We can, at this point in the novel, infer that Christopher is not a “normal” child, or what Ian Hacking in his essay, linked below calls a “neurotypical.”
The “groaning,” his answers to the police officer, and his hyper analytical reaction to the scene of Wellington the poodle’s murder all hint at a difference. We are never actually told what makes Christopher different, or atypical. To anyone with some knowledge of neurological disorders, though, and to Ian Hacking, it is clear that young Christopher is somewhere on the autistic spectrum. The idea of writing a novel with an autistic character as the protagonist, or even in a side role is a recent development. The disorder itself is a recent discovery. Its actual medical classification came only within the last sixty years, and it is only very recently that it can be diagnosed with any certainty, and with the advent of the internet, autistic people are only now really being able to express themselves. Hacking says that it’s because of this tie between the internet and a broader awareness of autism that novels like Haddon’s can come about and succeed.
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