A picture rose clearly before her mind. Cyril’s head, bobbing up and down, swimming to the rock ... Up and down—up and down...

Additional sea-related imagery may be auditory—related to hearing as well as visual and tactile. From her bedroom, Vera looks down and notes that land is invisible and the vast blue sea is “rippling in the evening sun.” In chapter 3, its sound is emphasized, as well as the different characters’ reactions to it.

[T]he French windows were open onto the terrace and the sound of the sea murmuring against the rocks came up to them.

Emily Brent said: “Pleasant sound.”

Vera said sharply: “I hate it.”

An idiom is a phrase that it is customarily used in a way that differs from its literal meaning. It may be a cliché. Christie often uses them to distinguish a character’s traits. In chapter 1, Pemberton recalls the many risky situations he had been in: “he’d sailed pretty near the wind once or twice!” In chapter 4, General Macarthur’s use of idioms is notable. Commenting on the “madman” behind the recorded Voice, he says,

Got a bee in his bonnet! Got hold of the wrong end of the stick all round.

Metaphors and similes are two types of comparison of unlike things for effect. A metaphor is a direct comparison, while a simile uses like or as. In chapter 2, Vera compares Mrs. Rogers to a ghost: “What a white bloodless ghost of a woman!” Later, she uses a simile to describe the housekeeper’s exit. “Mrs. Rogers … drifted from the room like a shadow.”

In chapter 7, the narrator uses a metaphor for the effect that Miss Brent’s stiffly “self-righteous” attitude had on Vera:

Emily Brent sat on the summit of Indian Island, encased in her own armour of virtue.

In chapter 2, descriptions based on similes convey Dr. Armstrong’s impression of Judge Wargrave. He notes the vaguely familiar “frog-like face” and “tortoise-like neck.” In the same chapter, another animal simile is applied to Lombard, who “moved like a panther, smoothly and noiselessly.”

Allusion is a reference to a person, historical event, or literary work or character. The Voice’s charge against General Macarthur accused him of sending a subordinate on a dangerous mission because the younger man was the general’s wife’s lover. In chapter 4, the general fumes that this accusation is completely untrue. Moreover, he resents the “slur on [his] wife.” Using an allusion, he insists she is the

best woman in the world. Absolutely—Caesar’s wife!

Macarthur alludes to the Roman emperor Julius Caesar’s divorce of his wife Pompeia, who was suspected of adultery. He uses a shortened version of the phrase “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”

There are many examples of figurative language in this book.

Idioms: an idiom is an expression that has a different meaning than one would expect from just the meaning of the words.  For example: He put his foot in his mouth means  he made a verbal error --- he didn't literally put his foot in his mouth.  In this book many idioms are used.  For example:

"Got a bee in his bonnet" (pg 66 - chapter 4 Part 2) This means she has an idea in her head that won't go away. 

"Forewarned is forearmed" (pg 165 - Chapter 9 - Part 7) This eans that if you know something is coming, you can prepare for eit.

"His disappearance is just a red herring across the track..." (pg 247 - chapter 15 Part 1)  This idiom means a distraction.  Something that is going to draw you away from the real facts.

Simile: a simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the words "like" or "as" .  For example:  She is as pretty as a picture.  You are comparing the girl or woman to a picture.  Another example would be: He roars like a lion.  It compares the man to a lion using the word "like" .  In this book Agatha Christie creates animals images that become stronger as the book progresses.  The people are becoming more animalistic.

"He was like a cat on hot bricks." ( pg 100 - chapter 6 Part II)  This is comparing Rogers to a cat.

"A sudden flash passed like lightning through Armstrong's mind" (pg 115, chapter 7, Part 2)  This is comparing an idea to lightning.

"Climbs like a cat, doesn't he?" (pg 132, chapter 8 Part 5) This is comparing Lombard to a cat.

"He was like a beast at bay ready to charge its pursuers." (pg 211, chapter 13, part 1) This is comparing Blore with a beast at bay.

Metaphor: A metaphor compares two unlike objects NOT using the words "like" or "as".  For example:  She is a bear in the morning.  This compares a woman to a bear. 

"He's a playful beast." (pg 203 - chapter 12, Part 3)  This is comparing the murderer to a playful beast or animal. 

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word in a series of words.  For example: Anna ate three apples before her appointment.

" What next? What next? Who? Which? "

"Would it work? I wonder.  It's worth trying....." (pg 195 - chapter 11 Part 6)

This example is one example, not two.  It is supposedly two people talking to each other but the sentences follow each other.

I have given you the page numbers from my book, but I have also given you the chapter and section numbers so that you may find these easily.

On the first page, we encounter synecdoche, a figure of speech where a part of something stands for the whole, when we read the Mr. Wargrave "ran an interested eye" over the newspaper. Clearly, "eye" stands for his brain, eye, and consciousness, since an eye alone can't be "interested."

When Miss Brent worries that the boat taking them to Mr. Owen's house on the island is very small, the boat's owner says,

You could go to Plymouth in her as easy as winking.

"Easy as winking" is a simile, a comparison using "like" or "as." The boat owner's simile offers a visual image of how easy the boat ride will be.

Vera thinks of Mrs. Rogers as "a white bloodless ghost of a woman." This is an example of metaphor, which is a comparison that does not use "like" or "as." Vera's comparison of Mrs. Rogers to a ghost also uses the words "white" and "bloodless" to supply a visual image showing how pale and lifeless Mrs. Rogers seems.