And Then There Were None
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- For the video game, see And Then There Were None (video game).
Image:AndThenThereWereNoneDVDCover.jpg
And Then There Were None (also known as Ten Little Indians and originally as Ten Little Niggers) is a detective novel by Agatha Christie first published in 1939.
Contents |
Plot
The story focuses on ten strangers who are all (but one) brought, by misleading information, to an island off the coast of Devon, in southern England.
The characters, in order of death, are:
- Anthony Marston, a reckless playboy
- Mrs. Ethel Rogers, the housekeeper
- General John Macarthur, a retired World War I hero
- Mr. Thomas Rogers, the butler, Mrs. Rogers' husband
- Emily Brent, an elderly spinster and religious zealot
- Justice Lawrence Wargrave, a retired judge
- Dr. Edward Armstrong, a private physician
- William Blore, a retired police inspector, now a private investigator
- Philip Lombard, a mercenary
- Vera Claythorne, a young teacher and ex-governess
On their first night, the ten realize that they have been brought to the island under false pretenses, but now have no means of getting away. A mysterious gramophone recording informs them that all ten of them are guilty of "murders," though in this case the killings cannot be dealt with by law. Marston, for instance, was responsible for death by reckless driving, but rather than be hanged he simply had his licence withdrawn.
On the first night, Anthony Marston dies of poisoning. In the morning, Mrs. Rogers fails to wake up and it is assumed that she had a fatal overdose of sleeping drugs.
At lunch the very same day, General Macarthur is found dead by a blow to the back of his head. After continuing to search the island for the murderer or possible hiding spots, the survivors realize that the murderer can only be one of them, and whoever it is is playing a game – killing them in the manner poetically similar to a nursery rhyme, and also removing one of ten little figurines in the dining room after each murder. The survivors have a meeting and discover that none of them has an alibi for any of the deaths.
The next morning Rogers is found dead in the woodshed, having been killed with a giant axe that was nearby. Later that day, Emily Brent dies from an injection of potassium cyanide. The five remaining - Dr. Armstrong, Justice Wargrave, Philip Lombard, Vera Claythorne, and Inspector Blore – become increasingly paranoid. Later, Justice Wargrave is found dead, having been shot through the head.
That night, Dr. Armstrong leaves the house, and when the rest of the survivors search for him, all they can find is a smashed figurine.
Vera, Inspector Blore, and Philip Lombard think it best to go outside when morning arrives. Blore decides to go back to the house to get some sustenance, and a dull thud is heard. When Vera and Philip check to see what happened, they find Blore crushed to death by a heavy marble clock. They assume Doctor Armstrong did it and decide to stay out of the house. The two survivors get back to the beach only to find Armstrong's body washed up on the shore. Vera and Lombard then realize that they are the only two left. Even though neither could possibly have murdered the Inspector, the suspicion has driven them to a breaking point and each of them assumes the other to be the murderer. Lombard reaches for his revolver, only to discover that Vera has pickpocketed it. She shoots him and then returns to the house, thinking she is finally safe. When Vera gets to her room, she discovers a noose hanging there, and, having finally been driven mad by the entire experience, hangs herself, thus fulfilling the rhyme upon which the murders were based.
So, by the novel's end, all ten guests are dead, leaving a "locked room mystery." A police investigation, although thorough, cannot find any satisfactory explanation. It is resolved when a letter in a bottle, tossed into the ocean and recovered by a trawler, is delivered to the police, which was written by the murderer.
As it turns out, the Justice's death was fabricated to absolve him of suspicion (with the complicity of Dr. Armstrong, who examined the body). When everyone thought he was dead, he continued orchestrating the killings. In the end, after Vera hangs herself, the Justice explains his reasoning for this vengeful plot and shoots himself through the head.
Film and theater
Christie had been disappointed in previous adaptations of her novels. As she had written a play before, she decided to adapt her own book herself. She decided that the staging of a play required the survival of two characters in order to carry the plot exposition. Consequently the resolution of the play is very different from that of the book (though the identity of the killer remains the same). This stage version dates from 1943. All but one of the films followed the play's humourous tone & happy ending, rather than the book's dark tone and downbeat resolution.
The story was adapted for the cinema as And Then There Were None in 1945 and again in 1974; and also filmed as Ten Little Indians in 1959 (as truncated television recording of the play), 1965 (see Ten Little Indians (1965 film)), 1974, 1989 and as Ten Little Niggers in 1987.
The rhyme
The book's original title "Ten Little Niggers" was taken from the chorus of an American comic song, written by Septimus Winner in 1868; there are many variants of the lyrics, of which "Ten Little Injuns" is probably the most familiar to modern audiences. The song is now considered by many to be racist and offensive.
The rhyme used in the novel is as follows:
- Ten little Indian boys going out to dine;
- One choked his little self and then there were nine.
- Nine little Indian boys sat up very late;
- One overslept himself and then there were eight.
- Eight little Indian boys traveling in Devon;
- One said he'd stay and then there were seven.
- Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks;
- One chopped himself into halves and then there were six.
- Six little Indian boys playing with a hive;
- A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
- Five little Indian boys going in for law;
- One got in Chancery and then there were four.
- Four little Indian boys going out to sea;
- A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
- Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo;
- A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
- Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun;
- One got frizzled up and then there was one.
- One little Indian boy left all alone;
- He went and hanged himself and then there were none.
"Ten little Indians" and "and then there was one" in popular culture
The memes "ten little Indians" and "and then there was one" have been used many times in modern days to refer to situations in stories – such as slasher films, other horror films, and disaster films — in which the characters die off one by one. This is how many films of those genres are structured, in order to provide gory scenes periodically, and to ultimately force the main character to face off against the villain alone. This main character in slasher films is often the "final girl."
Trivia
- "And Then There Were None" was adapted from Agatha Christie's book into a video game in 2005 by The Adventure Company. It was released in November of that year to mixed reviews, most of the slack going to changing the "Indians" to "Sailors" and altering the killer's motive and identity, though it is possible to see the original novel's ending when one finishes a puzzle after completing the main game. Four further books are to be adapted.
- "Ten Little Indians" is a song by The Yardbirds along the same lines with the rhyme, although more dismal. In the song, the death of each "Indian" is related to breaking one of the Ten Commandments.
- A Japanese doujin game, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, features an extra stage of a girl having the spell card named "And Then Will There be None?" and a theme music named "Is she the U.N. Owen?" (U.N. Owen is the killer's alias used in the novel, play, and films.)
- "Zehn Kleine Jägermeister" (Ten Little "Jägermeister") is a song by the German band Die Toten Hosen, along the same lines as the rhyme, but with funny or satirical things happening to the characters (taking drugs, being arrested for tax evasion, dying of mad cow disease, etc.)
- The Polish film Show, starring Cezary Pazura, tells the story of a reality show located on a remote island. Suddenly, the competitors start to die one after another. One of the competitors mentions Agatha Christie's novel.
- A musical comedy spoof of the novel, titled Something's Afoot, was written and enjoyed a brief run on Broadway.
- "Ten Little Indians" is the first phrase and recurring theme of the lyric to the song "Only One Woman," written by Bilgeri, an alias of the Bee Gees, which was a UK hit in 1969 for Graham Bonnet and Trevor Gordon under the name of The Marbles.
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