Agatha Christie Is a One

¶ … Agatha Christie is a one of this mystery author's most classic works, where ten people come together on a deserted island and are routinely murdered. The novel is a slightly bizarre look at justice in society and how that justice plays out.

Fred Narracott sat by the engine thinking to himself that this was a queer lot. Not at all his idea of what Mr. Owen's guests were likely to be. He'd expected something altogether more classy. Togged-up women and gentlemen in yachting consume and all very rich and important looking" (Christie 18). This passage introduces another key element of the novel besides Christie's ideas on justice. It introduces the strict caste system in Great Britain, and how society adheres to that caste system above all else. Fred, the ferry operator, seems to think the guests he is shuttling to Indian Island are beneath the Island's owner and host, because they do not dress and act like aristocrats. In effect, he is acting like a snob because the guests are not snobs! Christie seems to be commenting on the social injustice of the caste system in England, but also on how it is so ingrained in society that everyone adheres to it, no matter what.

The author also shows this in Vera's seemingly compulsive need to let everyone know she is an employee, rather than a guest. She immediately indicates she is a "lesser" being than the guests, and there to serve them, although she does not even know how at the beginning of the story. England's society is based on societal levels and the book helps the reader understand how important they are to English people. Americans may not understand their need to categorize people into societal levels, but at least they will understand how it works a little better by reading this book. It also shows there is something decidedly different about all the guests, which makes the reader want to continue on and discover just what it is.

It was a cruel mouth now, cruel and predatory. Hooding his eyes, the judge smiled to himself. He'd cooked Seton's goose all right!" (Christie 53). This passage is significant because it gives insight into Judge Wargrave and what motivates him. After reading the book and discovering he is the killer, it makes more sense to see him like this, an old and very vindictive man who resorts to using his own form of "frontier justice" on people he thinks deserve it. It is interesting because he has followed the law throughout his life and career, and yet now shuns it to mete out his own form of justice. Supposedly, his whole life has been about upholding justice, and now, he thumbs his nose at it because he believes all these people are guilty. What if they are not? That is what his career has been about, and yet he turns his back on it at the end of his own life. Christie seems to be commenting on the criminal justice system and its technicalities and quirks that can allow innocent people to be punished and guilty people to go free. Indirectly she is also commenting on the class system in British society, where some of the wealthy guests have been able to buy their freedom and pay their way out of a murder verdict. Thus, the book is a look at class, but it is also a look at justice, especially alternative forms of justice that seem at least partially justified.

Vera Claythorne was standing in the yard. She cried out in a high, shrill voice, shaken with wild bursts of laughter, 'Do they keep bees on this island? Tell me that. Where do we go for honey? Ha! Ha!'" (Christie 118). This passage is significant to the overall book because it illustrates something important about all the characters. Some of them feel extremely guilty about the murders they were accused of, while some of them have no guilty feelings at all. They ones who feel guilty are the ones who are the most frightened of dying, but also some of the most resigned. General MacArthur is resigned to his death as punishment for his crime, while Vera becomes increasingly hysterical and fearful of dying. Each of the accused have different personalities, and Christie uses them to illustrate the many different forms of guilt that people can harbor. Each person had a hand in a person's dying. Some have been able to rationalize away their part in the death, while others have not been able to get over their own feelings of guilt and remorse. However, the most important aspect of this is that none of them took full responsibility for their actions, and volunteered themselves to pay for their crime. Thus, the judge takes it into his own hands to punish them, knowing in their own way, they are all guilty of a heinous crime - not taking responsibility for their crimes.

Three people sat eating breakfast in the kitchen. Outside, the sun shone. It was a lovely day. The storm was a thing of the past. And with the change in the weather, a change had come in the mood of the prisoners on the island" (Christie 157). I would rewrite this passage:

Three people sat eating breakfast in the kitchen. Outside, the sun shone. It was a lovely day. The storm was a thing of the past. However, the change in the weather had not brought a change in the mood of the prisoners on the island. Facing their own doom, they seemed determined to lighten their own guilt own up to their mistakes. Vera began, "It was my fault, you know. I let that little boy swim out to far, and then I took credit for trying to rescue him." The sound of the tinkling of another Indian figure breaking to bits was distinctly heard by the diners in the kitchen.

If the characters had assumed their own guilt in the beginning, the judge might not have had to use such dire measures to mete out his own form of justice. They might have paid dearly for their crimes, but their conscious would be clear, and they could feel as if they had paid for their deeds. Killing them may terrorize them, but it does not change the fact that they were cowards who could not own up to what they had done. Ultimately, meting out justice like this is not very satisfying, even for the sadistic judge who is thrilled with his own cleverness and the violence of his justice. Of course, if the final characters had owned up to what they had done, the ending and solution to the puzzle would not be nearly as surprising or as satisfying, which is the purpose of a good mystery novel.