And Then There Were None: By Agatha Christie

People like to think about themselves as better than animals, and caring for others. However, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie says otherwise. The book is about ten people who are tricked into going to a secluded house on an island, and end up trapped. As each day passes, more and more people are murdered by someone on the island. As more people get killed, they realize the killer is among them and start to turn on each other. In dire situations people lose their pretentious and civil mask to reveal the ultimate goal of mankind: Self-preservation. 

After five people had been killed, the remaining five people were tense and scared. They knew that the murderer had to be one of them. But they didn’t know who. “And all of them, suddenly, looked less like human beings. They were reverting to more bestial types. Like a wary old tortoise, Mr. Justice Wargrave sat hunched up, his body motionless, his eyes keen and alert. Ex-Inspector Blore looked coarser and clumsier in build. His walk was that of a slow padding animal. His eyes were bloodshot. THere was a look of mingled ferocity and stupidity about him. He was like a beast at bay ready to charge at his pursuers. Phillip Lombard’s senses seemed heightened, rather than diminished. His ears reacted to the slightest sound. His step was lighter and quicker, his body was lithe and graceful. And he smiled often, his lips curling back from his long white teeth. Vera Claythorne was very quiet. She sat most of the time huddled in a chair. Her eyes stared ahead of her into space. She looked dazed. She was like a bird that had dashed its head against glass and that has been picked up by a human hand. It crouches there, terrified, unable to move, hoping to save itself by its immobility. Armstrong was in a pitiable condition of nerves. He twitched and his hands shook. He lighted cigarette after cigarette and stubbed them out almost immediately. The forced inaction of their position seemed to gall him more than the others. Every now and then he broke out into a torrent of nervous speech.” The way they are acting was indeed not human, as if their only thought now is to survive and figure out who the murderer is so that they can kill them and be safe. Nobody is even trying to pretend that this isn’t happening, they have all completely switched to survival mode. “Three little soldiers walking in the zoo;  A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.” This is from the poem at the beginning of the book, which indicated how each person was to die(although you didn’t know who was next) in a riddle-like way. This line indicates how animal-like they all were. There was no zoo on the island, however, the people acted enough like animals to make it seem as if the house was a zoo. 

Not only did they start acting like animals, they also became suspicious of one another and refused to trust one another. “Vera said: ‘Does anyone―want tea?’ There was a moment’s silence. Blore said: ‘I’d like a cup.’ Vera rose. She said: ‘I’ll go and make is. You can all stay here.’ Mr. Justice Wargrave said gently: ‘I think, my dear young lady, we would all prefer to come and watch you make it.’ Vera stared, then gave a short rather hysterical laugh. ‘Of course! You would!’” They were so tense and suspicious of each other, that they wouldn’t let Vera out of their sight to even make tea. They were so afraid that they would die; that Vera might be the murderer and poison them all, that they didn’t want her to go by herself and make it. Another example is when Vera screams because she mistakes dangling seaweed for a hand; the doing of the murderer to frighten her. They bring her brandy to calm her down. “She was just about to gulp the spirit gratefully when, suddenly, a warning note―like an alarm bell―sounded in her brain. She sat up, pushing the glass away. She said sharply: ‘Where did this come form?’ Blore’s voice answered. He stared a minute before speaking. He said: ‘I got it from downstairs.’ Vera cried: ‘I won’t drink it...’” Even though Vera wanted the brandy, she was so distrustful that she refused to drink it, later having someone get an unopened bottle of brandy. 

The saddest part of it all, was that they were ready to kill anyone if they saw them as a threat. This unfortunately happened to Vera and Lombard, when they were the last people on the island, as far as they knew. “Lombard laughed. He said: ‘So that’s it, is it Vera?’ Vera said: ‘There’s no one on the island―no one at all―except us two...’ Her voice was a whisper―nothing more. Lombard said: ‘Precisely. So we know where we are, don’t we?’ . . . She had moved a yard or two away and was facing him, revolver in hand. Lombard said: ‘So that’s the reason for your womanly solicitude! You wanted to pick my pocket.’ She nodded. She held it steadily and unwaveringly. And then he sprang. Quick as a panther―as any other feline creature...Automatically Vera pressed the trigger...Lombard’s leaping body stayed poised in mid-spring then crashed heavily to the ground. Vera came warily forward, the revolver ready in her hand. But there was no need of caution. Phillip Lombard was dead―shot through the heart...” Vera and Lombard were actually the ones who had the closest relationship to each other out of the relationships of the ten people(Besides two of them, who were married). However, Vera killed Lombard in the end, regardless of any friendship that was there before. It was because she believed he was the killer and she had the instinct to survive that she killed him. 

This book portrays people in an honest and straightforward way, showing what the drastic measures are that people will take to survive. They had almost no emotions towards the end of the book, the only emotions they showed throughout the book being fear, guilt and suspicion. It was as if they had truly transformed into animals, living only to survive. I believe that it is quite depressing to see how people will not think twice to kill someone if they might potentially be trying to kill them. But the thing was, they never knew if that person they killed was the killer. They were going on a “might be”. However, this book is interesting in the way that it portrays the animal side of all human beings, the will to kill to survive...Would you?