And Then There Were None Essay

Agatha Christie, author of the murder mystery And Then There Were None, used foreshadowing and both external and internal conflict to portray the theme of her novel that justice can be served for the crimes that go unpunished. Christie used these elements because she enjoyed mystery and she liked to keep her readers engaged while reading. Agatha Christie is still considered one of the best, if not, the best murder mystery writer today because she wrote the first murder mystery novel and she wrote many more after that that was well loved by people.

And Then There Were None is an enthralling mystery novel by esteemed author Agatha Christie. It is a horror filled scenario in which ten people are trapped on an island, and get killed off one by one, the deaths corresponding with the children's rhyme ‘Ten Little Indians.’ In order to benefit themselves, three alliances are formed throughout the novel: between Blore, Armstrong, and Lombard; Claythorne and Lombard; and Armstrong and Wargrave. The alliances have great impact on the characters’ actions and the novel itself, in aiding or hindering the murderer, and building suspense as alliances fall.

And Then There Were None, written by Agatha Christie in 1939, remains one of the best mystery novels ever created to this day. During her time, mystery was an established genre for novels. Famous mystery writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle developed the mystery genre by following the rules when writing their stories. In a typical mystery novel, the story would be told by a detective. The story would then go on as the detective tries to solve the case. More clues would be found and it would get clearer as the story gets further. At the end, we would know who the culprit was and every mysterious event would be explained. These novels give the readers a chance to solve the case.

Agatha Christie uses characterization to show the evil side of human nature, in her mystery novel And Then There Were None, through three important characters, which include Vera Claythorne, Philip Lombard, and Justice Wargrave. Christie shows characterization through Vera by making her a Dynamic character. Vera changes through the course of the work by influence of the life threatening situation that is going on around her. Furthermore, Vera changes from a proper and polite woman, to a woman who will do anything to survive. “Vera Claythorne, tired by some recent strenuous term at school, thought to herself-‘Being a games mistress in a

“Ten little soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were Nine…One little soldier boy left all alone; he went and hanged himself And then there were None” (Green). A group of 10 strangers are sent to the mysterious Soldier Island for a so called vacation. What they don’t know is that there is one murderer among them. During their first night on the island, a mysterious record reveals the darkest secret of each person, they are murderers. Soon after that, the first murder is committed and death is among them. As the crowd of ten diminishes, the china soldiers on the table do as well, until there are none. In And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, the theme of guilt is portrayed when Vera Claythorne hangs herself, when the record is played on the gramophone, and when Miss Emily Brent has flashbacks.

Justice Lawrence Wargrave had a dark desire of seeing or causing death but he also had a strong sense of justice so seeing innocents die brought him no pleasure, although as time passed he started loosing control and wanting to kill, which was a constant inner battle for him. Ultimately he succumbed to his desire and began forming his plan, which targeted people who deliberately killed but where untouchable by the law becoming a sort of “criminal artist” shown by the way he committed all the murders by following the old nursery rhyme the ten little Indian Boys. “From my earlier youth I realized that my nature was a mass of contradictions.” (p. 261). This quote shows us that Wargrave always new that he liked the idea of murder but because of sense of justice he would have to plan an amazing murder that would both bring people to justice but also satisfy his hunger for

The author Agatha Christie who wrote the novel And Then There Were None set the theme of a powerful journey leading the main characters in a decision of survival and fate, the way the author Agatha Christie goes into different elements to show how this theme came about is irony. She uses this technique to get the audiences full attention on how the mystery in this novel bring about missing characters and will be the lost standing Agatha Christie is not one of your ordinary authors; she brings a point in the novel which is a very suspenseful view that will catch your attention.

In the book, And Then There Were None; a popular mystery novel written by Agatha Christie, widely considered her masterpiece and described by her as the most difficult of her books to write said agatha. The story And Then There Were None was first printed in United Kingdom on November 6, 1939, but was reprinted in the US based off of the nursery rhyme Ten

My class and I recently read the book And Then There Were None. In the story, there was a poem about indians that was put on the wall. This poem had a significant role upon the story that we read. This poem was what the murderer followed when he was killing the people in the story. I will discuss a few of the lines of the poem and how that person died in accordance to the line. The first line of the poem reads: Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. This was prefiguring when one of the people was poisoned when him and the others were eating and drinking. The killer followed closely to this line of the poem so he could strike fear into the guests, and so he could also let the people start

I believe that the murderer, Judge Wargrave never lost control over the situation. He carried out the deaths in such a way that no one would think that it was him. As i was reading the book, i did not come to a realization that he was the killer until the very end. He assembled a very complex and thought out plan and followed through with it perfectly, everything that was supposed to to happen in his eyes,

Consequently, the guests, one by one, are mysteriously murdered. The guests that remain soon realize that all of the deaths are linked to one thing: the nursery rhyme located in each of the bedrooms in the house. Unbelievable as that may be, the guests begin to turn on each other becoming very paranoid and suspecting everyone that poses a threat. And Then There Were None keeps the reader guessing until the very end when the unlikely subject, Justice Wargrave, the retired judge, is the mastermind behind the mass murders. Through his sense of justice and longing to invent the perfect murder mystery, Wargrave succeeded in killing all nine guests going unsuspected. In his confession, he describes how he constructed his perfect murders and how he killed himself so that no inspector could solve the mystery. The strange mystery of Indian Island remains unsolved for the detectives, but the guilt of knowing the murderer will linger on the reader’s lips.

“Outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap” (“Homepage”). The New Historicism Lens is a way for readers to speculate deeper understandings of texts by relating the text to the historical era in which it was set or written. Another aspect of this lens involves looking specifically at how the author’s life impacts their writing. Published in 1939, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, continues to be one of Christie's most successful books, and with the use of this lens, readers can observe historical happenings at the time it was written and how events in Christie’s life influenced her writing of this text.

One of the largest problems with And Then There Were None is the use of offensive and hurtful stereotypes while referring to the women in the novel, as well as indirectly stating that all women should be homemakers who cook and clean. With a pioneering female writer such as Agatha Christie, you would not necessarily expect such blaring misogyny, but it remains all the same. On a broader note, the three main female characters are each stereotypes of the “crazy woman”- one following under her husband even for cruelty, one being bible-crazy, and one being so in love she is willing to literally kill anyone who stands in her way. More specifically, when William Blore is analyzing the death of Mrs. Rogers, he

10 murderers brought together by only one brilliant author, Agatha Christie. One would notice that all the characters seem to either be extremely guilty or not guilty at all. All of the characters in “And Then There Were None” are very different and even have different views on their crimes and life. The reason for this might be that Christie wanted everyone to be able to relate to these captivating characters.

He shows this throughout the whole book starting with him being a judge. He reveals this when he explains, “When in due course I came to preside over a court of law, that other secret instinct of mine was encouraged to develop. To see a wretched criminal squirming in the dock, suffering the tortures of the damned, as his doom came slowly and slowly nearer, was to me an exquisite pleasure” (Christie 286). This shows how he would absolutely love to watch a criminal suffer for his wrong doing, so he murders everyone on the island so they pay for their crimes. One would need such a desire to commit a crime like this and that is why Wargrave is able