And Then There Were None By Dame Agatha Christie Name______
Anatomy of a Mystery
What makes a good mystery? What is your favorite mystery book, movie, or TV program?
If you were writing a mystery novel or screenplay, what would you choose for the setting? Why?
Consider the drama, stories, and novel we read. What is unique about the plot of a mystery?
What makes the ending of a mystery enjoyable?
WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW: MATCH THE WORDS WITH THE DEFINITIONS
ALIBI BREAKTHROUGH CLUE CRIME DEDUCE EVIDENCE HUNCH MOTIVE MYSTERY PURLOIN
RED HERRING SLEUTH SUSPECT WITNESS VICTIM
False clue that throws the investigator off track: ______
Fact or object that gives information toward solving the crime: ______
Thing or statement that helps to prove who committed the crime: ______
Person who saw or can give a firsthand account about a crime: ______
Another name for an investigator or detective: ______
A guess or feeling not based on facts: ______
Something that is unknown: ______
Someone who is harmed or suffers some loss due to a crime: ______
Reason – such as anger, hatred, love, or greed - that a person commits a crime: ______
An action that breaks the law: ______
Excuse that a suspect uses to show that s/he was not at the scene of a crime: ______
Discovery that helps solve the crime: ______
To steal or filch: ______
To infer by logical reasoning: ______
Person who has a motive to have committed a crime: ______
Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None Cast of Characters
Name, description, background , clues Accusation & Manner of Death
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Ch. 1 Who is U.N. Owen? What do we learn about her/him in the novel’s opening pages?
Abode: (p. 2)
Flourish: (2)
Sine qua non: (7)
Aura: (7)
Ruminated: (14)
Ch. 2 Describe the poem Vera Claythorne finds above the mantle in her room. What happens in the poem? Why might Christie have included this poem in her novel? What is Vera’s response?
How will the setting, Indian Island, affect the plot?
Conventionally: (19)
Surreptitious: (17)
Disparagingly: (22)
Malevolence: (23)
Ch. 3 The “inhuman, penetrating” voice accuses each guest of doing what? [Write answer on Cast of Characters table] What similarity emerges from the various stories of each person’s reason for being on the island?
What does Wargrave deduce from the facts now at his disposal?
Bizarre: (42)
Replete: (42)
Unobtrusively: (45)
Adroitly: (46)
Swan song: (49)
Ch. 4 Everyone agrees to leave with Narracott the next morning except for whom, and why? Who, at the end of chapter 4, is the first to die? Read the victim’s last words, then explain the irony behind the comments.
Exonerated: (60)
Deferential: (62)
Servitude: (64)
Covertly: (65)
Ch. 5 Identify and explain the allusion on page 77 and its significance to General Macarthur’s crime. [Hint: read 2 Samuel 13: 1 – 17]
Vehement (73):
Capricious (74):
Indignant (77):
Decorous (79):
Rancor (80):
Ch. 6 How does Mrs. Rogers meet her demise? What is Emily Brent’s explanation of her death? Why does Mr. Blore immediately suspect that Mrs. Rogers was killed by her husband, the butler?
Unwieldy (82):
Desultory (85):
Obliquely (93):
Solicitude (91):
Ch. 7 What story does Miss Brent tell about Beatrice Taylor? What character traits of Miss Brent are further revealed by the story she tells Vera?
Why do Lombard and Armstrong conclude that both deaths must have been acts of murder? What do the
two men decide to do?
Acquiesced (97):
Juncture (102):
Ch. 8 Reread the last sentence of Chapter 8. Identify the inevitable implications of this last sentence – for the plot of this novel and the fate of its characters. What sort of threshold has been crossed, and how is the story different from this point on?
Oblivion (112):
Impudent (115):
Apprehension (116):
Musingly (117):
Furtive (122):
Ch. 9 Write down one of the author’s many descriptive lines for the storm. Then discuss the storm as a plot device, and as a symbol, in this chapter.
Perjury (127):
Malicious (130):
Succinctly (137):
Corroborate (137):
Ch. 10 At tea-time, theft is added to murder. What two things are missing?
What is used as a motif in the novel?
Tenacious (156)
Cliché (157):
Ch. 11 Part VI begins with the line, “Breakfast was a curious meal.” (177) How was everyone behaving? Does this make sense to you? Why/why not? In your book, on page 177, write the initials or name of each person next to the thoughts you think belong to him or her.
Laconically (171):
Congealed (175):
Ch. 12 Who is the next to die, and how? Why is Armstrong suspected, and what is missing from his room?
Meticulously (187):
Methodically (187):
Ch. 13 Describe what happens to Vera when she goes to her room. What is her perception, and what is the reality?
Pretense (191):
Ferocity (191):
Lithe (192):
Gall (192):
Eons (198):
Ch. 14 What does Lombard discover in his room as he prepares for bed?
What does Vera’s extended interior monologue reveal about the death of Cyril?
Sagacity (210):
Astuteness (210):
Ch. 15 Why does Blore think Armstrong is
U. N. Owen?
What is Vera’s idea about the poem clue?
Stolidly (224):
Lassitude (231):
Innocuous (232):
Raucous (235):
Ch. 16
Who kills Philip Lombard? Who, ultimately, is responsible for the death of Vera?
Epilogue Name the detectives in charge of solving the crimes.
Evaluate the assertions made by the detectives as you read. Which ones are correct? Incorrect?
Correct Incorrect
Manuscript
Who is the murderer?
What reasons does the murderer give for setting up the entire horrible event on the island?
How did he acquire an accomplice? How did this accomplice help the murderer with the most difficult part of his plan?
What does the author of the manuscript mean by his allusion to Cain?
Which two deaths were not actually homicides committed by the murderer?
How did the manuscript come to the police?
Post-reading
Name one of the themes in the novel, and then give evidence from the novel to support your answer (why it’s a theme).
Explain one of these two symbols: the mark on Judge Wargrave’s forehead –or- food.
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