In “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” secrecy of many sorts was prevalent. These secrets led to many complications in the solving of the murder mystery.
As in many murder mysteries, secrecy is of key importance in the novel. After awhile of trying to piece together the mystery, Poirot gathered the main suspects, and stated “every one you in this room is concealing something from me. Yes, yes, I know what I am saying. It may be something unimportant - trivial- which is supposed to have no bearing on this case, but there it is. Each one of you has something to hide.” (Christie 146) . Poirot’s statement was proven true because one by one, the people began confessing their secrets to Poirot because of guilt. The secrets seemed irrelevant to the case,
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but in the end the small details helped reveal the truth in the mystery. One key example of this is when Flora admitted “I was at my wits’ end for money. I never saw my uncle that evening after he left the dinner table.” (Christie 218) Although it was important for Flora to keep her secret about stealing the money, because she didn’t want to be seen as desperate, without the revelation that Mr. Ackroyd wasn’t actually seen alive by anyone after Dr. Sheppard left, it would have been much harder to solve the mystery. This pattern of hiding a secret that could help in the solving of the murder was common between all of the characters, as Poirot has suggested, and after they all confessed their secrets it was easy for Poirot to solve the crime. In these instances secrecy was inhibiting the justice for Mr. Ackroyd’s death. In the novel, there was also secrecy involving a marriage, because of socioeconomic differences. This was the case with the marriage between Ralph Paton and Ursula Bourne. But because Ralph’s “step father would not hear of hi[m] marrying a penniless girl” (Chrstie 245) it was better for them “to be married secretly, and break the news to him at some later and more favorable time.” (Christie 245) This seemed all right at the time to Ursula, because she understood that Ralph wanted financial stability before potentially upsetting Mr. Ackroyd. This plan seemed fine until Mr. Ackroyd proposed Ralph marry Flora. The secrecy regarding the marriage was rooted in embarrassment of her class, and the fact that Flora had to hide such an important thing in her life, the fact that she was married, definitely caused emotional harm. Marriage is considered to be one of the most joyous things in life and is supposed to be celebrated, and the fact that Ursula couldn’t partake in any of this in public, was a large negative consequence of secrecy. In this instance, secrecy inhibited Ursula and Ralph from happiness. In the novel, there was also secrecy involving true feelings.
Since Ursula and Ralph’s marriage was kept secret, Ralph had to sort of pretend to be engaged to Flora for a brief time period. This resulted in Major Blunt concealing his true feelings for Flora. Poirot confronted Blunt about the matter and said “Flora had never carried a penny piece for Ralph Paton, and never would.” (Christie 220) Because of this Major Blunt revealed his feelings for Flora, and they were engaged almost immediately. Although the love story of Flora and Major Blunt isn't crucial to the plot of the story, it reveals a different aspect of secrecy. Almost immediately after Blunt was let in on the secret that Flora really didn't care for Ralph, he felt the urge to tell her how he felt, things fell into place, and they became engaged. In the absence of secrets, everyone was put into a better place. Once the engagement of Flora and Hector Blunt was revealed, Caroline stated “Of course not such a good match as Ralph would have been. But after all, happiness comes first.” (Christie 239) Secrecy caused this deception that emotionally affected Major Blunt. In this example, secrecy was causing deception, which caused Major Blunt to conceal his true
feelings. Throughout the novel, there are many examples of the different aspects of secrecy. In the end, secrecy is shown to negatively affect people, no matter what the case, or the reason for keeping the secret. Secrets are proven to cause harm to people emotionally, to the justice system, and also is deceptive for other people.
The book Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore’s America by Eric Rauchway examines the murder of President William McKinley and the assassin’s motives that impacted America. Rauchway also reveals to us the making of Theodore’s America through a tragic event to show us how Roosevelt gave it meaning through the start of the Progressive Era with his own political agenda. McKinley’s policies came to and end bringing open doors to new policies on social reform. The book is a well-constructed written book that presents to the reader the story of what had occurred chronologically from the beginning of the assassination to the end of the murder’s life. The main issues that are presented in the book include the assassination of the President and
The psychological abuse that the four suspects were exposed to made them make a wrong confession. In addition, being in an environment where the interrogation room is tight and dark increased the suspect’s anxiety. Moreover, the Frontline documentary stated that the suspects were held in custody for long hours with Robert Ford who used threatening language in order to make them confess. Not only that the suspects made a false confession, but they also told Ford different stories on how they murdered the victim. The coercive interrogatories, led Joe Dick to accept the label Ford put on him and the others. Although Ford was supposed to act just, he acted upon his self interest. Thus, he denied all facts because of fear of embarrassment of being wrong. However, after serving many years in prison, the four suspects were released to face stigmatization and labeling from the society. Indeed, this case proved that there is a malfunction in the justice system and that there’s a need for an immediate
The book basically talks about two young boys both with the name Wes Moore, who grew up in Baltimore and in the same neighborhood but never knew of each others existence. This is until the author Wes Moore, the one who escaped his rough childhood in Baltimore and the Bronx, began meeting with the other Wes Moore and questioning him who is spending his life in prison because of attempted murder. The author Wes Moore who managed to escape his situation growing up had a much more supportive mother who moved him away from Baltimore and continued to push him to get an education. He lived in the Bronx for sometime with his grandparents and mother, and attended a well renowned school in the Bronx. His mother worked several jobs in order for him to
``In criminal law, confession evidence is a prosecutor’s most potent weapon’’ (Kassin, 1997)—“the ‘queen of proofs’ in the law” (Brooks, 2000). Regardless of when in the legal process they occur, statements of confession often provide the most incriminating form of evidence and have been shown to significantly increase the rate of conviction. Legal scholars even argue that a defendant’s confession may be the sole piece of evidence considered during a trial and often guides jurors’ perception of the case (McCormick, 1972). The admission of a false confession can be the deciding point between a suspect’s freedom and their death sentence. To this end, research and analysis of the false confessions-filled Norfolk Four case reveals the drastic and controversial measures that the prosecuting team will take to provoke a confession, be it true or false.
