Summer Reading Question

1. Throughout the novel, the author uses different characters to tell the story. Why does Christie choose to use different points of view? I think Agatha Christie used different characters to tell the story is because she wanted to build suspense. What she did, was she gave a little snippet of each character’s thoughts and switched to the next character. By doing this, she showed the reader just enough of the character’s thoughts to create some doubt in the reader’s mind. For example, in chapter two, Christie switches from each character’s point of view and shows enough to make us think that they are potential murderers.
Dr. Armstrong feels inspired by the beauty of the island to “make plans, fantastic plans”; Anthony Marston lies in his bath thinking to himself that he “must go through with it”; Blore ties his tie and hopes he will not
“bungle” his “job”; Macarthur wishes he could “make an excuse and get away . . . Throw up the whole business.” Emily Brent reads Bible verses about the just punishment of sinners, and Lombard looks like a beast of prey. In these snippets, Christie plants seeds of doubt into the reader’s mind and proceeds to craft a brilliant mystery. 2. The effect of guilt is one of the major themes of the novel. Based on the characters in the book and your own personal experiences, how do people respond differently to guilt? How do the characters’ responses compare to those of people in real life? People respond very differently to guilt. Take Vera for example. She was overcome with the guilt that she couldn’t save Cyril, and because of that, Hugo looked upon her with disgust. That proved fatal in her death when Wargrave preyed on that weakness, thus leading her to hang herself. Vera is like many people in real life. At first, she denied that she had done any wrong but slowly, the doubt creeped into her mind. She kept thinking about Hugo, and she kept feeling more guilty. Eventually she succumbed to that guilt and hung herself. Conversely, Emily Brent didn’t was reacted quite differently.
She felt guilty, but steeled herself so nobody else knew. Many people do this in real life, and eventually when someone finds out, the situation turns ugly. Contrastingly, Lombard didn’t feel guilty at all. In his words “Natives don’t mind dying, you know.” He didn’t care at all that he left the Indians to die.

3. Think about the idea of “justice” in this unique mystery. Did the characters “get what they deserved,” or were any of them punished unfairly? I believe that there were some people that deserved what they got, and some people who were undeserving. One person that was punished unfairly was Vera Claythorne. Vera was accused of murdering a little boy named Cyril for allowing him to swim out to a rock, and when he was drowning,
Vera “failed” to save him. As a result Vera’s friend Hugo, began to distance himself from her. This caused Vera lots of grief but she eventually steeled herself. Even after that, she would be crippled with little bouts of grief. When she was the only one left, Wargrave preyed on her grief of losing Hugo and pseudo hypnotized her into hanging herself. I don’t think she really deserved that, because she didn’t

purposely kill Cyril. Lombard however, purposely left the natives there without any remorse and I think he deserved to be shot. What characteristics create a compelling mystery? Which of these characteristics are evident in this novel? Which characteristics do you believe are lacking?

There are a lot of characteristics that create a compelling mystery. One of the greatest attributes that makes
And Then There Were None a compelling mystery is that Christie keeps the reader asking questions. When someone died, Christie had the readers asking “Who’s next?” by giving the opinions and worries of the characters that were left. Also, the whole plot about 10 people dying one by one in a battle of survival creates an enticing story full of suspense, and that’s what every mystery needs. Some things that the story could improve on are that at times, the story became predictable. Even though
Christie kept the readers on their toes for the most part, there were a few passages where the story became predictable. Like the passage when Lombard and Blore found out that Armstrong disappeared, it was predictable that they thought he took the revolver and ran off, thus leading the duo to hunt down
Armstrong. In the same light, Christie provided a minor plot twist by showing that Lombard still had the revolver, throwing the hunt off guard. One of the major plot twists that Christie included was the epilogue. I didn’t expect at all that Wargrave would be the killer at all. The way Christie crafted the story made Wargrave’s explanations completely feasible, but highly unlikely that any reader could decipher that Wargrave was the killer without prior knowledge. That is how every mystery should be, keeping the reader intrigued until the very end. Christie crafted a beautiful mystery filled with twists and turns but it turned out to be a very enjoyable ride, right through the end.