Great social skills or great intelligence? The ability to make friends in the blink of an eye or the ability to solve quadratic equations in a second? This choice is easy for Christopher John Francis Boone, the protagonist of the book: there is no choice. Christopher was supposedly born with autism and suffers from some disabilities and challenges. In fact, he even excels at certain things. Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time demonstrates the types of challenges and rewards that autistic people experience on a daily basis. Autism can sometimes be challenging and difficult to live with, but it can also be rewarding and have enhanced abilities. And sometimes, these so-called challenges can intertwine with the supposed rewards and serve as the opposite of what they would normally be classified as. As the story progresses, Christopher shows readers how difficult it can be to live with autism, due to his complete lack of social skills, awkward behavior, inability to learn indirect language, and his non-existent sense of humor. On pages 7 and 8, as Christopher is being scolded by the policeman, he treats him in a rather unconventional way. While being scolded, Christopher rolls on the lawn and begins to moan, to drown out all the noise coming at him. He does it because "too many things from the outside world come to mind", demonstrating that he doesn't know how to deal well with comparison. Right after he rolls himself into a ball, the cop picks up Christopher and lifts him up. Christopher then proceeds to hit the cop, which gets him arrested. Christopher's inability to grasp rhetorical questions and sarcasm is very evident in the story. On page 81, Christopher is reread... halfway through the paper... they would still be the nicest friends Christopher would ever have, as she is so welcoming and comforting. Sometimes, so-called "disabilities" turn out to be useful after all. Mark Haddon's beautifully written and insightful novel shows the ups and downs of being autistic, as well as a combination of them. Christopher is a very clumsy person, but at the same time he is a bit of a virtuoso when it comes to numbers and mathematics. He has brilliant attention to detail, but fails to understand the simplest forms of humor. These advantages and disadvantages can also occasionally intersect, when what some would call an advanced skill turns out to be as negatively impactful as a “disability” is rewarding. Haddon successfully shows how being autistic means giving and receiving in everyday life, dictating the lives of very different people, Christopher John Francis Boone.