The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Important Characters

Christopher Boone

Christopher is a unique young man with a novel view of the world. He sees the world through the lens of a person with a behavioral problem. Christopher's problem manifests itself through an aversion to strangers, a hatred of the colors yellow and brown, an inability to read facial expressions, and problems adapting to new situations. He does love math and science, he especially likes prime numbers and math problems, they make him feel safe. He likes the fact that most math problems have logical answers, which helps to calm him, in the illogical world he lives in.

His desire for logic is manifested by his need to solve the murder of his neighbor's dog. He finds the dog stabbed to death with a garden fork, so he needs to find out who killed the dog and why. It is this quest which leads him into trouble with his father and mother. His father doesn't want Christopher looking into the mystery, because he is the person who killed the dog. His father is also harboring an even larger secret, which is Christopher's mother is not dead, but living in London.

Christopher stumbles onto some letters she wrote him, after her supposed death, and figures out she is alive. When his father finds out his son knows the truth, he tells him the truth about the dog. This leads to Christopher taking a long scary journey on a train to London to find his mother. He does this because in his mind, if his father can kill a dog, then he can kill him. Eventually the two are reunited, but Christopher continues to live with his mother.

Christopher learns he can, despite his fears, do things which terrify him. He can travel alone and he can talk to strangers. He also discovers he is as smart as he thought he was, after he passes his A level maths test with an A.

Ed Boone

Ed is Christopher's father, and he is trying to raise his son to the best of his abilities. His wife has left to live in London with her boyfriend. Ed is patient with Christopher, though he does occasionally lose his temper. His major errors are he told Christopher his mother died, when she left the family and he killed the neighbor's dog. His confession of both these acts form a rift between him and Christopher. Christopher might have gotten over being lied to about his mother, but he could not get past his father killing the dog.

Ed goes to the police after Christopher runs away in an attempt to find his son. He finally finds him at his wife's apartment, which she shares with her boyfriend. They have a fight and the police remove Ed from the apartment. He doesn't see his son again until Christopher and his mother move back to Swindon, their home town.

He tries to be patient with Christopher and he eventually rebuilds their relationship. He is a good kind man, who is doing his best in trying circumstances.

Judy Boone

She is Christopher's mother, the woman who left her child behind, so she could go and live in London with her boyfriend. Of course, her decision to leave is more complicated than that, she loves her child, but she found she had little patience with a child, who needed special treatment. She and her husband fought about her treatment of Christopher and she began to feel alone. These feelings led her to have an affair with Roger Shears, the neighbor's husband.

She saw how well Ed and Christopher related to one another and thought they would be better off without her. She did try to stay in touch with her child, but his father would not allow her to see him and she did not know her letters never reached Christopher. She was devastated to learn Christopher had been told she was dead. She still has difficulty dealing with Christopher, but she is more patient now and trying harder to be a good mother.

Siobhan

She is Christopher's aide at school. She tries to help him navigate the world by drawing facial expressions and writing what they mean underneath the drawings. She is also the person who helps him in any way she can. It is Siobhan who arranges for Christopher to take his A level test, after he returns to Swindon with his mother.

Mrs. Shears

She is the neighbor whose dog, Wellington, is killed by Ed Boone. After her husband and Judy Boone run off to London together, she tries to help Ed by cooking meals and cleaning house for him and Christopher. Soon their relationship becomes romantic and Ed asks her to move in with him and Christopher.

It is her refusal to move in, which causes Ed to kill the dog. He feels she values the dog more than she values him, so after a final disagreement Ed leaves the house and the dog comes after him. Instead of pushing the dog out of the way, he takes the garden fork and runs it through the dog. This hurts Mrs. Shears greatly, because she does love the dog more than she loves Ed.

Mr. Shears

He has a relationship with Judy Boone, because he no longer loves his wife. He urges her to leave Christopher behind, because he doesn't want the boy around him. He is not happy with Christopher, after he turns up in London to live with his mother. He blames Christopher for disrupting his life and is mean to the boy. This is the main reason Christopher and his mother move back to Swindon, because Mr. Shears doesn't want Christopher living with them long-term. He eventually tracks Christopher's mother down and dumps her remaining belongings on the front lawn of her house, then he takes back his car, which she borrowed to make the trip from London to Swindon.

Mr. Shears is a self-centered man, who doesn't actually love Judy Boone. He shows this through his treatment of Christopher, because if he loved Judy, then he would accept her son.