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Ryan Burke
British Literature/ Composition
Ms. Clifford
18 April 2016
A Life of Mystery: Agatha Christie
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Born on September 15 of 1889, Agatha Christie enjoyed her childhood growing up in an
upper class family. She grew up in Devon, England and spent most of her childhood by herself
without a lot of friends. Even though she says she had a happy childhood, Christie experienced
tragic events that made life tough. It started when her father died at a young age of a heart
attack, leaving the family with economic insecurities. Years down the road when Agatha Christie
ended up marrying a soldier by the name of Archie Christie. They had a happy marriage and
traveled all over the world together. Until one day, Archie confessed he did not love her, had a
mistress, and wanted a divorce. It was earlier in the same year when Agatha Christies mother
died from bronchitis. All of this build up caused her to have nervous breakdowns and eventually
she disappeared. The search for Agatha Christie lasted for eleven days until someone found her
and she returned home. Two of Christies notable works include The Tragedy at Marsdon
Manner and The Mystery at Hunters Lodge. Christie was obviously troubled, and these
experiences contributed to the tone of crime and mystery in her writings because she did not
understand why the tragic events in her life happened. Knowing what Christie went through at
the time the stories were written helps to get a clearer and better understanding of the ideas
behind her stories.
When Christies father died it took a toll on her. She was close with her father and they
had a tight relationship. The main plot in The Mystery at Hunters Lodge is about a murder
mystery of a family member. It makes sense that the main character, Mr. Havering, had been
through an event where his best friend I ever had in the world, was foully murdered last night
(Christie 2). It can be seen here that perhaps Christie is writing this story with her father in

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mind. There is a high possibility that her father was her best friend, which would explain why
Mr. Havering also lost someone that was so important to him. Christies bond with her father
was tight and his death was hard to get over, and in turn in her writing created a protagonist with
a similar situation. Mr. Havering was obviously close with his uncle and as he was his best
friend I ever had. Although Frederick Miller died when Christie was only eleven, it may be that
he was her best friend which would make the story of The Murder at Hunters Lodge clearer. It
would be easier to understand because knowing about Christies relationship with her father
helps to connect with Mr. Haverings relationship with his uncle in the story.
Agatha Christie wrote many stories about mystery because her husband left her for
another woman. She thought that they had a healthy marriage as they traveled together often. It
was not to be though when Archie Christie left her for a woman named Nancy Neele who he had
been seeing at the golf club. It did not take a long time for him when he announced that he was
in love with another woman, and demanded a quick divorce (Hercule Poirot Central). After
Christie and her husband got divorced her life started to fall apart. She started to have many
breakdowns and could not think of why her husband had done such a thing to her. It was a tough
time for Christie and as a result she turned to writing, which was her passion. She had just went
through a tough break up with her husband, which explains why she turned to writing murder
mystery stories such as The Murder at Hunters Lodge and The Tragedy at Marsdon Manner. The
title of the story says it for itself. Her life was a tragedy at this point. She did not know what to
think and because of this she started to write stories of family members losing loved ones close
to them. In addition, her stories include heaps of heartbreak which she had just went through
herself. The writings of Agatha Christie see a great deal of heartbreak because her heart had just
been broken by her husband.

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When Agatha Christies father died, it was her mother that took care of her and helped
her to grow up. As a result, she did almost everything with her mother. 1926 started out as a
great year for Christie. She released one of her best sellers and all time classics that year. It was
not all smooth sailing for Christie as her mother had died and she was often alone clearing out
the family home in Torqua (agathachristie.com). As her writing career was slowly getting
started, this motivated her to do even more. Christie continued to write more and more mystery
novels because of the loss of her mother. The writings continued to improve and they included
death in them. Oftentimes her writings would have a theme of death because Christie herself had
lost her father early in her life and at this point her mother. She enjoyed writing murder mystery
stories. It was what she was called to do. The death of her mother just helped to motivate
Christie and drive her to the next level in her writings. Agatha Christies many stories about
death can be traced back to the death of her own mother because it was hard for Christie to see
her mother die, but it helped her in the writing of her stories.
Christie went through so much at one time that she eventually could not handle it. She
was having mental breakdown after mental breakdown. In the same year where her husband left
her and mother died, Agatha Christie disappeared. Her disappearance was shocking to everyone
but herself because she was a very beautiful and charming young creature, but terribly unstrung
by this sad catastrophe (Christie 3). Christie was missing for eleven days before she was finally
found and returned home. This shows that she had some rough patches in her life and they were
very serious. This seriousness of mystery and disappearance is found in the same tone in her
books. This example from The Tragedy at Marsdon Manner shows that Christie is still holding
on to her past. Although she went through difficulties, they did not turn out bad. She was gone
for eleven days where anything could have happened to her. Luckily she was unharmed and
what came out of her sadness was greatness in the form of writing. As seen in this example, her

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dedication to her works of mystery and crime come from the realities that she experienced as a
human being herself. Agatha Christie was a very gifted writer but her ideas about stories were
enhanced because of her disappearance where she had time to think about her life. The fact that
she went through that tough experience of being missing for eleven days, she was able to write
murder mysteries from a first-hand experience because of her isolated disappearance.
Christie was a very smart person. Even as a child, her brightness of the mind could be
seen. She was so gifted that she taught herself to read by the age of five (agathachristie.com).
Being this talented can be a blessing and a curse. It was both in the case of Agatha Christie.
When she started reading at the age of five she enjoyed stories about adventure. This was
against her mothers will. She did not want Christie to begin reading until she was eight.
However, Christies interest in reading made her more and more interested in murder mystery
stories. It can all be traced back to when she was five years old. Her passion for writing the
mystery stories stems all the way back to when she started reading those books at age five. It is
often said that human beings tend to enjoy what they did as a child. This was especially the case
for Agatha Christie who blossomed into an incredible mystery writer because of her interest in
reading as a kid.
Agatha Christies experiences, mostly negative, shaped her into the impressive writer that
she became. It is important to note what Christie went through before taking a look at her
magnificent writings. It adds a true background to the story that can help a reader better
understand where the author was coming from. Christies parents obviously had a large impact
on her life and it was hard for her once they passed. Everyone goes through tough parts of their
lives. For some people, like Agatha Christie, it turns out to be a good thing and an experience to
learn from. Others crumble in times of sadness and despair. It is rough to have to go through
times like these. On the other hand, it is times like these that make the great people great.

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Works Cited
Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of Hunters Lodge. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
http://www.tootshamy.com/albums/userpics/10002/PoirotThe_Mystery_of_the_Hunter_s_Lodge.pdf
Christie, Agatha. The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
http://www.englishway.republika.pl/Learning%20aids/Czytelnia/The%20Tragedy%20at
%20Marsdon%20Manor.pdf
Hobbs, James. Agathas Life. Hercule Poirot Central. N.p , n.d Web. 12 Apr. 2016
http://www.poirot.us/life.php.
Christies Life. About Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie Limited
(Acorn Media Group Company), n d Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie#christies-life>.