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Agatha Christie's A Murder Is Announced: Analysis

Decent Essays
Understanding the cultural context within which a text is written can help readers experience things that they may never experience in their lives. Culture leads readers intellectually and emotionally and deepens their understanding of the character’s history, the society that they live in and their individual lives. Learning culture plays a fundamental role in making readers understand the social and political context in which the novel is written, the people the author associates with, and the larger society that frames the whole work. It is hard to read literature without a solid comprehension of the work through its cultural context. In light of this information this essay will explain how culture influences the plot line, character development,…show more content…
As a 20th century work, "A Murder is Announced," was written at a period when the number of Alien residents doubled due to the Second World War. The plot of "A Murder is Announced," is held stable by the fact that characters are invading the tranquility of the idolized small community Of Chipping Cleghorn (Christie, 1950). Christie brilliantly deploys Miss Marples as her detective. Miss Marples plays her role at a time when the Spinster stereotype was high. Unmarried women were considered lonely, nosy and judgmental. Miss Marples is described as a being, “benignant and a good deal older” (Christie, 1950). The cultural beliefs during Miss Marples time situate Miss Marples in a position where she can observe the society as an unnoticed and unimportant character. Miss Marple's ambiguous position at a time when a woman’s role was predominantly domestic gives her peculiar power to move the plot forward and develop important…show more content…
“The Sign of Four,” was written at a period when Britain was experiencing success in colonial expansion. Besides the exciting characters that are presented in “The Sign of Four,” the novel provides significant insights to help readers learn and appreciate the Victorian culture. Doyle presentation of India as an exotic sphere is a major characteristic of the British colonial perceptions. Miss Morstan’s valuables, including “a small turban of the small, dull hue, relieved only by the suspicion of a white feather on the side," attract the attention of Watson and motivates his attraction to her (Doyle, 2000). Watson description of Sholto’s apartment shows the Western tendency to link foreign objects with dissipation, he says, “The carpet was of amber and black” (Doyle, 2000). Doyle’s depiction of Holmes as a credible detective represents British society’s demand for government protection against foreign
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