Agatha Christie
By: Ashlyn Keltner
Plot/Setting
One day Jerry found out that Mrs. Symmington had "committed suicide" and that they found a letter saying that one of her sons wasn't Mr. Symmington's. The police and detective's were then involved. Detective Nash and Jerry sort of buddied together to look for clues. The detectives knew that it was a woman writing the letters and that the woman wanted them to think that she was unintelligent. When in fact she was really the opposite.
A few days later Jerry got a call from Megan that she found Agnes under the staircase dead. She had been stabbed in the head. Well Agnes had figured out what no one else had. Whatever Agnes knew the murderer didn't want her opening her mouth about it and had finished her off. As the clues starting piling up, Detective Nash and Jerry had saw someone trying to sneak into the Institution because the murderer couldn't stop writing these letter. The letters were a necessity and the murderer had a strong obsession with sending them out.
Then one day Mrs. Griffith was caught sending a letter to Ms. Elsie. The letter was telling her to stay away from Mr. Symmington. When the detective came to her house to arrest her; Mr. Symmington, Megan, and Dr. Griffith were there. The Detective found evidence in her house that proved her guilty of sending the rest of the letters and the murders. When in fact it wasn't. Mrs. Griffith wasn't the murderer. The murderer was someone no one expected. When the person was caught, everyone was shocked.
Mood
- This passage creates an atmosphere of dread. It's directly telling the reader that something bad is going to happen, they just don't know what yet. It creates a anxious feeling, as if it's going to happen to them directly. This passage creates suspense.
Anyway the leaven was working now. The uneasiness was growing – coming to a head. Mrs. Symmington's suicide . . . She was alone in the house that afternoon . . . Alone in the house because the maids were having their day out . . . A week ago exactly . . . .
- This passage creates an atmosphere of anxiousness because the reader wants to know what Jerry's putting together. The reader wants to know what has happened and what's he figuring out. The mood effects the way the characters react because it makes them nervous, scared, and sort of on edge. Since this passage's mood is mainly anxiousness, it makes the characters on edge; nervous and scared.
"Now I'll tell you something: That letter that came to Mrs. Symmington that afternoon didn't come by post. It had a used stamp affixed to it, and the postmark faked quite convincingly in lamp black, so that it would seem to have been delivered by the postman with the afternoon letters. But actually it had no been through the post. You see what that means?"
- This passage creates an atmosphere of suspense because the reader finds out that the Poisoned Pen had to be inside the house, they had to have delivered it themselves. It effects the tone of the overall story because it brings the reader's curiosity up and makes them want to know who the murderer is. The mood effects how the characters react because their hackles raise, they become suspicious of others and sort of paranoid.
Elements of Mystery
- Agatha Christie followed this rule because Mr. Symmington had play a couple parts throughout the whole novel. His wife was the one that had "committed suicide" when in reality he killed her. Mr. Symmington was there when the detectives arrested Mrs. Griffith for sending a letter to Ms. Elsie. The letter was telling Ms. Elsie to stay away from Mr. Symmington. The only reason why she had sent that letter was because she was in love with Mr. Symmington. Otherwise he had planted evidence in her house that she would be blamed for the murders and for sending the rest of the letters, when she only sent one.
2. The truth of the problem must at all time be apparent – provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. By this mean that if the reader, after learning the explanation for the crime, should reread the book, he would see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring him in the face-that all the clue really pointed to the culprit – and that, if he had been clever as a detective, he could have solved the mystery himself without going on to the final chapter. That the clever reader does often thus solve the problem goes without saying.
- Agatha Christie followed this rule because in the end it becomes obvious that Mr. Symmington had killed his wife because he was in love with Ms. Elsie. His wife was in the way of his ability to be with her. The reason why he killed Agnes was because she had realized that something was wrong with the picture of Mrs. Symmingtons death and had called one her trusted friends to talk to her about it. Mr. Symmington overheard the conversation and to be careful he had decided to murder Agnes. Now no-one was in his way of being able to be with Ms. Elsie.
3. A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story. Crimes by housebreakers and bandits are the province of the police of the police departments – not of authors and brilliant amateur detectives. A really fascinating crime is one committed by a pillar of a church, or a spinster noted for her charities.
- Agatha Christie followed this rule because Mr. Symmington had no guilt over killing his wife and Agnes. He had to do what he had to do to be with Ms. Elsie. In the end when he was caught trying to murder Megan, he didn't fight the detective because he knew he had gambled and lost. At that point Mr. Symmington knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of being arrested. He was done for.
Theme
Character Analysis - Part 1
Jerry
- Jerry is Joanna's older brother. He moved to Lymstock with Joanna because he had gotten into an airplane accident and had injured his back. In the novel, Jerry is tall, dark, lantern-jawed man. Although in my opinion based on my imagination, he's tall and sort of thin, not bulky. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He's very respectable and nice to everyone. He can be impulsive. He's also really intelligent but doesn't have much confidence in himself.
