"It is perfectly clear. Mr. Owen is one of us….” (Christie 150). These famous words from Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None, would define the murder mystery genre for generations to come. Her use of many literary devices, such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and similes, allowed her to truly express herself. Agatha Christie utilized the gramophone as foreshadowing for the identity of the killer, the 10 solider boys as a motif for the characters’ deaths, and the seaweed as a symbol of guilt and regret all to add suspense to her novel, And Then There Were None.
The gramophone in Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None, foreshadowed who among them was Mr. Owen, thus adding suspense to the story. Near the beginning of the book, all of the characters gather to eat dinner, when suddenly a …show more content…
After the first character dies, Tony Marston, Mr. Rogers is cleaning the dining hall and notices that one of the statues has gone missing. The 10 statues tie back to the poem at the beginning of the book which lists how each of the solider boys died. The disappearance of each of the solider boys represents a death in the book, and foreshadows how each of the characters will meet their demise. At the end of the book, Vera Claythorne has shot Lombard and slowly walks back to her room. She finds a lonely statue and picks it up saying, “You can come with me. We’ve won my dear! We’ve won!” (Christie 267). She then walks back to her room, and for no apparent reason, hangs herself, dropping the statue from her hand. Her dropping the statue represents how the final solider boy dies. The poem states, “One little solider boy left all alone; he went and hanged himself, And then there were None.” Claythorne’s death perfectly coincides with the poem. This shows how the use of the 10 little solider boys in the book adds suspense to the