AND THEN THEY WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

Nolyn Jane Aragon

Sep 29, 20204 min read

Updated: Oct 2, 2020

Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of ten strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. Ten people are gathered for a weekend on an island off the coast of Devon, England, 7 guests, a new personal secretary and the domestic couple running the estate. They were gathered by the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen, whom none of the ten has ever actually met. According to Huggo (n.d.), seven guests are invited by Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen, most indirectly, to their estate, the only thing located on remote English coastal Indian Island, to which there is only boat access twice a week. The only other people on the island and estate are the two married domestics, who are already there, and Mrs. Owen's new secretary, who accompanies the other seven on the boat. In addition to the name of the island, there are references to the nursery rhyme Ten Little Indians throughout the estate, including a collection of ten Indian statues on the dining room table. All ten people at the estate will quickly learn three things: that neither Mr. or Mrs. Owen are yet there, they being delayed in London; that none of them have ever met either of the Owens, even the three employees, or know each other beyond the married couple knowing each other; and that Owen accuses all ten of being responsible for the death of an innocent person, and thus must pay for their crimes. The accusations are, on the surface, surprising as the guests include highly respected people, such as a judge, a doctor, and a former General. The ten are stuck on the island for at least three days until the next boat arrives, as there is no means of communication otherwise on or off the island. As per the nursery rhyme, the guests, one by one, are found dead, each time with one of the ten Indian statues on the dining room table missing. Initially, those still alive believe U.N. Owen, which they realize is a play on the word "unknown", is hiding somewhere on the island, committing the murders. But what may be more frightening for them is the possibility that Owen may be one of the ten of them, and thus has a front row seat to their every move. They were all scared because they're too blind of who's the killer at first. They didn't know what to do because they're trapped, trapped in the place and situations that seems they cannot go out. It is somewhat a pay back time.

This relates to psychoanalytic theory because Agatha Christie grandfather died in a car accident, and it would make sense for her to have the man who killed the two kids in the book to get murdered, probably just as she thought of when her grandfather was killed. The theory could work, but Agatha's brother also died when he was young, just like these college kids. Having someone so young die obviously must have hurt Christie, which would again it would make sense for her to punish the person. "According to Freud and his followers, most human behavior is the result of desires, impulses and memories that have been repressed into an unconscious state, yet still influence actions." According to Maimunah (2019) the novel is one of the literary works that have a story related to human life. Human is different from the other creatures, especially in the feel, think, and behave. The psychological problem often occurs in the characters of the novel, such as sadness, happiness, and frustration. There may be some motives and desires that make someone behave normal or abnormal.

In an article from "ATTWN Literary Analysis" (2020), each person in the planet is so incredibly unique that it would be easier to find two identical snowflakes than finding two identical people. However, we do have things in common, despite what most think. 10 homicidal characters conjured up by the famous magician of an author, Agatha Christie, are invited to a seemingly-innocent millionaires island by the mysterious U.N. Owen in the award-winning novel, And Then They Were None. Each person is invited by different people for different reasons; an old army-buddy reunion, an undercover investigation, and a secretary position. Then, they're all accused of the heinous felonies by a recording and are assassinated one by one until they were none remaining alive. The characters from And Then They Were None represent humankind's self-preservation, fear and predictability.

Humans have a knack for blaming others to redirect accusations on themselves. For example, if a student decided to cheat on a test, they'd probably get a good grade, but they'd breaking a rule. So, they wouldn't admit it because it benefits themselves. This is similar to how the 10 characters from And Then They Were None committed murders and got away with it. They wanted to protect their own well-being and avoid getting in jail. Fear is another drive for the things we people do. Our species are so intellectual that we can also predict each other's actions. And that is what we call power of thoughts. Sometimes, we can say, do or think something to a person without any clarification or evidence because of the mindsets that we have. What is in our minds will become our actions and what our actions will become our attitudes.