Here is my essay, written out:

Inner Conflict and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

by Juliana B.

The book ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ by Mark Haddon presents this issue in between the lines. But it’s there. Well, at least it’s in Christopher’s mind. It builds the story and helps Christopher find out many new things about himself. What is it? Two words: inner conflict.

What is inner conflict? Inner conflict is a mysterious and depressing matter. Inner conflict takes over people, prevents them from eating, sleeping, even wanting to live. Of course, not all inner conflict is this severe. Sometimes, it is barely noticeable. But at other times, it hangs over you like the darkest shadow, not wanting to disappear. Outer conflict is a disagreement between two figures, but inner conflict, on the other hand, is an argument or disagreement inside of a person. Some reasons for inner conflict could be a split between two choices, like a dilemma, or just a mood that someone is feeling, like sadness or even depression. Everyone has an argument with themselves every once in a while, but sometimes these disagreements, if frequent, can be    dangerous.

In the book ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’, Christopher Boone experiences inner conflict all of the time. He has to make lots of choices throughout the story, like whether to trust his father, whether to run away, whether to lie, et cetera. Christopher tries to stay calm in stressful situations where his choices decide everything, but sometimes he has trouble with that. He often calms himself down by working out difficult math problems in his head to distract his mind from the situation he’s in. Christopher doesn’t really solve his inner conflicts, he just lets them pass by and work themselves out. In some ways, that is a good strategy for battling inner conflict, especially if there isn’t anything you can really do to work it out on your own.

People who struggle with inner conflict have lots of other strategies to solve it, although these strategies don’t always work. For example, sometimes simply writing down whatever is happening, like Christopher, helps. Christopher also has one of his assistants, Siobhan, to whom he turns for help quite frequently in the story. One of the most effective ways of battling inner conflict is simply telling someone else about it. Outer conflict is much easier to solve than inner conflict because inner conflict is just in the mind of a person, not something real and rational. There is no way to go into someone’s mind and fix everything, at least not yet.

Of course, inner conflict isn’t the only issue that is dealt with in ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’, but it is definitely one of the most important and impacting ones. Without inner conflict, this story would be flat, boring, and unstimulating. Most of all, the character of Christopher would not be even half complete. Sometimes, a little inner conflict can be a good thing, especially when it helps someone like Christopher see their full potential. Of course, only once they overcome their biggest obstacle: themselves.

The End