trend of increasing labels used against me, but nothing too extremely out of the ordinary, an approximate 33% increase. I like to see the weeks that I was disliked by others the most. There was a time when I didn’t have to worry about my wheelchair. When I freely had access to both legs and could do the same things the other kids did. A time when people didn’t oddly stare at me and actually liked me. That time has passed.
It was a chilling Tuesday morning in late September of 2004. I had just left the house after finishing up with my morning routine and began my walk towards the bus stop. I count how many steps it takes me to reach the bus stop each morning. On some walks, I can make it to the bus stop in 500 steps by taking longer strides or taking a diagonal approach. It can take me up to 650 to reach the bus stops on some days as well. Today I began my walk with one goal in mind: to reach the bus stop with the least possible amount of steps. The fewer steps I can take the better as I can leave my house later and still make it to the bus stop at the same time. I was crossing the cracked street and reached step 223 when a loud horn sounded behind me. Scared, I instinctively covered my ears and crouched. That’s of course before my left leg bent in a way it wasn’t supposed to. A bus had clipped the entirety of my left side. I remember that moment. I was lying there in pain as my vision blurred. My head was pounding. I glanced down at my leg and saw my leg twisted in directions it wasn’t supposed to be twisted in. Four children screamed around me and there was the sound of two vehicles in the distance: an ambulance and a police car I presumed. The sirens were certainly louder. My eyes shuttered until all was black. I was going to die.
Father says he has never seen someone as messed up as I was. He says it looked like it hurt and I’d have to agree with him on that. The world is mean. People were laughing and smiling more the day I returned to school. Father always says that I should stay away a few paces from those that are mean to me. However, this is difficult to do whilst being in a wheelchair. Now I walk zero steps to the bus stop each day.
Psychological
Psychological
Haddon’s typical psychological traits within his characters were demonstrated within mine as well. The narrator portrays common habits such as establishing a common morning routine, finding the average amount of hate labels used against him, and counting his steps towards the bus stop to optimize his routes in order to save time. This narrator similarly thinks in a detached yet logical manner as he believes that because some kids at school laugh and smile, the world must hate him. This is a child-like way of thinking which Haddon commonly includes in his writings. Logical thinking can be seen through the usage of numbers and when the narrator is hit by the bus. Because he receives significant injuries to himself, he believes he is going to die.
Tone Shifts
Tone Shifts
Since Haddon includes many tone shifts within his writing style, this short story carries similar tone shifts. There are tone shifts from thinking in the present to reflecting in the past when the narrator relives his horrendous accident with the bus. There is also a tone shifting from cruel to humorous when the narrator claims that the world is mean and how he physically can’t stay paces away as he is in a wheelchair and not on foot. A steady train of thought to meandering with side thoughts is also applied in this narrative similarly to other characters such as Christopher Boone.
Sentence Structure
Sentence Structure
Shorter, straightforward sentences are used when the narrator is reflecting on the pain he felt as a result of the injury. Not only is the pain intensified through this sentence structure, but it also aids in the progression of the narrative. This sentence structure is also extremely direct which makes claims such as “the world is mean” carry more tension.
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