Major Themes and Influences

Agatha Christie was mainly known for her mystery novels. Christie stayed at home for school. She was a very shy child and created imaginary friends and creatures to keep her occupied. Her imagination and creativity helped her with her profession. She was born into the era of Victorian England of 1890; this was a time when servants existed in a number of families, including Christie’s. A number of her novels included a country setting, and servants often played a significant part in her plots. Christie worked as a nurse in World War I where she learned the effects of drugs and poisons. She input what she learned into the novels that she wrote. The horrors she saw throughout the war had a great effect on the types of books she wrote. The death and tragedy in her novels were probably based on what she witnessed in real life. The crime novels she grew up with had an impact on her writing as well. The detectives she created were the “Sherlock Holmes type”. Christie traveled quite often throughout her life. She learned to speak French fluently and this helped her create a Belgian, French speaking detective named Hercule Poirot.
Major themes in Christie’s novels were justice. Since she writes mystery novels, the detectives do try to solve the crime and make sure the killer pays their debt. The effects of guilt on one’s conscience are another theme. Christie tests the limits of many of her characters to see how far they will go to save a secret or their life. A lot of Christie’s novels involve a class system. In And Then There Were None, as more and more people die the social hierarchies dictate their behavior. They rule out certain people to be the killer because of their social status; this proves to be a big mistake in the end.

Works Cited
Cook, Cathy. The Christie Mystery. Pension Annuity. Web. 24 Apr. 2010. .Themes, Motifs, and Symbols. Sparknotes, 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2010. .