Joanna
- Joanna is Jerry's younger sister. She moved to Lymstock with Jerry. Joanna is very pretty and she's really happy. She likes dancing and cocktails. She likes love affairs and rushing about in high-powered cars. She also has a mad infatuation for spineless young men who are misunderstood geniuses. When she helps them become recognized and then become ungrateful; it breaks her heart. In the novel, Joanna has fair hair and blue eyes. Joanna in my opinion based on my imagination is short, with hair down the middle of her back with big blue eyes that render men speechless.
Megan
- Megan is the daughter to Mrs. Symmington. She's the step daughter to Mr. Symmington and his two boys. In the novel, Megan is awkward in general. She's awkward looking with gaunt features and baggy clothes. She has brown hair and hazel green eyes. In my opinion based on my imagination is actually pretty, with sort of wavy brown hair and big brown eyes. Megan's sort of that misfit but is actually very caring and sweet.
Mr. Symmington
- Mr. Symmington is Mrs. Symmington's second husband. He has two boys and a step daughter named Megan. Mr. Symmington is the town lawyer. In the novel, he's tall and stiff; sort of stale. In my opinion based on my imagination Mr. Symmington is sinister looking, with dark beady eyes, sharp nose, and thin lips.
Dr. Griffith
- Dr. Griffith is the town's doctor. Dr. Griffith is Mrs. Griffith older brother. He's the only doctor in town. He's dark and melancholy. In my opinion based on my imagination Dr. Griffith is tall, sort of bulky. He has dark hair with blue eyes. He's sad all of the time most likely because of his job. Dr. Griffith has never been married but has a thing with Joanna.
Character Analysis - Part 2
Mr. Symmington is Mrs. Symmington's second husband. He has two boys and a step daughter named Megan. Mr. Symmington is the town lawyer. In the novel, he's tall and stiff; sort of stale. Mr. Symmington is sinister looking, with dark beady eyes, sharp nose, and thin lips. Mr. Symmington is a very prideful man and is reserved. He's cold and has a temper. He's also easily jealous. Also he's sort of a slime ball. Mr. Symmington isn't someone to be messed with. Since he is the murderer he is capable of many things.
- I looked at Aimee curiously. She went on, still in that softened tone, "I know Dick very well...He's a proud man and very reserved. But he's the sort of man who could be very jealous." "That would explain," I said deliberately, "why Mrs. Symmington was afraid to show him or tell him about the letter. She was afraid that, being a jealous man, he might not believe her denial." Page 51
- The request didn't improve Symmington's temper. He said sharply, "Couldn't you have waited until tomorrow morning? What the matter, do you think your allowance is inadequate?" Page 176
- Megan looked at it, then she said, "Thank you. That will do to go on with." She turned and went out of the room. Symmington stared after her and at the closed door, then he turned around and as I saw his face I made a quick uncontrolled movement forward. Page 177
- He carried her through to the kitchen and he had just arranged her comfortably with her head in the gas oven and has turned on the gas when Nash and I came through to kitchen door and switched on the light. And that was the end of Richard Symmington. Page 178
- And Mr. Symmington, as far as I can make out, was never actually a good man – he wasn't very kind or very affectionate or very sympathetic – his qualities were all negative – so he hadn't really the strength to fight his madness. And in a place like this, only his wife's death would solve his problem. Page 182
Jerry
In the novel, Jerry is tall, dark, lantern-jawed man. Although in my opinion based on my imagination, he's tall and sort of thin, not bulky. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He's very respectable and nice to everyone. Jerry becomes angered when he sees Megan not caring about herself. He can be impulsive. He loves Megan, Mrs. Symmington's daughter. He's also really intelligent but doesn't have much confidence in himself.
- She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment or two, then she said unexpectedly, "I can see you are a very clever young man – but with not quite enough confidence in yourself. You ought to have!" Page 138
- "I'm not cross," I said untruly. "It just infuriates me to see you look so slack, and not caring how you look." Page 147
- The train began to move. I looked down into Megan's upturned, wistful face. And then as I have said, madness came upon me. I opened the door, grabbed Megan with one arm and fairly hauled her into the carriage. There was an outraged shout from a porter, but all he could do was dexterously bang shut the door again. I pulled Megan up from the floor where my impetuous action had landed her." Page 147
- "You mean you really want to marry me?" she asked with the air of one getting a thing perfectly clear. "More than anything in the world," I said – and I meant it. "You mean, you're in love with me?" "I'm in love with you." Page 156
- "But you did. You indicated the whole thing to me. You saw perfectly the relationship of one thing to the other, but you just hadn't enough self-confidence to see what those feelings of yours meant. To begin with, that tiresome phrase 'No smoke without fire.' It irritated you, but you proceeded quite correctly to label it for what it was – a smoke screen. Misdirection, you see – everybody looking at the wrong thing – the anonymous letters, but the whole point was that there weren't any anonymous letters!" Page 181
Clues
- I believed this was important because it gives them a lead on what the person was like. It also narrowed down the playing field. This clue allowed them to further their investigation because now they were allowed to look into people's alibi. This information reveals that the person sending out the letters was a woman.
