The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time Essay

Words: 713
Pages: 3

Everyone comes across a difficult situation in their daily lives, and they have multiple options. One of these many options is to use a coping mechanism to help the person cope with their current, stressful situation. If a coping mechanism is relied upon too heavily, it can be dangerous as the person will not be able to learn and develop past the stressful situation present. In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon, Christopher's life is very stressful for him. This causes him to engage multiple coping mechanisms to help him transverse his everyday life. Throughout Christopher’s world, many coping mechanisms are involved to help him deal with current events in his life. One of these coping mechanisms is sublimation. Often throughout the book, Christopher incorporates sublimation into his routine by zoning out and performing math problems in his head. “I couldn’t think because there were too many other things in my head, so I did a math problem to make things clearer” (146). Christopher then spends a couple of pages explaining to the reader how to do a math problem called “Conway’s Soldiers”. This is one of many math problems Christopher does when he is stressed. Another coping mechanism that is used frequently in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” is denial. When Christopher’s father informs him that he had assassinated Wellington, Christopher is not sure what to think, so he goes to the defense mechanism of …show more content…
Christopher almosts relies too heavily on coping mechanisms and is not able to face his problems head on because of this defense mechanism. Using a coping mechanism is one of multiple options when faced with a difficult situation. When a stressful situation emerges, the way a person reacts can tell a lot about the type of person they