Every Hero is Unique: An Analysis on What Builds a Hero
Heroes. Whether it be a fictional superhero or an ordinary guy, everyone is a hero in their own way. Christopher Boone from Mark Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time displays character traits that make him a hero. This is proven as Christopher demonstrates that he is a caring, and brave person.
Firstly, throughout the novel, he is shown to be a caring person, which eventually lead him on the path to being a hero. Although Christopher and his father have a complicated relationship, they both care about one another and can sense when something is wrong. “There was tears coming out of his eyes. I asked. ‘Are you sad about Wellington’. He looked at me for a long time and sucked air through his nose. Then, he said, ‘ Yes Christopher, you could say that. You could very well say that’. I decided to leave alone because when I am, I want to be left alone.” Usually heroes do the right thing and are willing to please and help others because they care. When Christopher recognizes that his father is sad, he shows a great concern for him and stopped talking as that could have made him more upset.
Furthermore, Christopher's relationship with his pet rat Toby, also proves that he is a hero. When Christopher decides to travel to London by himself by train, he takes Toby with him, who then runs away. After searching frantically, he found him on the train tracks, so he jumped down to go bring him back, even though a train was coming. “And then the roaring got louder and I turned around and saw the train coming out of the tunnel and I was going to be run over and be killed, so I tried to climb up onto the concrete, but it was high, and I was holding Toby in both of my hands”. Caring is essential to being a hero, as typically one would not risk their lives if they do not care about anything. As well, heroes put others first, over their own safety and well being without thought. Since Christopher cares, he was inclined to risk his life in order to save Toby and did not think twice about it. This all shows that you could be a hero by simply having a caring personality, in which Christopher does.
Of the qualities a hero can possess, being brave is of great importance. Throughout the novel, Christopher displays that he is a brave person. When Christopher found a dead dog in a field near his house, he decided he had to investigate. His father kept telling him to stop looking, yet he continued to search for answers. At one point after Ed hit him for defying his request to stop investigating, and stole his book, Christopher went behind his back. “One other possibility was that father had hidden my book somewhere in the house. So I decided to do something and see if I could find it. Except I had to keep listening really hard all the time so I would hear his van when he pulled outside the house so he would not catch me being a detective”. Heroes do not give up, even when things were tough, and few people encourage them. Christopher knew his father specifically told him to stop his investigation, but that did not matter. He was brave enough to disobey him and learn the truth, even if it meant he would face consequences himself.
In addition, his long journey to London shows that he is a brave person. After Christopher's father lies to him about his mother being dead and admitted that he killed Wellington, he decides he could not trust him anymore. “I see everything. That is why I do not like new places. If I am in a place I know, like home or school or the bus, or the shop or the street, I have seen almost everything in it beforehand and all I have to do is look at the thing that has changed or moved”. A hero can be anyone that does something they fear of but are brave enough to still do accomplish something. The thought of going somewhere unfamiliar, by himself really frightened Christopher, so to travel all the way to London, journeying through streets and a train station, requires a lot of bravery. He overcame extraordinary obstacles that he never thought he would face, achieving his goals and a growing as a person. This concludes that Christopher is a brave person, which makes him a hero.
As one can see, despite all the challenges Christopher faces throughout The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the Nighttime, he continues to exhibit character traits such as caring and brave, that make him a hero. In the end, life took Christopher places he expected to be, yet in the long run, everything worked out in his favour.