2. Then Poison Pen had sent a letter to Mrs. Symmington accusing her of having an affair. That one of her children wasn't Mr. Symmington's. Mrs. Symmington "committed suicide" and wrote a letter saying "I can not go on". The letter had a stamp on it that had been reused and the letter hadn't been through the postal service and hadn't been sent through the mail.
- I believe this was important because if the letter hadn't been through the postal service and hadn't been through the mail, that meant the letter was placed there directly. Also the "I can not go on" was a little fishy. When someone commits suicide they usually write the people they love, letters. Also Mrs. Symmington wasn't the type of person that would commit suicide.
3. The murder then killed Agnes, Partridge's friend. Detective Nash had believed that she had been murdered because she had seen the person that had sent the letter, but that was false. She actually hadn't seen anything. Agnes started to realize that something wasn't right with how Mrs. Symmington died and how she had gotten the letter. So Agnes called up Partridge to ask her of her opinion, the murderer had overheard their conversation and to be cautious the murderer murdered Agnes in cold blood.
- I believed this to be important because if Agnes hadn't actually seen anybody deliver the letter, that meant the letter was sent from someone who lived in the Symmington's house. In my opinion it was the biggest clue throughout the whole book. She hadn't seen anyone but the letter had gotten to Mrs. Symmington without Agnes knowing it. Mrs. Symmington and Agnes had been murdered by someone in the house.
Foreshadowing
- This passage is important to making predictions in the story because it tells you that he's going to hear it more often, but that the statement means something much more. The statement is what allows you to put the clues together more accurately.
"We have come down here," I said sternly, "for peace and quiet, and I mean to see we get it." But peace and quiet were the last things we were to have. Chapter 1, page 33.
- This passage is important to making predictions in the story because it tells you that he wants peace and quiet, but that's not what he's about to get. It allows you to make predictions of what is to come.
It seems odd to me now that in our speculations about Poison Pen's frame of mind, we missed the most obvious one. Griffith had pictured her as possibly exultant. I had envisaged her as remorseful – appalled by the result of her handiwork. Mrs. Dane Calthrop had seen her as suffering. Yet the obvious, the inevitable reaction we didn't not consider – or perhaps I should say, I did not consider. That reaction war Fear. Chapter 3, page 70.
- This passage is important to making predictions because it is telling you that fear is going to drive Poison Pen to a whole new level. It's allowing you to make predictions on what Poison Pen is about to do next.
Anyway the leaven was working now. The uneasiness was growing – coming to a head. Mrs. Symmington's suicide . . . She was alone in the house that afternoon . . . Alone in the house because the maids were having their day out . . . A week ago exactly . . . . Chapter 3, page 87.
- This passage is important to making predictions because the author is putting you in the mindset of Jerry and he's piecing things together. This passage is allowing you to make a prediction on what he's piecing together.
"I wanted to speak to you," she said. "No, don't go after Megan now. It wouldn't be wise." I was just going to make a sharp rejoinder when she disarmed me by saying, "That girl has great courage – a very high order of courage." Chapter 8, page 171.
- This passage is important to making predictions because it's telling you that Megan has a lot of courage but the question is for what? This passage is allowing you to make a prediction on what Megan is about to do and what's about to happen.
Personal Opinion
Honestly there was more than three aspects of the novel that I really enjoyed but I will choose my favorite. My first one would be when Jerry started having feelings for Megan. He didn't really know at the time that he was falling in love with her but when he did, he immediately proposed to her. My second favorite would be when Jerry was on the train going to London for a doctors appointment and Megan went with him to see him off. As the train started moving he made an impulsive decision and hauled up into the train by her waist. He wanted her to go with him and he was angry that she didn't take care of herself, so he wanted to take care of her. My third favorite would be when Megan sacrificed herself to catch the murderer. Then when Jerry saved her, she told him she had written a poem for him about how much she loved him. So really my three favorite aspects of the book were when romance was intermingled.
There wasn't anything about the novel I didn't enjoy. I really liked the mystery and the foreshadowing because it sort of made me know what was coming up without knowing what was going to happen. I also really enjoyed that Mr. Symmington was intelligent enough to write the letters the way a woman would because then the people and the detectives wouldn't suspect a man. Especially a man that was the husband to Mrs. Symmington, who had "killed" herself.
I think this novel would make a really good movie. Although you would have to find the perfect and specific actors to star in it. The reason why I say that is because I think the movie would have to give the audience a mix of emotions. Since the actors are the ones to portray those emotions, the actors would need to be on point. Also the movie would have a lot of suspense and keep the audience hanging because they're going to want to know who the murderer is and the whole reason why the murderer is evening committing these crimes.