Literary Analysis Of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None

The characters in And Then There Were None, written by Agatha Christie, have universal strengths and weaknesses that are shown in mankind. Mrs. Rogers, Vera Claythorne, and Emily Brent’s wide-spread of personalities such as sensitivity, unstableness, and lack of empathy are mankind’s strengths and weaknesses when times are difficult. Even though the characters are indefinitely different, these weaknesses are major problems to our society, and the occurrences at Soldier Island.

Mrs. Rogers sensitivity is one example of a weakness. In the book, the text states, “Mrs. Rogers’ breath came in quick gasps. Her eyes, staring frightened eyes, went around round and round the ring of faces. There was urgency in Rogers’ tone. ” (page 51) Meaning behind the quote being, and proving, how frail and sensitive she confirmedly is. Within the compressed amount of time of her being alive, she shows timid actions among the other people; another example is when Anthony Marston died she about fainted once again to this awful surprise.

Unstableness is one major problem that society, in other words, mankind, struggles with. Being unstable means to have psychiatric problems or to be prone to sudden mood changes. Vera Claythorne is a prime contributor of the problem. Throughout the novel, Vera shows unstableness through her actions and dialogue with the other guests. During the stay at Soldier Island, Vera got guilt trapped after the record played, and after the first victim died, and that was when she realized that this was all terrifically real. Towards the end of the book, the psychotic actions started taking a toll. In the duration of time spent on the island, Vera killed a man, and hung herself. Without a doubt, Vera ended one life in her youth, but three lives in her lifetime. Her sanity had not only started to control her actions, but started to control her mindset. Although Vera had a rather interesting personality before the stay at the island, she definitely found another side of herself there.

Emily Brent’s lack of empathy made the trip to Soldier Island a rather compelling stay. Her empathetic, and up-tight attitude made her personality discourteous. Miss Brent killed her servant because the woman was pregnant and didn’t live up to her standards, so realistically two lives were ended without guilt on Brent’s part. Granting all this, Emily did spend much time in her room reading her bible and was a very religious person, but she still insanely murdered an innocent woman. Nonetheless, the time not spent in her room was spent making vulgar comments and gestures towards the other guests. Soldier Island is definitely a place for the mentally insane. The Island was full of different personalities and beyond any doubt, very diverse people. Ranging from weaknesses like Mrs. Rogers’ sensitivity, Vera Claythornes psychotic problems, and Emily Brent’s lack of empathy made the whole novel come together as a whole. These social problems go hand-in-hand with our weaknesses in mankind too. If we aren’t careful, we also may end up with none.