Student Question
What are examples of human nature in And Then There Were None?
Quick answer:
Although Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery And Then There Were None focuses almost exclusively on the darker side of human nature that gives rise to the many murders on Indian Island, there are a few moments in the novel when the characters express the positive side of human nature, share common goals and a common need for companionship, and demonstrate an instinct for caring for one another.
Although Agatha Christie focuses primarily on the dark side of human nature in her murder-mystery novel And Then There Were None, she does take a moment now and then to provide examples of the positive side of human nature and human coexistence.
In chapter 7, part 3, Captain Lombard and Dr. Armstrong decide to search the island for the murderer, and they ask Mr. Blore to assist them in this endeavor. It’s human nature for the men to want to join together for a common purpose of finding the murderer, in order to protect themselves and the other visitors on Indian Island.
Unspoken, however, is their individual need for self-preservation and their underlying distrust of one another, which causes them to suspect every other person on the island of being the murderer, including those with whom they were working with in their joint effort to find the murderer.
In...
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chapter 15, part 1, Vera remarks how the survivors—Captain Lombard, Mr. Blore, and herself—have lost their humanity. Mr. Blore notes, in reference to the nursery rhyme, that there’s no zoo on the island.
Vera cried: “Don’t you see? We’re the Zoo ... Last night, we were hardly human any more. We’re the Zoo.” (Chap. 15)
When Vera and Captain Lombard are alone together after Dr. Armstrong goes off to find some lunch for himself, Vera expresses concern that Dr. Armstrong might suddenly return and kill one or both of them.
“And supposing he gets—us?”
Lombard said softly, patting the revolver in his pocket: “I’m going to take very good care he doesn’t.”
Then he looked at her curiously. “Touching faith in me, haven’t you, Vera? Quite sure I wouldn’t shoot you?”
Vera said: “One has got to trust some one.” (Chap. 15)
Being one of the last survivors and alone with someone who might well be the murderer, Vera nevertheless chooses to trust Captain Lombard, which is a natural thing for a person to do under ordinary, non-murderous circumstances but highly unusual under these circumstances.
Later in the same chapter, Vera and Captain Lombard share a few quiet moments that exemplify basic elements of their human nature, the need for companionship, and a human instinct for caring for one another.
Lombard said at last: “What are we going to do when night comes?”
Vera didn’t answer. He went on accusingly: “You haven’t thought of that?”...
Philip Lombard said thoughtfully: “It’s fine weather. There will be a moon. We must find a place—up by the top cliffs perhaps. We can sit there and wait for morning. We mustn’t go to sleep ... We must watch the whole time. And if any one comes up towards us, I shall shoot!”
He paused: “You’ll be cold, perhaps, in that thin dress?”
Vera said with a raucous laugh: “Cold? I should be colder if I were dead!”
Philip Lombard said quietly: “Yes, that’s true ...” (Chap. 15)
Within minutes, however, they find Dr. Armstrong's body. Vera and Captain Lombard are now the only two living visitors to the island, the last two survivors, and one of them must be the murderer. Any trust that existed between them evaporates almost instantaneously.
Slowly, very slowly, Vera Claythorne and Philip Lombard lifted their heads and looked into each other’s eyes. (Chap. 16)
A short time later, the darker side of human nature prevails.
Philip Lombard was dead—shot through the heart. (Chap. 16)