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The story was finished and published in 1939. Under the influence of the First World War and the industrial revolution, English society was full of confusion and uncertainty. Her works break through the limitation of detective stories, involving many social issues at her time, such as crime, class, feminism, justice, etc. and Christie tries to denote her ideals and wishes through the darkness. The elaborate arrangement of plots and the vivid depiction of characters make it possible to convey the theme hidden behind of the story.
The story of And Then There Were None mainly talks about that ten strangers were killed on an island because of an invitation from an unknown host. The specialty is that each of them has a secret to hide and a crime for which they must pay, and the invitation is the beginning of a precise murder plan. The story starts with a doggerel named as Ten Little Soldier Boys, which indicates the deaths of these ten strangers. Therefore, in the following parts of this thesis, ten strangers in the story will be called as ten “little soldier boys”. The ten “little soldier boys” are Mr. Justice Lawrence John Wargrave, Vera Elizabeth Claythorne, Captain Philip Lombard, Emily Caroline Brent, General John Gordon Macarthur, Dr. Edward George Armstrong, Anthony James Marston, William Henry Blore, Thomas Rogers and Ethel Rogers. Through Christie’s descriptions, every “soldier boy” has a complicated, multiple and well-round portrayal. These people are not only the victims of this “murder game” but each of them have a secret crime. Hence, the murder can also be regarded as the reach of justice. The multiple possibilities and perspectives of the story give us a new concept about Christie’s attitudes toward justice, which makes And Then There Were None different from other detective stories.
1.2 Studies on Agatha Christie and her works at home and abroad
In this part, previous studies that are related to the justice in Agatha Christie’s works are quoted or generalized from periodicals, dissertations, books and so on.
1.2.1 Studies on Narrative Styles源]自=751-·论~文"网·www.751com.cn/
Many researchers have studied about the special narrative style, narrative structure and narrative art of Christie’s works. “Christie composes more clues, reflects social reality from many aspects, and gives readers a description of the age each case is set in and the custom, which socializes her works to some extent. And her language can rival that of pure literature.” (Wang Hui, 2011: 259) This statement illustrates the social significance behind her narrative styles and points out the importance to study the social meaning that includes the justice theory we are going to study in this thesis.