Wider Reading for Roger Ackroyd
- Very controversial and celebrated text
- . Christie admitted she got the idea for the ending from her brother-in-law,
James Watts, who mused on a detective novel in which the criminal turns
out to be the “Dr. Watson” character, referring to Watson’s position in Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes
- Willard Huntington Wright (essay) – ‘The trick played on the reader in The
Murder of Roger Ackroyd is hardly a legitimate device of the detective-
story writer.’
- Christie’s ending considered a mutilation of the detective story genre –
certain truths – of brilliant detective and narrator – are expected to be able
to be taken for granted.
Themes
- Triumph of Good and Restoration of Order
- Key feature of detective fiction involves satisfying restoration of order.
- E.g Sherlock Holmes - the reader has no doubt that Holmes will solve the
case even before finishing the first chapter – it is simply the pattern of the
genre.
- Christie also leans into this genre in TMORA – reader knows Poirot will
solve the case because Sheppard, writing after the fact, repeatedly
reminds the reader that Poirot has already done so.
- The question isn’t if order will be restored, simply how.
- "Murder of Manners"
- Christie’s novel is set in the polite, “civilized” upper- and middle-class
world of Britain in the first half of the 20th century - unlike other gruesome
detective stories.
- Her characters retain their manners and civility throughout.
- No violence/gore - novel primarily features characters having civilized
discussions.
- The rules of middle- and upper-class England are rigidly applied to all
characters, who behave with restraint and courtesy throughout.
- Despite this civility, murder is still the central intrigue of the novel, and
blackmail, lies, and secrets abound.
- Nature vs. Nurture in Creating a Criminal
- End of Chapter 17 – Poirot’s allegorical story about a weak man when
provoked in just the right way, is moved to commit a crime. The novel
seems to suggest It is the precise combination of a weak character and
the right circumstances (both nature and nurture).
- Very controversial and celebrated text
- . Christie admitted she got the idea for the ending from her brother-in-law,
James Watts, who mused on a detective novel in which the criminal turns
out to be the “Dr. Watson” character, referring to Watson’s position in Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes
- Willard Huntington Wright (essay) – ‘The trick played on the reader in The
Murder of Roger Ackroyd is hardly a legitimate device of the detective-
story writer.’
- Christie’s ending considered a mutilation of the detective story genre –
certain truths – of brilliant detective and narrator – are expected to be able
to be taken for granted.
Themes
- Triumph of Good and Restoration of Order
- Key feature of detective fiction involves satisfying restoration of order.
- E.g Sherlock Holmes - the reader has no doubt that Holmes will solve the
case even before finishing the first chapter – it is simply the pattern of the
genre.
- Christie also leans into this genre in TMORA – reader knows Poirot will
solve the case because Sheppard, writing after the fact, repeatedly
reminds the reader that Poirot has already done so.
- The question isn’t if order will be restored, simply how.
- "Murder of Manners"
- Christie’s novel is set in the polite, “civilized” upper- and middle-class
world of Britain in the first half of the 20th century - unlike other gruesome
detective stories.
- Her characters retain their manners and civility throughout.
- No violence/gore - novel primarily features characters having civilized
discussions.
- The rules of middle- and upper-class England are rigidly applied to all
characters, who behave with restraint and courtesy throughout.
- Despite this civility, murder is still the central intrigue of the novel, and
blackmail, lies, and secrets abound.
- Nature vs. Nurture in Creating a Criminal
- End of Chapter 17 – Poirot’s allegorical story about a weak man when
provoked in just the right way, is moved to commit a crime. The novel
seems to suggest It is the precise combination of a weak character and
the right circumstances (both nature and nurture).
