And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Book Review

The theme of it being dangerous to rely on class distinction played a big role in the book “And Then There Were None”, by Agatha Christie. In the book, 10 guests were invited to Soldier Island by a different sender, for different reasons. At the island, they were expected to do many different tasks. In reality, at the island, they were all sent there to be killed off one by one in order of their guilt from previous crimes they've committed, and which were not punishable by law. Towards the end of the book, we then find out that the killer was Justice Wargrave, the judge. Throughout the novel, class distinction continuously sticks out and shows how dangerous relying on social status can be. For example, Dr. Armstrong didn’t consider that Wargrave could have been the killer even after he asked him to assist him in faking his death because he trusted Wargrave and likely thought higher of him because of his money and his community reputation. When in reality, Wargrave was responsible for the murders of 9 people. The characters also said things such as Rogers couldn’t have done it, “Hasn’t got the brains for one thing. And for another his wife was one of the victims.”, all because he was a worker and he likely didn’t make very much money. Also, in chapter 9, the characters try to rule out the murderer and they say specifically that it couldn’t be the women because of them being women, as if they’re seen as too dumb, or too “loving”.

One main piece of evidence is how, in chapter 9, they had just found out that there was a murderer upon them and when they went to search, they did not let women go and they ruled out both women because women were “incapable” of doing so. This shows my theme because they said women couldn't do it simply because they were women. It had nothing to do with their intelligence or capability to solve the mystery or commit the perfect murders. In the text, Lombard stated, “At any rate, I suppose you'll leave the women out of it.” That to me shows how underestimated the women were and how they were treated less than humans simply because of their gender. I feel the author's craft was dialogue and having someone say it instead of thinking of it, as a quote it stood out more because as just a piece of text it would have less significance than if someone were to say it. While some might argue that this evidence shows that justice was not rightfully served due to the fact, that it could have been the women and they were just ruled out; they forget that in the book the women were degraded often and put to do work that the men didn't have to do, just because they were a different gender. To me, this shows that the theme of relying on class distinction is dangerous because it shows that more than once the men brought the women down to a lower stoop just because of their gender. 

Another piece of evidence is that when Wargraves' note in a bottle had just been found and turned into the police as they read why Wargrave did it and the list of victims and how he accomplished the murders so tracelessly they found out that Armstrong had helped him fake his death. In the epilogue, it said, “ Armstrong agreed to help Wargrave fake his death, and pretended to examine the body of the judge and find a gunshot wound on his forehead.” That to me means that Armstrong didn't even think twice about assisting someone in their fake death as there is a murderer on the loose. It is noted Armstrong didn't think twice because Wargrave had a good reputation as a well-respected judge and Armstrong had no reason to believe that he was capable of the murder because of his social stance. I feel the author's craft was a note Wargrave had made about Armstrong becoming his ally and sort of his puppet, in the text, states “Wargrave goes on to describe how he tricked Armstrong into becoming his ally: Armstrong, he notes, “was a gullible sort of man . . . it was inconceivable to him that a man of my standing should be a murderer.” I feel the author put that there because it hints at who the killer was before it was revealed and helped unveil how he pulled everything off with the help of his social hierarchy. 

In conclusion, I feel the theme is how relying on class distinction is dangerous. I feel that because Dr. Armstrong didn’t consider that Wargrave could have been the killer even after he asked him to assist him in faking his death because he trusted Wargrave and likely thought higher of him because of his money and his community reputation. When in reality Wargrave was responsible for the murders of 9 people. The characters also said things such as Rogers couldn’t have done it because he, “Hasn’t got the brains for one thing. And for another his wife was one of the victims.” all because he was a worker and he likely didn’t make very much money. Lastly, in chapter 9 the characters try to rule out the murderer and they say specifically that it couldn’t be the women because of them being women, as if they’re seen as less competent. Those to me show how everyone is treated differently, not because of who they are rather than their social status.