And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None, mystery novel by Agatha Christie published in 1939. One of the best-selling novels of all time, it remains one of Christie’s most popular works. And Then There Were None has spurred numerous adaptations across media, profoundly shaping the crime and mystery genres. Its core plot—a group of strangers isolated in a sinister location with a killer among them—has become a staple in mystery novels, horror films, and even comedic works.

Editor’s note: This article contains offensive language. It is included for historical context.

The novel is notably Christie’s darkest work. Its grim ending starkly differs from the more optimistic conclusions of its numerous film, theater, and video game adaptations. These adaptations often opt for a happier resolution in which the mystery is unraveled, the perpetrator is stopped, and survivors find solace in each other. This divergence highlights the novel’s unique place in Christie’s oeuvre, offering a narrative that defies conventional happy endings and plunges into the depths of human psychology and crime.

Background and context

And Then There Were None was first published in 1939, in a period marked by global tensions leading up to World War II. This historical backdrop significantly influenced the novel’s themes and settings. The story unfolds on a remote island off the Devon coast, where 10 strangers, summoned under various pretenses by an enigmatic host, find themselves accused of murder through a chilling gramophone recording. As they are methodically killed, in ways that mirror a racist children’s rhyme, the plot thickens into a gripping mystery.

The original title of the novel and the children’s rhyme used in the book were based on the British song “Ten Little Niggers,” used in blackface minstrelsy in the late 19th century, which expresses the crude racial stereotypes of the era’s minstrel shows. The novel’s title was changed to Ten Little Indians for an American audience. Changing social mores led to further title adjustments, including Ten Little Soldiers or Ten Little Sailors to make it more acceptable to contemporary audiences. The current title And Then There Were None uses the ending phrase of the rhyme. However, editions titled Ten Little Indians continued into the 1970s. Translations of the book in other languages also continued to use the original title many years after the English versions were discontinued. The French version was updated to Ils étaient dix (“They Were Ten”) only in 2020.

The novel’s basis

And Then There Were None is a deviation from the typical murder mystery novel. Unlike the usual whodunnit in which the central mystery revolves around identifying the murderer, Christie’s novel introduces the concept of ambiguous murder right from the start. Ten strangers, each indirectly implicated in someone else’s death, are gathered on an island by an unknown host. These characters, such as a surgeon guilty of negligent homicide and a pious spinster whose harsh treatment led her maid to suicide, represent a spectrum of moral ambiguity.

The novel’s antagonist, while unknown for much of the story, posits that these individuals, although their actions may not be legally punishable or technically illegal, are guilty of murder and deserving of retribution. This premise sets the stage for a systematic and ruthless execution of each guest, symbolized by the smashing of porcelain figurines—racist caricatures in Christie’s original writing and several revisions, but modified to soldiers or sailors in subsequent editions. The figurines and the accompanying nursery rhyme constitute a haunting countdown, foreshadowing each character’s demise.

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Christie elevates the narrative beyond a mere puzzle; she delves into the psychological unraveling of her characters. The novel is less about the killer’s identity or motive and more focused on the victims’ mental and emotional breakdowns. Christie employs a free indirect third-person narrative voice to offer glimpses into each character’s paranoia and guilt-ridden thoughts. In a revealing twist, the murderer confesses to killing the victims in reverse order of their perceived guilt, intensifying the psychological torture for those deemed most guilty.

This unraveling is critical to understanding the novel’s deeper message. Christie challenges the notion of moral authority by choosing characters from respected professions—a judge, a police officer, a teacher, a soldier, a religious leader—who have misused their authority. Their inability to see their own guilt reflects a societal blind spot, where the actions of the powerful are justified through a lens of duty, respectability, and racial and colonial superiority. The novel is thus more than a mystery; it is a commentary on the human capacity for self-justification and moral relativism. Christie exposes this thin veneer of respectability and challenges the reader to question the very foundations of morality and justice. The novel remains a profound exploration of guilt, denial, and the darker aspects of human nature, pushing the boundaries of the traditional murder mystery into the realms of psychological thriller and moral inquiry.

