2020 ‘The beginning of the story is crucial to
the way the crime narrative develops.ʼ
2020
‘The beginning of the story is crucial to the way the crime narrative develops.ʼ Explore the
significance of beginnings in relation to two crime texts you have studied. Remember to include
in your answer relevant detailed exploration of authorial methods. [25 marks]
Atonement and Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The beginning of Murder of Roger Ackroyd allowing the reader to place their trust in Dr
Sheppard.
The set-up of Kingʼs Abbot Society.
Beginning of Atonement reflecting the theme of misunderstandings which occurs due to
Brionyʼs age.
The hot summer of Part I building tension and anticipation.
In crime fiction, the beginning of the stories are crucial in the presentation of not just the
setting and initial representations of the characters, but also in setting the tone and anticipatory
mood of the novel. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Atonement begin in very different ways,
with the initial murder immediately being introduced in the first sentence of Christieʼs novel in a
jovial tone, while Atonement begins with the introduction of a play which acts as metafictional
foreshadowing of the novel itself. Through these very different beginnings of the novel, I will
therefore discuss to what extent ‘the beginning of the store is crucial to the way the crime
narrative later developsʼ.
Part I of Atonement begins in the midst of summer in the heights of upper-class English society
presented through the Tallis family home. The hot temperature alongside stuffy environment
creates the sense of building pressure where although the novel appears initially modernist and
light, similar to that of Virginia Woolf through the long enduring accounts of mundane activities,
it also foreshadows the crime. Chapter 2, in the novel which is from Ceciliaʼs perspective
emphasises the dreadful languor of the setting as even when she plunges herself and the
flowers “into the fountainʼs basin” she does not escape the banality of her circumstance. Small
minor details are given long ended explanations such as the story of Uncle Clemʼs vase and the
novels Cecilia is reading lulling the reader into a safety which will soon be broken. Characters
also overreact to small events such as the breaking of the vase, due to their privileged upper-
class lifestyles meaning that they have nothing else worthwhile to worry about. The shadow of
Hitler and the impending war also looms over the beginning of the novel contextually
representing Chamberlainʼs England which did not expect a second war to occur. However, the
repeated references to Hitler, ‘The Abyssian Crisisʼ and the estimated number of “five million
casualties” foretells our move into war-torn Europe in Part II of the novel. The dinner banquet
scene is also stuffy with the combination of having too much to eat alongside hot weather
the way the crime narrative develops.ʼ
2020
‘The beginning of the story is crucial to the way the crime narrative develops.ʼ Explore the
significance of beginnings in relation to two crime texts you have studied. Remember to include
in your answer relevant detailed exploration of authorial methods. [25 marks]
Atonement and Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The beginning of Murder of Roger Ackroyd allowing the reader to place their trust in Dr
Sheppard.
The set-up of Kingʼs Abbot Society.
Beginning of Atonement reflecting the theme of misunderstandings which occurs due to
Brionyʼs age.
The hot summer of Part I building tension and anticipation.
In crime fiction, the beginning of the stories are crucial in the presentation of not just the
setting and initial representations of the characters, but also in setting the tone and anticipatory
mood of the novel. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Atonement begin in very different ways,
with the initial murder immediately being introduced in the first sentence of Christieʼs novel in a
jovial tone, while Atonement begins with the introduction of a play which acts as metafictional
foreshadowing of the novel itself. Through these very different beginnings of the novel, I will
therefore discuss to what extent ‘the beginning of the store is crucial to the way the crime
narrative later developsʼ.
Part I of Atonement begins in the midst of summer in the heights of upper-class English society
presented through the Tallis family home. The hot temperature alongside stuffy environment
creates the sense of building pressure where although the novel appears initially modernist and
light, similar to that of Virginia Woolf through the long enduring accounts of mundane activities,
it also foreshadows the crime. Chapter 2, in the novel which is from Ceciliaʼs perspective
emphasises the dreadful languor of the setting as even when she plunges herself and the
flowers “into the fountainʼs basin” she does not escape the banality of her circumstance. Small
minor details are given long ended explanations such as the story of Uncle Clemʼs vase and the
novels Cecilia is reading lulling the reader into a safety which will soon be broken. Characters
also overreact to small events such as the breaking of the vase, due to their privileged upper-
class lifestyles meaning that they have nothing else worthwhile to worry about. The shadow of
Hitler and the impending war also looms over the beginning of the novel contextually
representing Chamberlainʼs England which did not expect a second war to occur. However, the
repeated references to Hitler, ‘The Abyssian Crisisʼ and the estimated number of “five million
casualties” foretells our move into war-torn Europe in Part II of the novel. The dinner banquet
scene is also stuffy with the combination of having too much to eat alongside hot weather
