Reread Diaries: And Then There Were None
The first reread of the series by the famous murder mystery writer Agatha Christie.
I love a good mystery, as we all do—and I especially love one that keeps me guessing the entire time. I grew up on The Boxcar Children, on inherited Nancy Drew books, and had an insatiable need to know everything about the world around me. It’s no wonder that when we were young, we were enraptured by the ultimate need to know — who done it, really?
As someone who studied and now teaches literature and storytelling, inevitably there comes a time when certain conventions start to jump out at you. You learn to spot the red herrings, the missteps and mistakes, and can generally follow the trail of breadcrumbs left behind. But good storytellers—the really great ones—know how to weave a web complex enough to keep you on your toes while still revealing a rather plausible (but sometimes still wild) ending to the madness and mayhem. But those who are especially good at murder mysteries in particular, well — I do think there’s a fascination with the morbid and the macabre that hooks us readers in.
That’s why the first reread of this series will be the famous Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
If you’re just now joining us, feel free to backtrack and read the introductory syllabus before diving in.
I won’t recount the entirety of Agatha Christie’s biography here — you have Google at the tips of your fingers after all — but there are some things I find interesting about the memories I associate with my first reading and the approach I’d like to take when rereading this novel. Christie was an especially prolific English writer, responsible for some of the most notable modern mystery novels that are seeing a resurgence in today’s media: the famous exploits of the detective Hercule Poirot, including Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and The ABC Murders. The less famous, but still one of the most recognizable characters in her works, Miss Marple, also appeared on screen.
For some reason, discussion of her history and the remarkable way she pushed boundaries as a female writer in a primarily male-dominated field was seldom mentioned in the classroom — many of the most prominent female writers of the time did not make it into the standard rotation of classroom classics. I still have yet to read Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God or even some of Virginia Woolf’s more famous works beyond her essays. Christie is also the most widely known woman of the group of writers titled the “Queens of Crime” — she and the other women (Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh) writing at the time I would argue changed the course of detective fiction and its popularity in the 20th century.
She is also one of only three women who authored novels I studied at the high school level, Harper Lee and Mary Shelley being the other two, and so I find it prudent and interesting to start this series off with one of them. But, as with all classics, And Then There Were None is not sacrosanct, and even as a younger student I was left with questions.
A Dark History
When the novel was first assigned to my ninth grade English class to read alongside short stories like “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Lottery” (which I’ll discuss later), I wondered about the title and about the “children’s rhyme” readers are almost immediately introduced to.
We’ll get to the actual lyrics here in a bit, but before we do so, I do want to preface the discussion of the novel and reckon with its roots:
It would be remiss of me not to include the entirely racist history and implications of the rhyme common throughout the novel and its problematic past. The novel was published in 1939, during a time when the South was still under the influence of Jim Crow laws and reckoning with the terrorism (to put it bluntly) inflicted on its Black citizens by neighbors, countrymen, and the political and social systems of the time. I won’t sugarcoat some of the details, but there is a level of delicacy, respect, and recognition required when reading texts that have connection to this sordid past.1 I will be the first to admit I am not an expert in this field, and I still have much to learn myself — my only ask is that if there is a correction warranted, that we approach from places of curiosity and assuming of best intentions.2
The novel was originally published under a different title — And Then There Were None was used only in the United States and mostly due to the language being seen as too derogatory and controversial to sell well, particularly in Northern states. Was this fact mentioned to the group of fourteen-year-olds about to embark on a quest to find a fictional murderer? Absolutely not, and absolutely not in the South, where my home state still refused to teach the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre in its high school curriculum.
The song the entire novel’s premise is based on has origins in a minstrel song popularized in the nineteenth century. You may actually be rather familiar with it, because even when I was young and naive, I associated the rhyme in the novel with the more widely known children’s rhyme “Ten Little Monkeys”, though the numbers or wording changes based on where you look. It was the first time I considered the problematic history of some of the most common and (seemingly) innocent parts of my childhood.
Consider, then, the rhyme in Christie’s novel and compare for yourself:
Ten little soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little soldier boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little soldier boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little soldier boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little soldier boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little soldier boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little soldier boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little soldier boy was left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
See the resemblance?
My class read one of the newer editions, after the original rhyme was changed, but before the newest edition’s use of the word “soldier” or its complete deletion — which meant that the also loaded word “Indian” was used in place of the n-word. But the visceral reaction I felt in the moment while sitting in class was still real, having grown up in a state that was formerly known as “Indian Territory” before statehood, which had its own problematic past to reckon with beyond its relationship with its Black citizens. At the time, I was much too shy to actually mention this connection in class, much too anxious, much too naive, and I kept those thoughts to myself.
And so, the title And Then There Were None has been immortalized in the canon here in the States, and its problematic past nearly forgotten or erased. There’s been some criticism for the change, but I would argue that the preservation of offensive language just for the sake of literary purity (especially on the part of an author who is in no way connected to the community involved) is actually harmful. So, for the purposes of rereading the novel in a more contemporary context, I encourage you to find a post-2008 edition of the text, as the original language has been redacted or changed.
Now, though, I have the chance to reread this novel with the knowledge and understanding I have now of the nation’s, and the author’s history. I can reread it as both a thrilling mystery that has transcended time and still considered a classic, and I can also wonder how it could be construed as a commentary on human nature and the consequences we (may) reap for ourselves. I’ll be doing some more author and genre-specific research over the next week or so in preparation of rereading this novel, and so I hope you’ll join me on this journey even if it’s your first time with one of Christie’s works.
We have about ten days until the start of the reread, so you have time to find your copy (second hand is welcomed and encouraged!), and stayed tuned for more in the coming weeks: the research, the genre discussion, and some of my own additions of media, including some of what I plan to read or watch alongside July’s reread. Some of these will be subscriber-only, so consider joining the community. I look forward to exploring this novel once more with the benefit of a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective.
Until then,
Sam
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Curious about micro fiction? Family secrets? Love and smalltown mystery? We’re Still Here is a serialized micro fiction series that takes place in small town Oklahoma, connecting there, the here, the hereafter. A series of questions, with a series of answers.
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We are here to learn, even when (and especially) when it’s uncomfortable. It is incredibly important to me to know the full truth of things while still being respectful of the communities impacted by political, economic, or social policies either in the past or present.
I am privileged in saying this, of course, but I want us to be level with one another. I am here to learn just as much as anyone else.
I've always wanted to read Agatha Christie! Maybe I'll start with this one. I honestly don't know how I haven't read her yet!