And Then There Were None is a novel also deeply intertwined with themes of race and Western colonialism, even if this may not be immediately apparent in its sanitized modern versions. The original story was steeped in its era’s prevailing attitudes: the nursery rhyme central to the story, the figurines symbolizing the murder victims, and the name of the island in the British and American editions, all reflect the novel’s pervasive racial subtext. Christie’s use of offensive terms in the novel underscores a sense of otherness that permeates the story, which is also notable for the absence of any actual characters of color.

Racial and colonial context

The story’s setting, a modern house devoid of hidden spaces, contributes to a growing sense of paranoia and exposure among the characters. As they search for the hidden murderer, their inability to find an “other” leads them to turn on one another, reflecting a deep-seated fear not of the unknown, but of what they refuse to acknowledge in themselves. This aspect of the novel taps into the Gothic horror genre, where the real terror lies not in an external evil but within the characters themselves.

Christie’s narrative also explores the colonial mindset of its characters, particularly in the case of the mercenary Philip Lombard, who rationalizes his crime against East African tribesmen through a colonialist lens. This reflects the novel’s underlying critique of the era’s colonial attitudes, where the value of life is weighed differently based on race and where the white British characters see themselves as inherently more moral. The adaptation of the nursery rhyme in the novel serves a significant purpose. In the original, the use of a racial slur in the rhyme is a moral judgment by the murderer, indicating that beneath their veneer of British respectability, the victims are no different from the “savages” they colonize. This subversion of the colonizer-colonized dynamic strips the characters of their perceived moral authority, exposing the hypocrisy of their self-justifications.

The original racial elements of And Then There Were None contribute to its exploration of guilt, justice, and the human capacity for self-deception. By removing racial elements through title changes and textual sanitization, some literary scholars believe that later adaptations and editions may make the story more palatable but at the cost of a critical layer of its narrative complexity.

The novel’s ending

Editor’s note: This section contains plot spoilers.

And Then There Were None has an ending that is unusually grim among Christie’s novels: the murders are explained but unresolved, the killer eludes capture, and every character meets their demise. The book’s epilogue concludes with a chilling confession from Justice Wargrave, one of the 10 people on the island, who is revealed as the orchestrator of the murders there. Wargrave’s confession exposes a complex interplay between his sadistic impulses and a stringent sense of justice. Wargrave recounts that from an early age he felt a compulsion to kill but was equally driven by a belief in justice, targeting only those he deemed deserving of punishment. These paradoxical impulses led him to a career in law, where he could exercise his moral judgments within societal boundaries.

Christie explores the concept of justice through her characters, who rationalize their own past actions, even when those actions have led to others’ deaths. This self-justification is what brings them under Wargrave’s judgmental gaze, as he sees them as guilty individuals who have escaped the legal system’s grasp. Wargrave’s confession reflects his awareness of his own sadistic tendencies. While the other characters deny their guilt, Wargrave embraces his role as both judge and executioner, reveling in the power to condemn and relishing the act of murder. This self-awareness sets him apart, highlighting the human capacity for both cruelty and rationalization.

Christie’s novel challenges conventional narratives of crime and punishment by blurring the lines between the innocent and the guilty, the enforcer and the perpetrator. The novel does not follow the typical murder mystery formula; there is no detective hero, no moral high ground, and no clear resolution. Instead, the story ends with a grim tableau: 10 dead bodies and a myriad of unresolved moral questions.

Adaptations

And Then There Were None has been successfully adapted over the years for film, television, and other media. Christie herself converted the novel into a play, albeit with a happy ending to facilitate the story’s transition to the stage, without which, in her own words, “no one would be left to tell the tale.” The play premiered in London in 1943 and on Broadway (under the title Ten Little Indians) in 1945, and it has seen several revivals, most recently in 2005.

The novel was first adapted to film in 1945 as And Then There Were None, directed by René Clair. Several other films have been based on the novel, including a 1965 Hindi film Gumnaam (“Unknown”) and a 1987 Russian film Desyat negrityat (“Ten Little Negroes”). Several TV adaptations have also been made, including a 2015 BBC adaptation starring Charles Dance. In 2005 a video game based on the book was released, titled Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None. The game had four possible endings and allowed the player to play as an additional “eleventh” person on the island.