Cheri Coats Essay 2

Im a very literal person so my drawing follows the literal path that I took through the story, showing where I as the reader diverge from the truth or real story and the detective. I note where clues are dropped throughout the story and I note where the emphasis, in my opinion, was placed by the police, which could possibly send the reader astray. For me, looking back through the story there are three different paths taken when processing the crime, that of the reader, that of the detective and the truth. ll three however, are really important in the story and I believe that Christie give emphasis to certain things to try to keep the identity of the real murderer a secret. !he intro to the story is long and sets the scene"" we are introduced to a small, close knit town in which there has been one death, that is somewhat mysterious. #y being introduced to the town and already feeling suspicious around the cause of $rs. Ferras death thanks to Caroline. %hile being introduced to the characters there are

Cheri Coats Essay 2 subtle mentions of &r. 'heppards control personality when he tries to tell his older sister what to do. !his is important because later on (oirot points out that a murderer tends to be controlling. fter we are familiar with the characters we are then taken to the day of the murder. %hen &r. 'heppard arrives at $r. ykroyd)s there are a lot of clue drops that the reader could be lead astray with, such as hearing the drawer close and seeing $iss *ussell out of breath a really important thing that the reader may overlook is how much time &r. 'heppard spends looking in the drawer where the dagger is kept, this is one of the places that the narrator is untrue but we dont know it. !hese clues mentioned before are used for both the truth and the reader story and this is where the divergence happens. +ne really big clue drop in this section is when &r. 'heppard talks about when he left the house and when he sees the stranger in the front, there is a very big gap of time which we learn later is the time in which *oger was killed. !he truth, as shown in my diagram, is constantly looming over the story that the reader follows and there are clues dropped throughout the story that the reader may miss or ignore. %hen the police arrive there is a story that they guide the reader on and the reader may or may not follow their suggestions. s a reader I did not, so I use the dotted lines to show where our lines of thinking diverged and crossed. fter the police enter, Flora goes to &etective (oirot and we are introduced to a new line of thinking. !he detectives thinking was different from mine so I drew this line separately, but I made sure to indicate when the paths crossed. s we look at the clues as a

reader my knowledge seemed to get closer and farther from the truth, while (oirots thinking kept getting closer and closer to the truth, indicated by what looks like steps.

Cheri Coats Essay 2 !here was a slight plot twist for me as a reader when we observed Flora and #lunt in the garden. !his however is when the detective seems to get closer and closer to the solution. ,ust after this there is a ma-or plot twist, where it is revealed that Flora did not see $r. ykroyd that night, that she was stealing money and that there was a bigger window of time in which the murder could happen. For me as a reader I got farther from the truth, because it -ust made me feel like Flora was in on the murder, that maybe she had hired somebody. .pon the ree/amination we get closer and closer to the truth, especially when everyone reveals their last secrets. t the point of

confrontation, where (oirot says the killer is in the room we are the closest to the truth as we are going to be, especially the detective. %hen the detective confronts &r. 'heppard that is when all the stories come together and we get the truth. !he story is concluded by returning the innocence to the town by having &r. 'heppard commit suicide.