This examination will look at the short story “Killings” by Andre Dubus and the main characters in the story. The story begins on a warm August day with the burial of Matt and Ruth Fowler’s youngest son Frank. Frank’s age: “twenty-one years, eight months, and four days” (Dubus 107). Attending the funeral were Matt, his wife Ruth, their adult children and spouses. Matt’s family is extremely distraught over the murder of their youngest son/brother, in their own way. There are implications of wanting to kill Richard Strout, the guy accused of being the murderer: “I should kill him” (107), as stated after the service. This comment is considered a fore-shadowing of what is to come in the thought progression of Matt and Ruth.
An issue which is mentioned throughout the story is the concept of “Ignorance is bliss”, which is an old cliche meaning what we don’t know can’t hurt us. While massaging his naked female neighbor’s body, the narrator is asked if he’s going to tell his mother. No, he answers. “So you even know that certain things are better left unsaid! You really are a devil” (Mahfouz, 13). The neighbor makes the obvious point that sometimes there are things that don’t have to be repeated, for the benefit of all the parties involved. Some might argue that the Truth will always come out, and by hiding it someone will end up being affected by it much more later on. But that is only if the information does get repeated. Knowledge doesn’t always have to be repeated, as was shown by our narrator and his neighbor. If the narrator had told his mother, would any of the parties benefit from this knowledge?
Summers, C. Ted Bundy. BBC - Crime Case Closed. Retrieved March 7, 2003, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/crime/caseclosed/tedbundy1.shtml
The idea of a detective catching an elusive convict or solving an improbable crime has been prevalent in all corners of the world, spread throughout many cultures and societies. The detective genre is held as the idea that an individual has to solve a crime. This detective usually has nothing to gain from solving the crime, but they see it more as an obstacle. The detective doesn’t always take every case, as human beings, we are too often curious of the impossible; our natural instinct is to question why and how things work in this world. People crave mystery, to taste a bit of improbable, to see what the detectives see, to see what is overlooked by many. The idea of an intelligent witty, sharp “sleuth” with an obedient sidekick has been prevalent
Forensics is a scientific method of gathering and examining information about a crime. It is used in the law for figuring out when, where, and what happened at the scene of the crime. Mystery writers must use forensics when writing about crime solving. This draws in the readers because of how realistic the mystery seems. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Red-Headed League,” the author shows his perspective on justice while exemplifying his linear and detailed style, with the main character depicting the story in chronological order and the detective using deductive reasoning to solve the crime.
Agatha Christie depicts a descriptive, fictional murder mystery in the novel ABC Murders. With the help of the narrator, Captain Arthur Hastings, Hercule Poirot solves the murders of four victims who are killed in alphabetical order by Franklin Clarke, more commonly known as ABC. The story elicits copious high points but the rare low point as well. Examples of these aspects can be found within the plot, setting, characters, conflict, and theme of the book. According to Stanford’s Suggested Reading List, the book is considered a “must read.” ABC Murders definitely holds up to the reputation placed upon it by Stanford and would be a favorable choice for anyone wishing to read a well written novel.
The author Alden noman uses several poetic elements in his poem “The Execution”. The execution is a free verse poem this makes it more story-like as the poem has no rhyme or rhythm to it and the type of poem is narrative. The poem has 6 stanzas and 118 lines. There is alliteration, such as “we went” and “thought they”. The story is mostly the type of stanzas that contain 3 lines called tercet. Alden also uses symbolism in this poem take the reverend for example, who is a symbol of the church and the holy spirit, there is then the sheriff who represents the order of society and then there is the press who is the symbol of free speech. There is also imagery, but it's minor and that is “the lights were so bright”. There is also spondee in the
...solve the crimes. Poirot is ordinary person not the police, so he has no rights to arrest twelve juries. Last, police are not smarter than Poirot, so the sleuth knows they want to hear the simple answer.
that we wish to know why a convicted murder has chosen the victims that they have. In a novel
To most the detective fiction genre is considered to be “new.” Marking its inception with Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841, classifying Poe as the “undisputed father” of crime fiction (Butler). However, Poe is not the creator of the detective fiction genre, and in fact this type of literature can be seen centuries before in Old Testament writings. These writings include “Susanna and the Elders” and “Bel and the Priests,” as well as Greek writings like “Hercules and Cacus” and “King Rhampsinitus and The Thief”(Scaggs 19). Together, these literary pieces have had an ever-lasting influence on crime fiction, and substantiate the fact that Poe was in no way the originator of this genre.
Although very miniscule, attempts are made to pin the murder of poor Roger Ackroyd on the servants of Fernly Park. This can especially be dissected through the analysis of Ursula Bourne and the abrupt dismissal of her position at Fernly Park, directly following the murder; “‘You may have not noticed it at the time, my good friend, but there is one person on this list whose alibi had no kind of confirmation. Ursula Bourne’”. (125) Ursula has no real alibi, but we are easily persuaded into thinking that she may be the guilty one. Social hierarchy is a leading factor in the amateur detective work done by the other characters. Ursula through her defence when confronted about her dismissal in her position, “‘I know nothing about the money. If you think I took it, and that is why Mr. Ackroyd dismissed me, you are wrong,’” (122) we can see that she has something to hid. Christie uses Ursula’s yet to be discovered secret of her marriage to Ralph to compound the reader’s belief that Ursula is hiding the fact that she may have something to do with Mr. Aykroyd’s death. It is easier to blame someone of lower social class then to admit that someone with higher social standings could be the