Curious Ending

The ending of the Curious Incident has two parts, the first of which resolves the traditional story arc Christopher creates concerning his mysteries. The second part of the ending deals with Christopher’s family relationships. None of the problems raised in the novel are resolved and are only scarcely addressed by Christopher. This is because for Christopher his book is about finding out who killed Wellington and finding his mother. With these mysteries solved, he views the book as a success and ends on a note of hope for his future since he has accomplished all of his goals.

However, for the reader, the book’s focus and interest becomes Christopher’s relationships with other people. Haddon offers social commentary through how the world interacts with Christopher and how Christopher interacts with the world. His relationships with his parents are especially important because he cannot relate emotionally to them and we see the strain this puts on them. This is especially seen through their hand motion that substitutes as a hug and means they love him. Christopher can only define loving someone as “helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth” (87). When Christopher’s father shatters these rules and lies to him (along with killing a dog, one of Christopher’s favorite animals because they are so straightforward) he cannot reconcile these discrepancies.

Christopher’s inability to forgive, or to perhaps understand forgiveness and mistakes, then becomes a main focus in the text. This creates an interesting question of how he can perhaps “forgive” his mother for leaving. It seems that he is not even really upset by this, but it could just be overshadowed by his father’s betrayal. His relationship with his father is never fully resolved as Christopher mentions him briefly and detachedly. This is effective since it does not give a neat, unrealistic ending but instead allows a continuation of the story where the reader can envision the progression that may or may not happen.