And Then There Were None Theme Essay

655 Words2 Pages

As the death toll grew, guilt and sorrow reminded characters of their dark pasts. In the story, “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, Vera Claythorne and Emily Brent were both a big part of the theme. “And Then There Were None” is about 10 characters who are invited to an island by an anonymous person. Each is guilty of being connected to a murder. As each of them begin to be murdered, everyone scrambles to find the murderer. One of the strongest themes is “Guilt will always come back to haunt people”. It is shown through the Conflict, Description, and Inner-Thinking. From the beginning of the book, the characters show their dark but hidden pasts. Claythorne immediately thinks of Cyril and Hugo and her very dark secret. All of the characters are hurting on the inside but are trying to move on. During the story Christie describes this with Claythorne, “And then, as she stood there, listening, a cold, clammy hand touched her throat-a wet hand, smelling of the sea…Vera screamed”(pg. 217-218). This description shows that Vera tries to escape her dark past, but when it comes …show more content…

Through inner-thinking, Christie described her pain, “do they keep bees on this island? Isn’t it funny? Isn’t it damned funny? She began to wildly laugh again”(pg. 186). This detail from the text shows how Vera went mad from guilt and started to go mentally insane. Her guilt is driving her to the limits to keep reminding herself of her ex-fiancé and Cyril the boy she let drown. Another piece of evidence Christie uses is when she again describes Vera, “Vera moved forward. This was the end, here where the cold, wet hand of Cyril touched her throat...A rope and a noose all ready?...it was what Hugo wanted”(pg. 268). This detail from Christie shows Vera is going so insane from guilt. The guilt took Vera and it tormented her and made her crazy. In the end it wasn’t Vera’s regrets or Hugo that drove her to death, it was her

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